Desperques 12th in Blackpool event

THERE were some great results but also disappointment for the Channel Islands at the World Eight-Ball Pool Championships in Blackpool. The men's team had another mixed tournament with wins over Spain and Kenya and a few close games.

They managed to take semi-finalists Ireland to a deciding frame before just losing out on the black and they were also edged out 11-10 by a strong South Africa side.

In their penultimate game, the CI found themselves inches from causing a major upset against world champions England.

The islanders were 4-1 up and on the black on both tables, but both rattled the jaws and allowed England to rescue the session from a potential 6-1 deficit to only 4-3 down. The scores were level at 7-7 after England took the middle session 4-3 and they then showed their class to take the next four frames for an 11-7 win.

Richard Ellis, the England manager, said that his team was rattled by the CI, even if they did not show it, and had to fight as hard as they had done all week to secure the win.

Martyn Desperques had as solid a tournament as ever and placed 12th in the aggregates and Ady Holley showed real class to return a 60%-plus aggregate.

Debutant Tristan Ozanne overcame a tricky middle part of the competition to return a very respectable average and included a win over renowned snooker star Tony Drago and eventual individual world champion Mick Hill in his frame victories.

The CI women's team had their best year at the World Championships to date, winning three of their nine ties.

The biggest achievement was beating Wales who got to the final, while the other triumphs came over the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland.

With two matches still to play, they had a decent chance of making it to the semi-finals but they lost 8-7 to France to dash those hopes.

The CI juniors got off to a great start beating Wales 11-4 and South Africa 8-7 but their form did not continue and they lost their remaining matches.

Jess de la Haye won his first singles match and then played well in the second round before losing to an England junior 5-3.