William Thomson secures record fifth billiards title

WILLIAM Thomson has won a record fifth successive English Under-16 Billiards Championship.

The 14-year-old from Chandler’s Ford beat Casey Turner 281-172 in the one-hour final at The Maltings Q Club in King’s Lynn, Norfolk.

Thomson nearly did the double but lost by 15 points to defending champion William Chambers in the Under-19 final.

Christopher Woodward was on the receiving end of Thomson’s best performance of the day. The youngster scored 347 points in the 45-minute match. His first three visits yielded breaks of 48, 50 and 36 and he was described as “unplayable”. The 50 was the highest break of the day.

Ben Taylor-Jenkins lost to Thomson in the last-four of the U16 event after winning his round-robin group thanks in no small part to a fine victory over Casey Turner. Elijah King made the quarter-finals.

Taylor-Jenkins will receive his first England cap in the Home Internationals in Leeds in August – joining Thomson and Woodward in the three-gold-lions club.

Walter Donaldson won the inaugural under-16 event in 1922. Other famous champions include Fred Davis, Clive Everton, Rex Williams, Willie Thorne and Peter Gilchrist.

Picture: William Thomson and Nathan Mann, the secretary of the English Amateur Billiards Association.