An entry of 32 players for the CIU National Billiards Championship was the largest for many years, giving encouragement to the organisers that the recent downward trend can be reversed with a little effort to advertise the event amongst the billiards-playing community.

The opening round saw some interesting matches, not least of which was the return of Martin Goodwill, who won this championship over five consecutive years from 1991-95 before his work took him overseas. His return to the competition this year pitted him against Dave Burgess, who is one of the best players in the Southern region, and the match was therefore keenly anticipated. Goodwill started the game strongly, breaks of 101 and 95 giving him a substantial early lead. Although Burgess fought back to gradually reduce the deficit, he could not quite come to terms as Goodwill completed his 500 points with Burgess still 85 in arrears.

Also showing fine form in the Southern matches was Swaffham's Phil Welham, who overwhelmed Mark Tims with breaks of 102, 82, 61 and 50 to win by a decisive 500-82 margin. On current form, Phil has every chance to improve on his previous best placing as semi-finalist in this competition.

In the North, Darren Kell (Middlesbrough) made a winning return, having decided not to enter last year after a disappointing performance against Jack Hedley in the 2003 final. Playing against that experienced campaigner John Sinclair (Ashington) he put together a run of 128, the highest of the event so far. Adding additional breaks of 78 and 73 unfinished, he demonstrated that the lay-off has not adversely affected his form, cruising to a 500-123 victory. The only other century break in the first round came from 72 year-old Tony James (North Shields) who made 101 in his victory over Newcastle's Andrew Cherry, continuing his role as an inspiration for the older generation of billiard players.

In the second round of the CIU Billiards Championship, the pick of the matches were to be found in the southern area. Phil Welham's journey from Swaffham to Cambridge was rewarded with an impressive 500-298 victory over Phil Mumford, but perhaps the most notable performance came from reigning champion Jack Hedley. Having won the title on the last two occasions, victory this season will see the imposing CIU trophy become his personal property, but he faced a severe test in Martin Goodwill, especially with the latter having home table advantage. Nevertheless, Hedley rose to the challenge, and with breaks of 122 (the highest of the round), 65 and 57, produced one of his best results by winning 500-314.

In the North, Simon Snee (Middlesbrough), who was runner-up to Hedley last year, kept on course for another final show-down with a 500-346 result over Tony James (South Shields), whilst Tony Mackinder, who was 1999 champion, struggled to a narrow 34 point win against Julian Hodge in Huddersfield. Darren Kell volunteered to give up home advantage, describing his table at the Acklam club as appearing to have just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq! However, Kell's short trip across Middlesbrough to the Stockton Blytholme club proved fruitful enough, as with breaks of 84 and 55 unfinished, he defeated Billy Bousfield by a 167 point margin.

Phil Welham set the new high-break target for the CIU Billiards Championship with a run of 184 unfinished in his quarter-final win over Phil Johnson. His opponent in the semi-finals will be reigning champion, Jack Hedley, who was untroubled by Lincoln's Dean Manders, winning 500-190 on his home table at the Ivy Leaf club in Maidenhead.

Although the Lincoln club of Monks Road WM managed to produce three of the quarter-finalists, none could manage to progress beyond this round, as their third representative, Rob Hall, was also defeated by Middlesbrough's Simon Snee.

Tony Mackinder filled the last semi-final place with a victory over twice CIU champion, Darren Kell. In a dour match, patient spectators were eventually rewarded by a fine unfinished break of 107 by the winner.