A break-through win for Craigie.

TALENTED teenager Stephen Craigie celebrated a magnificent win in the final of the European Billiards and Snooker Associations (EBSA) Under-19s Championship in Glasgow.

In doing so, the Walkerville player moved a step closer to fulfilling his ambition of becoming a full-time professional.

Having come through the round-robin play-offs to top Group A with 16 wins from his 18 frames and, with breaks of 74, 72, 70, 68, 59 and 52, Craigie moved into the last-32 knockout stages as the competition's new No 4 seed.

He made good progress to reach the quarters by out-scoring Scotland pair Ross Higgins (ranked 29) 4-2 and Robert Carlisle 4-1 with breaks of 95, 91, 81 and 57 before going on to take his place in the semis with further breaks of 98, 90 and 65 (2) to scrape past fellow England international Stuart Carrington 5-4.

Ireland's Vincent Muldoon, the top seed, proved no obstacle for the confident young Geordie, who finished off a 5-0 beating with a superb run of 118.

Craigie's final hurdle was against Scotland's Anthony McGill, who had earned third place in the rankings with terrific break-building which included century runs of 140, 135 and 103 (2).

With the final now the best of 11 frames, Craigie made the better start and quickly raced 4-0 ahead with a top break of 73 in the fourth.

After sharing the following two frames to make the score 5-1, McGill went on to close the gap even further by winning the tactical seventh 62-35.

However, his chances slipped away after Craigie wrapped up the frame 64-1 to claim the match 6-2 and the title.

An extra bonus for the winner came with the announcement the EBSA will be recommending that Craigie be allocated a place on the World Snooker Association (WSA) 2008-09 Main Tour.

YOUNGSTER Jonathan Bradley secured the honours in Saturday's Consett Supa Snooker under-16 ranking tournament after dishing up an easy 3-0 final win against 13-year-old Philly Marshall.

Even with a 14-points-a-frame start, Marshall was never in the game and could only look on as Bradley took the first 61-37, the second 67-45 and the third 90-22 with a 28 and the highest break of the day - a 45 clearance.

Bradley kept his unbeaten record in the semis by out-scoring Nial Balmer 2-0 with runs of 30, 31 and 35.

Marshall, on the other hand, had his work cut out and had to go all the way to the decider before getting the better of Conner Gibb 2-1.

In the final of the following day's Open Pro-Am, Norman Leslie had to pull out all the stops before scraping past pool player Kevin Rainbow 4-3.

With neither player showing any real form and the highest break a 28 from Leslie in the third, it came as no surprise the game went all the way to the decider.

Leslie eventually won it 70-53 with a late 22 to claim the match 4-3 and the first prize.

While Leslie was firing in the day's top break of 70 to squeeze past the previous day's winner Jonathan Bradley 4-3 to reach the final, Rainbow was booking his place with a top break of 66 and a 4-2 defeat of promoter Johnny Watson.

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PRIZE GUY: Stephen Craigie with his trophy