Portsmouth starlet George Laxton among favourites to land national under-21 snooker title

The 14-year-old from Portsmouth defeated his Waterlooville Sports Bar clubmate Finn Kirby 2-0 in the final, writes TIM DUNKLEY.

Laxton moves up to second place in the rankings while Kirby collected his first Cuestars trophy in only his second outing.

Paying tribute to his opponent, Laxton said: ‘Finn played very, very well. He kept pushing me.’

Reflecting on what promises to be a close title race, he added: ‘If I keep playing like I did today, I have a chance.’

It was actually a second successive trophy for Laxton. He reached the Plate final in the first leg in Salisbury last month. Meanwhile, Samuel Laxton remains in first place on the Silver rankings.

He topped the round-robin group with 11 frames won out of 12 before losing 2-0 to Londoner John Donovan in the semis.

Chloe White missed out on qualification for the knockout on the head-to-head rule.

Daniel Walter climbed to joint third on the Bronze rankings after a 2-0 semi-final defeat by George Laxton

The event was sponsored by Chris Gaynor, who runs snookerzone.co.uk, and his brother-in-law Alex Hoff, boss of helicopter training outfit Hoff Aviation.

Frames Sports Bar, Coulsdon, hosts the third leg of eight on Sunday, January 30.