Liu Wins English Under-14 Snooker Championship

Shaun Liu defeated Nicholas Ayers 4-0 in the final at the Landywood Snooker Club to win the 2023 PowerGlide Cues English Under-14 Snooker Championship. 

Originally from Hong Kong but now based at the Ding Junhui Snooker Academy in Sheffield in order to further his snooker education, 12-year-old Liu has been sensational throughout the competition, which began with 163 players earlier this season. 

Liu initially came through the opening phase of the event after winning a club qualifier at the Northern Snooker Centre, Leeds in January. He then travelled to the Q-Bar in Walsall last month to compete in the northern area finals where he registered a plethora of sizeable breaks – including efforts of 118 (the Championship’s overall highest break) and 105 – on his way to the regional title and a berth in the grand final.

Against southern area champion Ayers in the national title match, Liu won a close opening frame on the black after Ayers fouled. Liu then doubled his lead with frame two before breaks of 56 and 40 in the final two frames saw him home as a comfortable victor. 

Liu becomes the latest winner of this prestigious junior title and – since the new format that the EPSB introduced in 2019 – follows in the footsteps of recent champions Stan Moody (2020) and Vladislav Gradinari (2022). 

The EPSB would again like to thank all the players, parents, guardians, officials, venues, and tournament sponsor PowerGlide Cues for all their support with this season’s competition.