The EPSB Weekly | A Trio of Under-20 Triumphs

Stanley Moody, Halim Hussain and Steven Hughes all claimed titles last weekend during the penultimate round of events on this season’s EPSB Under-20 Regional Development Tour. 

The North 

13-year-old Moody – nicknamed ‘The Action’ – secured his second tour win of the season following success at the Northern Snooker Centre. 

The current English under-14 champion came through a bumper entry in Leeds, starting his day by qualifying top of Group C without dropping a frame. After negotiating the quarter and semi-finals, Moody defeated Dylan Kemp 2-0 with a fantastic final performance that saw him make breaks of 88 (the highest of the day) and 49. Kemp also produced a 42. 

This event four accolade goes with Moody’s event two success at the Hazel Grove in Stockport earlier in the term. Moody moves up into second on the rankings list, just 45 points behind leader Matthew Lawton, who didn’t qualify for the knockouts. 

The Midlands 

Midlands rankings list leader Halim Hussain extended his advantage at the top when collecting tour title number two this campaign at Barratts Northampton. 

Hussain lost just a frame as he finished as winner of Group B, he then eliminated Edward Jones 2-1 in the last four. 

His opponent in the final was familiar tour rival Chae Ross; second in the rankings and winner of both events two and three. However, Ross’ bid for a hat-trick of successive tour event victories was stopped by Hussain who won the final 2-1, in a reverse outcome of their event two final meeting in Tamworth. 

The champion at event one, too, Hussain has accumulated 500 ranking points in total, now 75 ahead of Ross.  

Hussain had not long been back from Malta where he reached the last 16 of the WSF Junior Open and the knockout stages of the WSF Open. 

South region event four finalists Lee Whaley and Steven Hughes

The South 

After experiencing final defeats in events two and three, Hughes bounced back and overcame the last hurdle to score top prize at the latest south region event in Coulsdon at Frames Sports Bar.

Hughes, who had returned home from the WSF Open the day before where he got to the last 64, won all four of his games to head Group A. In the knockouts he denied Aristos Pampouris 2-0, Ronnie Sullivan 2-1 and then event one runner-up Lee Whaley 2-1 in the final, in which he crafted a 40 break in the decider. 

South rankings leader Jack Haley – winner of events one and two – made the semis before losing to Whaley 2-1. Haley still holds top spot in the rankings, but his profit has been cut to just 15 points by Hughes. 

Adam Stacey constructed the day’s highest break with a 73. 

The latest ranking lists can be found on the EPSB website under the ‘Tournaments’ tab here.

The EPSB would like to thank all the officials and venues that participated in last weekend’s events – your help is always greatly appreciated.