Ryan beat Gary Flitness 3-0 in the final and also made the highest break of the day with a 121.

Two Grove players were met each other in the second round, Chen Zhe beating Sean O’Sullivan but then losing to Ryan in the third round. They had beated Jaspal Bamota and Marriane Williams in the first round respectively.

Ryan said, “I am delighted to have won the first Qualiying event and I am delighted to have a chance to play against professionals for the first time. Whatever happens I am greatly looking forward to the experience and I cannot wait to get up to Sheffield next month”.

Ryan goes on to the last 128 of the first World Open and will play at the qualifying event which takes place in Sheffield from 21 August.

Thursday

Chen Zhe was once again the first Grove player to take part, in the amateur qualifying round, and made a winning start, beating Shahrukh Nasir by 4 frames to 2. Zhe made breaks of 41 and 40 to go 2-0 and finished with a 75 in the decisive frame.

Friday

Liu Song started his tournament with a 4-0 victory against London youngster Danny Douane but then had a tricky second round match against world no 28 Gerard Greene who came out on top 4-1.

Saturday

Chen Zhe’s first round opponent was Nick Jennings who won the tie 4-1, although Zhe did manage to get a break of 92 in the second frame.

Two Grove players – Matthew Selt and Zhang Anda – met in the first round, with Matthew winning 4-0. However Matthew was unfortunate in the second round losing 4-1 to Kuldesh Johal.

Main Tour debutant Jack Lisowski had a very tricky first round tie, being drawn against world no 23 Stephen Lee, and was edged out 4-3 depsite making a break of 97 in the fourth frame.

Judd Trump made it through to the last 32 after beating David Gilbert and World No 19 Joe Perry but was defeated on Saturday evening by Liam Highfield 4-2 in the third round. Judd did set the highest break of the tournament so far against Joe Perry, with a superb 144.

The final Grove player taking part was U-21 Asian Champion Liu Chuang. Chuang beat Reanne Evans 4-2 in the first round; Reanne was taking part in her first professional match and there was additional media attention for both players. Chuang then beat Ben Harrison 4-0 before being unlucky enough to meet Mark Selby, who was on fire that day, overcoming Chuang 4-0 with breaks of 127, 111, 59 and 55.

The Grove is one of 20 clubs in the UK hosting qualifiers for the new World Open.

Now everyone has a chance to take place in a ranking event and be drawn against one of the best players in the world!

Entry is just £5 and the winner will join 19 other club winners, 12 wildcards and the 96 professional players on this year’s Main Tour. This is a unique opportunity to get to play on one of the world’s biggest snooker stages.

You can download an entry form from here: http://www.worldsnooker.com/site_files/click_here.pdf

You can then send this on to us at 1 Faringdon Grove, Faringdon Avenue, Romford RM3 8TD with a cheque for £5 made payable to “Grove Leisure”.

Thursday

Chen Zhe was the first Grove player to take part, in the amateur qualifying round, and was unfortunate to lose 4-3 to Stephen Ormerod having raced into a 3-0 lead.

Saturday

Zhang Anda went out in his 1st round match to Alfie Burden, 0-4.

Two Grove players found themselves drawn against each other – Liu Chuang edging out Jack Lisowski 4-3. Chuang started with breaks of 46, 70 and 62, and Jack came back with 85 and 77 but wasn’t able to win the deciding frame.

Liu Chuang then came up against Barry Pinches and lost 3-4, being beaten 24-73 in the deciding frame.

Liu Song beat Robert Milkins in the first round 4-3, including breaks of 59 and 79, but then was defeated in the last 64 by Paul Davison by the same scoreline, 3-4.

Matthew Selt also won his first round game 4-3, against Craig Barber, but was then defeated 4-2 in the second round by Xiao Guodoung.

Judd Trump had the most success of the Grove players on the Saturday. He played and won all three matches – 4-1 against Jack Jones in the first round, including breaks of 55, 83, 68 and 111; 4-3 against Liam Highfield in the second round and 4-2 against Paul Davison in the third round, in a match which finished around 2am.

Sunday

Judd was up at around 8am to get ready for his morning match against Mark Williams in the last 16, but probably could have done with a bit more rest as he was defeated 4-0.

Mark Williams went on to beat Barry Pinches, Jamie Cope and Stephen Maguire to become the first ever PTC winner. The second PTC event takes place in Sheffield from 9-11 July.

