DEVONPORT'S Timmy Wright, a member of last year's state open eightball team, tops the Northern round of this year's team qualifiers.

Wright is a clear leader of the 34 starters after four rounds of play at Launceston Workers Club, winning 51 frames from a possible 66.

On August 1-2 Wright and another 17 players from the North - including last year's state team open players David Lee and Andrew Saltmarsh - will compete with six players from Hobart led by last year's vice-captain Sam Thurgood to make this year's team. 

•The women's team to represent Tasmania at the Australian eightball championships in Canberra from October 18-30 includes Northern players Fiona Plummer, Denise Millington, Debbie Rainbow and Rachel Howe.

Plummer also won the women's singles title, defeating Millington 3-2.

•The selection trial for this year's Tasmanian masters team will be at the Hobart Workers Club on Saturday, from 10am.

Entry and full event details are on the Eightball Tasmania website (www.eightballtasmania.com.au).

The top four over-50 qualifiers will make up the team for the national titles. 

•A strong turn-out gathered for the division 2 and 3 singles championships with more than 50 players at the LWC on June 30.

Division 2 was won by Rex Purcell from the Black Stallion, who defeated David Kearnes, of the LWC Warriors.

David Murfet, of the LWC Roosters, took the division 3 title from Max Brient, of Sunny Hill. 

•The Australian men's team finished runner-up to reigning champion England in the world eightball championships.

After finishing in fifth position and only just making the finals, the team qualified for the grand final by defeating Malta 11-6 and then Wales 11-10.

The women's team finished third, losing 13-8 to Wales in the semi, while the under-18 juniors finished on top of the ladder but were knocked out in their semi- final by India. 

•Cale Barrett, of Penguin, qualified for the quarter-finals of the under- 18 snooker championships at Kings Entertainment Centre in Melbourne.

Barrett, who only took up the sport this year, finished second in his group winning three matches from four, but lost his quarter-final 3-0 to eventual winner Kurt Brown, of Queensland.

Andrew Rainbow won one match from four played and Kyle Fisher and Josh Rainbow did not manage to win a match from their group.   

Up to date information is available at www.nteba.com.au and www.eightballtasmania.com.au, articles of interest can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

THE Perth Hotel's Troy Rudling beat Peter Miller from the Black Stallion to win the premier league category at the Northern Tasmanian Eightball Association's singles titles.

More than 40 entries were received across two divisions at the Launceston Work's Club. 

Division 1 singles winner was Rodney Martin (Retreat Hotel), who defeated Greg Homan (Duke of Wellington). 

The singles championships for divisions 2 and 3 will be held at the LWC on Tuesday, June 30, starting at 6.55pm. Entries can be made at www.nteba.com.au 

Close roster 

THE snooker season has been under way for eight weeks but ladder positions are still close. 

In the Wednesday night roster, LWC Green lead the way with last year's premier LWC Amber closing in to second.

The Thursday night roster has seen the LWC Blue team skip out to a handy lead, led by former State champion and reigning State billiards runner-up Graeme Pickett losing only four frames for the season to date.  

Northern victory

THE North won the annual John Williams Shield at the LWC. 

Made up of eight snooker players each from the North, South and the North-West, the North won after a count-back on frames, having been tied on 18 matches with the North-West after the last match. 

The North team comprised Steve Leary, Bruce Lockley, Andrew Saltmarsh (captain), Adrian White, Rolf Stevenson, Peter Fraser, Wayne Purdon and Michael Leslie.  

Junior team 

THE Tasmanian Billiards and Snooker Association will be sending a team to the Australian junior championships from July 5-11. 

Good luck to the two Northern players Andrew Rainbow (under- 18 snooker) and Josh Rainbow (under-15 billiards). 

World titles 

THE world eightball championships get under way in Blackpool, England on June 28, with Australia sending teams to compete in the men's, women's and junior sections. 

Eightball Tasmania has two representatives, Anthony Adams in the junior team (under-18) and Chris Forsyth (under-21 and emergency to the men's team). 

The men's team is also managed by Hobart's Phil Dando, who has been in the position for seven years. 

 

Up to date information is available at www.nteba.com.au and www.eightballtasmania.com.au, articles of interest can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.