A YEAR after first picking up a cue in earnest, Charlie Pringle has a second successive school holiday competition title to his name.
The 13-year-old, who won the Christmas Cup, wrapped up the February Half-Term Cup in style at Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club.
He emerged victorious from the record 17-strong field for the last day’s snooker tournament after beating Dan Sykes in the final.
Competition organiser Tim Dunkley, a World Snooker coach, said: “Twelve months ago, Charlie didn’t know how to hold a cue. His progress has been quite remarkable.
“I know he has a burning desire to improve even further and he certainly puts the hours in. Once he learns that putting the hours in and working hard are two completely different things, he could become a dangerous opponent on the regional circuits.”
Pringle (pictured above) has in his sights clubmates Mickey Joyce and Jamie Wilson, who today are in Leeds for the last-16 of the English Under-14 Championship.
“I want to improve to the standard of Mickey and Jamie and, hopefully, go on to bigger things,” he said.
The Thornden School pupil had led the five-day competition from the off and finished the week 17 points clear of runner-up Connor Benzey. Last year’s Rotary Summer Cup champion Bowen Zhu was third. Oli Line was fourth.
He did admit looking over his shoulder once or twice at defending champion Abhay Chopra but insisted: “I knew that as long as I was getting my points, I wasn’t too worried about everyone else.”
The next holiday competition is the Easter Cup.
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