Jan - Feb 1999 Snooker News

Six times World Champion Stephen Hendry found himself once again dreaming of a seventh after he returned to winning ways at the Scottish Open. Hendry hammered Graham Dott 9-1 to put a series of final defeats behind him. It was his first ranking event win for over a year.

UWCC 22/02/99: CARDIFF ARE BRITISH CHAMPIONS

Ian Purnell led Cardiff to their third BUSA title in 6 years at Solihull as Cardiff swept all before them in the Senior Event. The final results was never in doubt as Cardiff defeated old rivals Queens 3-1 in the final with Brian Hashi, one of the stars of the weekend, coming from behind to take his match 2-1.  It was disappointment for the `B` team however as the bowed out in the semi-finals 4-6 to UEA. After a strong opening they found themselves lacking the overall strength of Junior Champions Queens. Special mention should be spared for James Llewellyn and Kevin Brown though who put in a string of fine performances and breaks to suggest they were the top two players of the Junior event.  In the individual tournament, however, the `B` teamers had slightly more success than their `A` team counterparts with Llewellyn winning a Bronze for his semi-final spot and Brown and Glyn Jones making it 3 Cardiff players in the last eight.

UWCC 18/02/99: BROWN REACHES CARDIFF HANDICAP FINAL

`B` team captain Kevin Brown last night received a bye into the final of the Cardiff Handicap final after neither of his possible semi-final opponents put in a result for their quarter-final match. It completed a good day for Brown, who besides reaching his first Cardiff final had earlier made the highest break of his career, 68, against Glyn Jones.
Elsewhere the University still has a lot of interest in the Cardiff tournaments with Kamran Majid facing Rob Hayes for a place in the Cardiff Open final and fellow A-teamer Tom Cross in two semi-finals. Full details of the Cardiff tournaments can be found here.

UWCC 16/02/99: HEWITT DESTORYS HAYES AND MAJID

Mackintosh player Jason Hewitt hit a terrific 112 break yesterday in the Cardiff pairs competition against UWC players Rob Hayes and Kamran Majid. It was the highest break in any Cardiff League event this year.

BUSA 15/02/99: STRONG LINE-UP FOR BUSA CHAMPIONSHIPS

16 institutions have entered teams for the 1999 Halifax BUSA Snooker Championships. The strong line-up includes past winners such as Queens, Imperial and UEA whilst other dangerous teams could be 1998 Junior champions Warwick and former Irish Champions Ulster. 8 of the institutions have entered `B` teams for the Junior event whilst Cardiff captains Ian Purnell and Glyn Jones are pretty confident of regaining the titles they last won in 1996.
See here for the full list of teams and also the draw for the individual tournaments will appear here sometime during the week.

NEWS 14/02/99: HIGGINS COMPLETES MEMORABLE TREBLE

John Higgins became only the third man in history to complete a treble of the World`s most prestigious snooker events by adding the B & H Masters title to his World and UK titles of 1998. Only Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry have previously held all three at once.
Higgins, whose form has been patchy in other events this season proved he is a big tournament player like his fellow Scot Hendry by defeating Ken Doherty in a repeat of last years World Championship final. Although Dohert was at one stage 8-6 up, Higgins kept his nerve and won 4 frames in a row to take the title.

UWCC 07/02/99: MAJID HITS SUPERB TON

Kamran Majid finally acheived what he had been threatening to do for some time this week by making the first century break at the club since Tom Cross made his second century back in 1997. Majid, who has hit a string of high 70s and 80s during his one and a half years at the club, made the historic break against first year Brian Hashi. With a 138 clearance on, Majid ran out of pottable reds and had to be content with a superb 103. Cross still holds the record break at the Union with a 108 but who would bet against Kamran Majid beating that soon?

NEWS 01/02/99: WILLIAMS WIN SECOND REGAL WELSH TITLE

Mark Williams took the second Regal Welsh Open title of his career and became the first Welshman in 10 years to win back-to-back ranking events with a superb victory over Stephen Hendry in a memorable final. His 9-8 win was a fitting finale to what was a wonderful week of snooker which put the Cardiff International Arena near the top of the world`s snooker venues.

