Shane Castle praised by Terry Griffiths

The Hampshire wonderkid fought back from 3-2 down to defeat England under-19 international Sam Harvey 4-3 in the final at Breaks Snooker Club, Birmingham.

Castle, who competes on the Cuestars South of England Championship Tour and the Under-21 Gold Tour, had spent time with the 1979 world champion Terry Griffiths at the South West Snooker Academy, Gloucester, in the days leading up to the second leg of the tour for England’s best under-19 players.

Griffiths, now Director of Coaching for the 13-year-old’s player management company, On Q Promotions, said: “I worked with Shane for the first time last week.

“He is some talent. I believe he’s got a great future in the sport.”

Castle, who compiled his 15th competitive century in the quarter-finals and 11 other 50-plus breaks during the two-day tournament, said: “I haven’t changed anything but I’m practising harder.”

The England international, based at Cue T’s Snooker Lounge near his home in Marchwood, finished second in his round-robin group and saw off the 2008 English under-14 champion Joel Walker, 17, 4-3 in the last-16.

On day two, Castle made a 129 break in the second frame of his quarter-final match against Londoner Sean O’Sullivan, 17, another England Under-19 star. And he then bounced back from 3-1 down to triumph 4-3.

After accounting for 16-year-old Elliot Slessor (Gateshead) 4-1 in the semi-finals, Castle dispatched 18-year-old Harvey (Bedford) in a seventh frame decider.

Castle insisted he is “not really” concerned about falling behind in matches.

An On Q Promotions spokesman said: “It was a great achievement, especially to win against players so much older and more experienced.”

The finalists had met before. Aged nine, Castle recorded his first century, 101, against Harvey on December 30, 2007. And he lost to Harvey in the Players Tour Championship (PTC) fifth leg in Sheffield in September this year.

The youngster, who missed the first leg of the junior tour because he was competing in PTC6 in Poland, is second in the rankings.

Meanwhile, Jordan Winbourne (Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club) was knocked out 4-0 in the last-16 by Slessor, who he had beaten 3-2 in the group stages. The 15-year-old is now ranked 13th.

Shane Castle: 3-0 Ashley Hugill (York), 3-0 Haydon Pinhey (Plymouth), 3-1 Liam Clark (Hartlepool), 2-3 Sanderson Lam (Leeds). Breaks: 129, 74, 68, 63, 61, 60, 60, 58, 52, 52, 50, 50.

Jordan Winbourne: 3-2 Elliot Slessor (Gateshead), 3-0 Michael Rogers (Taunton), 3-1 Jack Orrell (Whitby). Breaks: 61, 59, 54, 53.