6th May 2006

Sam Baird the 18 year old potting machine from Halberton was crowned the 2005/6 West of England Silver Waistcoat Snooker Champion after defeated 14 year old Bobby Southworth from Bells Court Snooker Club, Falmouth. This, the final tour event was held at Riley’s Snooker Club, Exeter and proved to be a real roller coaster for Baird. At the start of the day he was lying in third place in the ranking table, 160 points behind, the favourite for the title, Sam Cox (Exeter). However, Baird’s superior potting and break building skills was to prove significant as he steam rolled is way to the final. Tiverton team mate 16 year old Darren Bond was brushed aside 2-0 in a high quality semi-final that contained breaks of 70, 59 & 35. In the previous round Baird was put to the test by an up-and-coming 14 year old, Dale Branton (Plymouth). Branton put up a great show before losing 2-1. Baird made breaks of 52 & 44 in the group stages finishing in second place as a result of a 2-1 loss against group winner Bond. Bond was undefeated and made breaks of 77, 52, 45 along with the highest break of the championships a magnificent 117. Cox finished third just ahead of the much improved Jay Harrington (Falmouth).

In the other group Grant Cole (Plymouth), despite recording a break of 62 and several 40 plus breaks, failed to qualified for the knock-out stages for the first time. Jamie Reed (Redruth) finished top of the group with breaks of 61, 49, 43 & 41. Southworth finished second and Branton finished a very respectable third place with Robert Charman (Redruth) taking the final qualifying place. Much improved Danny Wicks (Plymouth) posted some excellent results on the day the best of these being an impressive 2-0 win over Charman. Cole, on a hat-trick after winning the tour in 2003 and 2004, was unable to realise an aspiration of raising the trophy for a third successive year. Other good performances came from Ryan Elcombe (Plymouth), Alex Baird (Tiverton) and Leon Bullen ( Exeter). These three players will be ones to look out for in the future. The tour are now established as the premier tournaments for Junior in the South West.

Keith Milliard the tournament director for West of England Billiards and Snooker Foundation said "For Sam Baird to come from third position and snatch the title just goes to show what can be accomplished if you are prepared rise to the challenge. Sam will have learnt a great deal from playing on the tour and he can only improve with experience." Millard went on to say that "all of the youngsters who competed are a credit to our sport and I am confident this tour will attract even more players in the future".

For the latest news and what is happening in the region with regard to Billiards & Snooker go to the WEBSF web site www.websf.co.uk

Report by Roger Cole