The Global Snooker website have also written a feature about Jack and you can see it by clicking here.

Jack is the winner of the 2009/10 PIOS and is also the new English Amatuer Champion and we’re hoping that his good form continues.

Questions and Answers with Jack:

When did you start playing snooker?

I was 7 when I got my first table, but I probably started playing when I was 5. I didn’t have a table then, I would lie on the floor hitting golf balls and ping pong balls with a pool cue.

I was fascinated by watching snooker on television and I particularly remember one match between Mark Williams and Ken Doherty which got me hooked on the game.

I wanted to join a snooker club and my dad said I could, on condition that I read Danny The Champion Of The World by Roald Dahl. I don’t know if that was because he thought it would help my snooker or whether he just wanted me to finish my reading first! I then joined Westgate Snooker Club in Gloucester, at the age of 8.

Did this give you a taste for competition at an early age?

Yes it did. I started to play in the handicap competition every Saturday and I won it soon after I joined – it was a big deal for me, I had become the youngest winner ever. I started to receive coaching from Nick Pearce, a former professional, and he gave me a lot of encouragement to carry on and try and improve my game. I continued to improve and I made my first 100 break at the age of 10, while playing Nick.

What was your best early success?

The first big tournament I went in was the Pontins Star Of The Future tournament in 2002 and I won, beating Michael White in the final 2-1, winning the deciding frame on the black ball. In the same month I won the English Under-13 title, beating Liam Highfield in the final.

When I was 13 I took apart in the European Under-19 tournament in Riga, Latvia. I lost in the quarter-final.

How did your improving snooker affect your schooling?

At the age of 16 I passed 9 GCSEs but I decided to leave school at this point and concentrate on my goal of becoming a professional player. However it was around this time that I became ill – I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. This led me to take a year out from snooker (and life in general!) The following year I was well enough to start playing again and rejoined the PIOS tour. I reached the final of the second event I played, which was a big achievement for me to have improved so much after taking so much time away from competitive playing. It gave me a lot of confidence for the following season – 2009/10.

Do you feel you came back from your break a better player and stronger person?

Yes I did. I played in all eight events in the 2009/10 PIOS tour and I won 2 events – the first and last ones. I also reached 2 semi-finals and I ended up with the highest points total in the five-year history of the competition. At the end of the 2009/10 I also won the English Amateur Championship.

What is your highest break?

My highest break in practice is 147 which I have half a dozen times. The most recent was while playing Ding Junhui in Sheffield, while breaking in a new cue.

In competition my highest break is 143 which I achieved during an English U-21 ranking tournament in 2009.

Are you enjoying life away from home?

I’m currently sharing a house with Judd Trump. We’re good friends, as Judd comes from Bristol and I’ve seen almost every weekend for years at one junior tournament or other, as he’s just a couple of years older than me.

I’m now living and practising in Romford and I have to admit I prefer it to Sheffield. There’s a definite buzz being nearer to London and Romford is a vibrant town. I hope the change of scenery will help me have an explosive start to my professional career!

Neil became the first Australian to win the title by beating 2006 winner Graeme Dott in the final, and rises to an all-time high of number 2 in the World Rankings.

They successfully completed an intensive two-day training course with official World Snooker coach and former pro Gary Filtness, pictured middle.

The Grove Academy can help you improve your game, whatever your standard! Get in touch with us for more information.

Sean has had another great season which ended with Sean reaching the final 8 of Riley’s Search For A Star competition.

Anda showed why he is one of the game’s hottest prospects after getting within a few shots of a phenomenal upset. World number 10 Hendry had been cruising at the start of this clash leading 4-0 but Anda’s fearless battling qualities, witnessed in his four qualifying matches last month, got him back to 5-4 down for Sunday’s finale.

Hendry, who was last crowned world champion in 1999 when Anda was just seven, began the evening with a break of 50, only to see the frame stolen when Anda coolly knocked in an 86.

The Scot soon settled and a 65 helped him gain a two-frame advantage to lead 7-5 but the sloppy errors continued and the “Mighty Mouse” nabbed the 13th after 30 minutes of compelling combat.

Four frames followed for Anda, which included a 76, but he was unlucky not to secure the match in the 17th as the tension mounted inside the Crucible.

Hendry though was left to fight another day after his highest break in the tie of 89 set up his remarkable and gritty comeback, completing the job with a 55.