INDIVIDUAL BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP

Lee Lagan started the defence of his CIU title with a tough away tie against Richard Beckham at Redcar WMC. His cause was not helped by the symptoms of a heavy cold, but he nevertheless started well, making a break of 92 at his first scoring visit.

Peter Shelley´s 164 set the high break target.

Following this soon afterwards with 121 he appeared to have the match well under control. But Beckham never gave up and with breaks of 48, 87 and 45 gave himself every chance as he recovered to just 11 points in arrears at 450-439. With several good chances going to both players, it was Lagan, with some relief, who managed to reach the target, 500-463. Lagan, who is now starting his second season under the sponsorship of Joe Atkinson's Easington Greyhound Stadium, averaged 12.8 for the match and Beckham 11.9.

Tony James (Throckley) progressed to the second round at the expense of John Hartley (Redcar). The game was close for much of the time with the scores called level at 315. At this point however, James opened a significant lead with consecutive contributions of 37 and 73, eventually recording a comfortable 500-384 result.

Not many players can claim to have had their match refereed by the World Professional Champion, but that was the case for Tony Mackinder and Alf Nolan for their first round tie at North Ormesby Institute. Unfortunately neither player seemed particularly inspired by Peter Gilchrist's presence as Mackinder ground his way to a 500-426 win after almost three hours. Breaks of 82 and 62 by Mackinder, the 1999 CIU Champion, highlighted an otherwise dull performance, while Nolan only looked to be in control when playing the in-off game. Using this technique, he put together runs of 59 and 50. Mackinder averaged 7.9 and Nolan 6.8.

Peter Shelley set the target for the high break with a run of 164 in his preliminary round victory over Michael Faddes. Additional breaks of 105, 83 and 71 in this match helped him to a comprehensive 500-112 scoreline. Shelley then reached the quarter-finals without further effort when Maurice Chapman scratched from their first round tie.

With no result being received for the match against F. Griffin and Sean Bean, both players were disqualified, giving Jack Hedley direct passage through to the semi-final stages where he will play either Neal Rewhorn or Peter Shelley. They are drawn to meet at Rewhorn´s club in Nuneaton. The remaining quarter-final matches are Bem French vs. Tony Mackinder and Lee Lagan vs. Tony James. These matches are scheduled to be completed by 5th February.