Shaun Liu is English Under-16 Champion

Shaun Liu defeated Arik Kadir 5-1 to win the 2025 English Under-16 Championship at Club 200 in Manchester.

• Results

The success saw the 14-year-old cueist win the second English national championship of his career, adding to the English Under-14 Championship crown he earned back in 2023.

A strong field of 57 players embarked on the Manchester venue for the two-day event and Liu kicked off his campaign in style with a clean sweep of whitewash wins in the group stage to secure his place in the concluding day.

A last 16 victory over the recently-crowned English Under-14 champion Adam Abbas (3-0) was then followed up by successes against William Chambers (4-2) and Asten Sahota (4-1) to book his place in the title match.

There he faced 16-year-old Kadir, who had never previous gone beyond the quarter-finals of an English national championship but had impressed in Manchester with knockout stage wins against Dylan Beer (3-2) and William Thomson (4-1) to reach the last four.

The semi-final contest against William Hurley was a high-quality affair which saw the momentum swing both ways. Hurley took frame five to move one away from victory at 3-2, but Kadir hit back with the tournament high break of 104 to force a decider before securing his place in the final with a further contribution of 67.

Liu, a quarter-finalist on the WPBSA Q Tour Europe series this season, showed his class in the final as he quickly raced into a 4-0 lead with helps from visits of 41, 58 and 33.

His opponent managed to avoid the whitewash courtesy of a 60 break in frame five, but Liu remained unphased and hit a break of 44 to get over the line and secure the prestigious title.