Where there’s a Will …. Wickham teen Forster wins first Cuestars tournament after five years of trying

A Wickham teenager’s 36th Cuestars snooker tournament will live long in his memory.
By Community Sport Reporter
Published 13th Sep 2021, 14:38 BST
Will Forster with his Cuestars trophyWill Forster with his Cuestars trophy
Will Forster with his Cuestars trophy

Will Forster has collected his first winners trophy on the regional under-21 circuit after more than five years of trying, writes TIM DUNKLEY.

The 15-year-old beat rankings leader Riley Ellis 2-1 from 1-0 down in the Silver Tour final at Salisbury Snooker Club.

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There was a rare smile from Forster as he said: ‘It’s good. I felt that I played pretty well. Hopefully I’ll win some more.’

Forster,based at Fareham Snooker Club, scraped through the group stages on frame difference.

But he then produced outstanding results against two tough opponents in the knockout.

Samuel Laxton (Portsmouth) was unbeaten in his group but went down 2-0 to Forster in the semi-finals.

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Forster made his Cuestars debut in May 2016, and was runner-up in a Bronze Tour event in Swindon in 2018.

It’s worth remembering that Jamie Wilson took eight years and 83 tournaments to claim his first Cuestars win. A year later, he was a professional on the World Snooker Tour.

Ellis (Clyffe Pypard, North Wilts) now has an outright lead in the rankings after knocking out title rival Elliott Johnson (London) 2-0 in the last-four.

John Donovan (London) contributed the event’s highest break of 54 but he failed to qualify from his group.

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Meanwhile, there was another case of semi-finalitis for Ryan Kneller (Waterlooville) on the Bronze Tour.

He went down 2-0 to Jaydon Elliott (Swindon) after knocking out rankings leader Asten Sahota (Southampton) 2-0 in the quarter-finals.

It was the fourth time that Kneller had reached the last-four and missed out on a first trophy.

The fourth leg was sponsored by the host club and one of its members, Malcolm Slark.

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Fareham Snooker Club hosts the fifth leg of six on Sunday, September 26.

BREAKS

John Donovan 54; Riley Ellis 43: Elliott Johnson 40, 34: Will Forster 39.

SILVER RESULTS

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP A: 1st, Riley Ellis (Chandlers Ford SC); 2nd, Will Forster (Fareham SC); 3rd, Owen Jenkins (Waterlooville Sports Bar); 4th, Harry Wyatt (Greenbaize, Bournemouth).

ROUND-ROBIN GROUP B: 1st, Samuel Laxton (Waterlooville Sports Bar); 2nd, Elliott Johnson (London Snooker); 3rd, Mason Wilson (Academy, Basingstoke); 4th, John Donovan (Cousins, London).

SEMI-FINALS (15 points): Forster 2-0 Laxton, Ellis 2-0 Johnson.

FINAL (25/18 points): Forster 2-1 Ellis.

Related topics:Jamie Wilson