Success at 2023 British Universities Snooker Championships

The University of Bristol shocked reigning champions Manchester in the final to win their maiden British Universities Team Snooker Championship title.

As previously announced here, the Universities Pool Council – recognised by British Universities and Colleges Sport as the governing body for university cue sports – affiliated with the EPSB in 2020. These championships are run every academic year with any person who is studying at a higher education institution affiliated to BUCS, doing at least a part-time degree, being eligible to enter.

The 2022/2023 British Universities Snooker Championship was held between 23-26 March 2023 at the Woking Snooker Centre, which pitted 175 players from 28 different universities across the UK. Following four days of action, the top Team Championship title went to the University of Bristol, while Matei Rosca from the University of Manchester claimed the Individual Championship.

Team Competitions

The 2022/2023 BUCS-UPC Snooker Team Championship winners: University of Bristol. Players (L to R): Tayren Kay, Qutaiba Kanawati, David Chattaway (c), Ryan Cleaves, Will Robinson

Following the group phase of the Team Championship containing 23 different universities across the UK, 12 universities qualified for the knock-out stages.

Bristol made their way through the top section of the draw, defeating early favourites for the event Liverpool John Moores University 6-3 in the quarter-finals, and then quickly dispatching Loughborough University 6-2 in the semi-finals.

Manchester’s route to the final was much more difficult as they required dramatic black-ball shootouts against the University of Leeds in the quarter-finals, and then the University of Nottingham in the semi-finals, after both matches had finished 5-5.

The final was a repeat of their group stage encounter, and was a close affair throughout. The match turned towards Bristol when Ryan Cleaves beat individual champion Matei Rosca, and Tayren Kay hit a 50 break as he won both of his frames. It fell to captain David Chattaway to win the final frame to take the match 6-4 for Bristol, and claim their maiden British University Championship title, an event run since 1984.

The Team Trophy – for teams that did not qualify for the main Team Championship – was won by the University of Derby, who defeated the Loughborough University second team 6-1 in the final.

Individual Competitions

The 2022/2023 BUCS-UPC Snooker Individual Championship final between Matei Rosca (University of Manchester) and Ruoyuan Liu (University of Edinburgh). Referee: Claudia Ene

In the Individual Championship, top seed Matei Rosca from the University of Manchester recovered from defeat in the 2021/22 final to go one better and win this season’s event. He faced Ruoyuan Liu from the University of Edinburgh in the final, where he contributed breaks of 61 and 56 in the final to win 3-0. The losing semi-finalists were Yan Wong (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Matthew Bagley (Liverpool John Moores University).

The second-tier Individual Trophy was won by Kavit Yasvanim, who defeated his University of Warwick teammate Elliott Wooden in the final.

The highest break of the weekend was 73 by Ronan Whyte (Liverpool John Moores University).

The Universities Pool Council wishes to thank the Woking Snooker Centre for all of their hospitality, including Peter Ruddick and Terry Teeman of Snookerz.co.uk. We also wish to thank Claudia Ene for her exemplary refereeing, and for all of the players who competed during the weekend. For more information about the UPC, please visit their website here.