Donovan in dreamland

THERE were two late birthday presents for John Donovan who was “100% sure” he had been knocked out of a junior snooker tournament in Swindon.

Four hours after packing his cue away and preparing to leave Jesters Snooker Club, the Camden Town cueist collected the winner’s trophy and £150 in prize money.

And his second success of the season means he now leads the Cuestars Under-21 Gold Tour rankings.

Donovan, who turned 20 the day before the trip to Wiltshire, was left shaking his head in disbelief following his 2-1 victory over Noah Gartell in the final of the seventh leg.

“I thought I had no chance of getting out of the groups,” he said. “I thought I had to beat Asten (Sahota) 2-0 to go through and I beat him 2-1.

“I was 100% sure I was out. I thought (the tournament director) was joking when he said you are playing Harry (Wyatt) in the semis.”

And following a 3-2 last-four victory over Wyatt and needing a snooker in the deciding frame of the final, Donovan added: “I still don’t really believe it.”

Wyatt recorded the day’s highest break of 73. William Hurley also lost a fifth frame decider in the last four, to Gartell.

Gartell, from Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight, moves up to second place in the rankings after picking up his second runner-up trophy of the season.

All results are on snookerscores.net.

The Crucible Sports & Social Club, Reading, hosts the seventh leg of ten on Sunday, March 1. Silver will also be in Reading but Bronze will be in Newbury.