UWCC 30/01/99: LLEWELLYN HITS FORM

UWCC `B` team player James Llewellyn has put aside his inconsistent league form this week by hitting his first 50 break at the club.... and following it up with another! After waiting 18 months to break his duck at the University with a 54 against Kevin Brown, Llewellyn followed it up the next day with a 50. Looks like he could be hitting form at the right time with the University Championships less than a month away.

NEWS 27/01/99: FEW SHOCKS IN OPENING ROUND OF REGAL WELSH

1997 World Champion Ken Doherty was one of the few big names to drop out of the 1st round of the Regal Welsh Open at Cardiff as he suffered an astonishing defeat against former Queens University student Patrick Wallace. Elsewhere, John Higgins, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O`Sullivan eased through with Higgins playing in a full house against Cardiff League player Mark Bennett. Bennett had chances to steal the 3rd and 5th frames but Higgins was too strong for him and took the match 5-1. Jimmy White also had a straightforward 5-1 1st round victory against Barry Mapstone to set up an enthralling clash with O`Sullivan in the last 16.
For all the latest results from the CIA see WWW Snooker.

NEWS 24/01/99: WALES WIN NATIONS CUP

Wales won the inaugral Nations Cup yesterday with a stunning victory in the final over World Cup holders Scotland. Matthew Stevens` victory in the 10th frame over World Champion John Higgins clinched a 6-4 win for Wales who ensured Scotalnd would not achieve an impressive team competition double. It was Stevens and Mark Williams` form throughout the competition which shone for Wales who earlier had to beat England 6-5 to decide who would meet Scotland in the final.

The Welsh team will have thanked the organisers of the Regal Welsh Open however as none of them will be in action on the first day of the competition which gives them plenty of time to celebrate...

UWCC 21/01/99: UNIVERSITY ENSURED OF CARDIFF OPEN FINALIST

Cardiff University is ensured of having at least one finalist in the prestigious Cardiff Open as 6 of the quarter finalists are registered University players. And with Rob Hayes and Tom Cross, and Ben Osborne and Kamran Majid facing each other one of that quartet will definitely reach their first ever Open final. In the other half of the draw Del Jones and Ian Purnell face tough matches against Jason Hewitt and Alan Morgan respectively.

UWCC 18/01/99: BROWN BEATS PERSONAL BEST

`B` team captain Kevin Brown acheived a personal landmark today as he beat his highest break by 9 points when he hit a 64 break against James Llewellyn. It emphasises Brown`s current good form as the BUSA Championship nears.
Latest up to date UWC Breaks Board can be found here.

NEWS 18/01/99: WALES LOOK GOOD IN NATIONS CUP

The inaugral Nations Cup has begun in Newcastle and already Scotland and Wales look strong favourites to contest the final at the end of the week. Scotland, with their `Dream Team` of John Higgins, Stephen Hendry, Alan Mcmanus and Chris Small destroyed England 8-3. England however still look like they could make an impression on the tournament with their team of `People`s Champions` which includes Jimmy White, Ronnie O`Sullivan, and Peter Ebdon. Wales meanwhile coasted to an 8-3 victory over the Republic of Ireland with both captain Darren Morgan and youngster Matthew Stevens making century breaks.

The tournament continues today with Northern Ireland`s first match against England. It will be a firm test of their captain Dennis Taylor`s belief that they can win the event. Live coverage all week on ITV with highlights every evening.

UWCC 14/01/99: FIRST WIN OF 1999 FOR `B` TEAM

The UWCC `B` team completed a season`s double over Canton Libs with a 3-2 victory at the Union. The University always looked comfortable but after Captain Kevin Brown had lost for the second time this season against the League`s bottom team, Glyn Jones followed Laurent Viac and James Llewellyn`s victories to seal the victory.

The UWC `A` side are yet to play this season as a series of cancelled matches leaves them with plenty of games in hand on the teams at the top of the table.

NEWS 02/01/99: NEW YEAR CHEER FOR JIMMY

There was double New Year celebration for Jimmy White as he not only received an MBE from the Queen, but also received a Wild Card into the Benson and Hedges Masters.

Jimmy becomes the fourth snooker player to receive the MBE and receives it for `services to snooker`. He follows fellow legends Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and John Parrott into Buckingham Palace. Whites reaction was to `buy 20 bottles of Champagne tonight, instead of 10!`

In the Benson and Hedges Masters, White received a wild card into the event which is contested by the top 16 plus two wild card entries. He will face Mark King when the event begins on Friday.
 

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