Cowdroy crowned Cuestars champion

BRADLEY Cowdroy was naturally delighted with his performance in the Cuestars Championship in Reading ahead of his bid to turn professional at Q School.

The 24-year-old from Bournemouth pocketed a whopping £400 in prize money for winning the end-of-season invitational event at The Crucible Sports & Social Club.

But he had to work his socks off from the opening match.

Cowdroy – who chalked up eight breaks of more than 50 during the day – came from behind to defeat Ryan Spratt 4-2, beat former professional Billy Castle 4-0 and knocked out runaway rankings winner Mark Lloyd 4-2 to reach the final.

After opening the final against Ronnie Sullivan with the day’s highest break of 112, the left-hander added runs of 85 and 79 to take a 3-0 lead. Sullivan pulled one frame back but Cowdroy ran out a 4-1 winner.

Labeeb Ahmed lost by the odd frame in seven to Sullivan in the second semi.

Q School runs for nearly two weeks later this month at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester. The four semi-finalists from each of the two tournaments earn two-year tour cards for the professional circuit.

Cowdroy faces world number 74 Wang Yuchen, who is relegated from the World Snooker Tour, in the opening round of the first event on May 21

Results and rankings list are on snookerscores.net: https://snookerscores.net/tournament-manager/cuestars-championship

Prize money: winner Bradley Cowdroy £400, runner-up Ronnie Sullivan £150, semi-finalists Mark Lloyd & Labeeb Ahmed £60 each.

The event was sponsored by the Bournemouth and District Constitutional Club.

By Tim Dunkley and Steven Hughes