Gibbs Bridge to be the new Fosbury Flop?
A TEN-year-old from Gosport may prove to be snooker’s Dick Fosbury.
Ollie Gibbs and his unique bridge hand defied the coaching textbooks by clinching the Cuestars South of England Under-21 Bronze Tour Championship.
And he achieved it after only six-and-a-half-hours sleep the previous night.
The remarkable youngster from Stoke Snooker Club utilised his phenomenal potting power to see off 15-year-old Callum McDonald (Salisbury) 2-0 in the top-16 play-off final at Jesters Snooker Hall, Swindon.
But Gibbs was quick to pay tribute to his opponent.
“It wasn’t easy at all because Callum is a really good player,” he said.
“But I handled the pressure shots well. When the chance came, I took the opportunity.”
Gibbs, who had finished third in the rankings after winning two of the first three legs but failing to escape the group stages in three of the last four events, added: “I knew I couldn’t win the rankings but I knew I could be Bronze Tour champion.”
Earlier, he fought back from 1-0 down to account for rankings runner-up Edward James (Woking SC) 2-1 in the last-four.
“The other two frames were really tense,” said Gibbs. “They were all down to the colours. He played very well.”
And he had a word for his at-home mum, Louise, whose birthday party he left the previous night at 1am.
“Happy birthday mum!” he beamed. “I’m really over the moon at the moment. I’m not really that tired now.”
Turning to the Gibbs Bridge, the budding star reckons he’s the only player using this style and he refuses to change.
“It works for me,” he insisted. “I’m going to stick with it.”</p><p style=”text-align: left;”><img width=”293″ height=”246″ src=”/userfiles/image/Ollie%20Gibbs’%20bridge%20TD%20(640×539).jpg” alt=”” /></p><p style=”text-align: left;”>Picture by Tim Dunkley: The Gibbs Bridge
Such innovation and single-mindedness saw high jumping revolutionised in the 1960s. American athlete Fosbury – and his now famous Flop, a then unheard of backwards jump – astonished the world by being crowned Olympic champion in 1968.
RESULTS (BREAKS)
LAST-16: Luke Beebe (Chandler’s Ford SC) beat Connor Shaw (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) 2-0, Ben Tillison (Copnor SC, Portsmouth) beat Adam Cowdroy (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) 2-0, Kaine Petty (Salisbury SC) beat Liam Ashman (Player’s, Westbury) 2-0, Callum McDonald (Salisbury SC) beat Connor Benzey (Chandler’s Ford SC) 2-0, Keegan Reed (Salisbury SC) beat Nat Kidner (Greenbaize, Bournemouth) 2-1, Ally Pollard (Salisbury SC) beat Ben Hatch (Eastleigh) 2-0, Edward James (Woking SC) beat Harry Cook (Woking SC) 2-0. Bye: Ollie Gibbs (Stoke SC, Gosport).
QUARTER-FINALS: Beebe beat Tillison 2-0, McDonald beat Petty 2-0, Gibbs beat Reed 2-0, James beat Pollard 2-0.
SEMI-FINALS: McDonald beat Beebe 2-0, Gibbs beat James 2-1.
FINAL: Gibbs beat McDonald 2-0.
Report and picture by Tim Dunkley: Ollie Gibbs (right) and Ben Harrison.