JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Competition Proper

Breaks SC Lincoln – Sunday 16th February 2003

The closing stages of both the under-16 and under-19 Championships took place at the Breaks Snooker Club in Lincoln on 16th February with
the promise that both of these events would see a new name on the trophies.

English Under-16 Championship

Jamie Edwards won the Under-16
title and reached the final of the
Under-19 Championship.

The first casualty of the under-16 championship was Stephen Bingham,
who failed to arrive on time and was disqualified. Bingham, who had
been delayed on the journey, had
additional difficulty in locating the
club. Knowing that he was enroute,
the 10.00am start was
delayed by 15 minutes, but this
proved insufficient as he eventually
arrived 10 minutes after the quarterfinal
matches had commenced.

The draw had brought together
two of the pre-championship
favourites, Jamie Edwards and
Dominic Mulhall, in the opening
round, and it was Edwards with a
series of good breaks who proved
a comfortable winner. His success
included a run of 63 which would
be the best of the day in either of
the competitions.

Luke Reeve, who had been the
beneficiary of Stephen Bingham’s disqualification, could not produce
an effective challenge and was overwhelmed by Edwards in the semifinal.

Callum Robinson, who is beginning to make a significant impact
in the senior Leagues in his native Teesside, also reached the final with
an equally convincing win over Ricky Easter.

The final was more closely fought than the score might suggest, with
Robinson being within 10 points of his opponent entering the last ten
minutes. At this stage however, Edwards, who had generally been
favoured by the better running throughout the match, managed to pull
clear and take his first title with a 253-181 victory.

Players in the Under-16 Championship. L-R: Ben Lewis, Ricky Easter, Robert Crisp
(back), Luke Reeve, Jamie Edwards (back), Callum Robinson, Dominic Mulhall.

English Under-19 Championship

Thirteen year-old Dominic Mulhall
became one of the youngest winners
of the Under-19 Championship.

Dominic Mulhall and Jamie Edwards led the assault of the younger
players for the under-19 title and both successfully came through the
field to contest the final.

Edwards had a comfortable semifinal
win against Billy Bousfield
who was considered by many to
be the most likely to inherit Robin
Wilson’s title. The consistent
scoring of Edwards was sufficient
to disturb the composure of
Bousfield, who was consequently
unable to produce his usual form,
finishing a distant 123 points
behind the new star from Norfolk.

Mulhall was given a much sterner
test in his semi-final against Gavin
Lewis, emerging from a tough
match with a relatively narrow
278-248 victory.

Having been comprehensively
defeated by Edwards earlier in the
day, Mulhall could have been forgiven for feeling a little daunted at the
prospect of meeting him again in the Championship match. Instead, he
displayed his qualities of determination, and with application to the
task in hand he achieved what no other player on the day had managed,
and inflicted the first defeat on Edwards. This denied the Norfolk
youngster what would have been a wonderful “double” and ensured
that the under-19 title remained in Teesside.

Just thirteen years-old, Mulhall became the second-youngest player to
have won the under-19 title. Robin Wilson who was also 13 at the time
of his first victory in 1997 retains this record by just four months.

Under-19 competitors. L-R: Calvin Daws, Matthew Peaker, Gavin Lewis, Jamie
Edwards, Robert Hall, Billy Bousfield, Dominic Mulhall, Kyle Cunningham.