Morgan Continues European Seniors Dominance

Darren Morgan claimed his 13th EBSA European Seniors Snooker Championship after a 5-3 victory against Gary Milne in the final of the 2023 edition held at the Perunika Hall in Albena, Bulgaria. 

Victory for the prolific Welshman also sees him qualify for the 2024 World Seniors Snooker Championship, an event he won in 2011.

Players representing 20 different nations entered this year’s event which was being held alongside several other continental championships in South-East Europe. 

Former professional world number eight Morgan won all three of his matches without dropping a frame as he topped his group and progressed to the knockout rounds.

The 57-year-old then eliminated Ville Pirilä (Finland) 3-0, John Farrell (Ireland) 4-0 and Peter Bullen (Belgium) 4-0 to reach the semi-finals where he faced Wayne Brown (England) in a rerun of last year’s final. Brown won the opening frame with the help of an 80 break, but Morgan registered runs of 82, 62 and 51 as he strung together four frames in-a-row to make the final yet again. 

Playing in the event for the first time, Englishman Milne qualified second from his group and then saw off players from Northern Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland before ousting Wales’ Philip Williams 4-3 in the last four.

However, Morgan was in no mood to relinquish the trophy as he won three consecutive frames from 3-2 down to retain the Championship. 

The result means that Morgan maintains his perfect record in EBSA Seniors Championship finals. He first won this title in 2007, and he has triumphed at every staging since 2015; it’s now eight successive titles (no event held in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic).

Last year’s World Seniors champion Lee Walker crafted the highest break of the tournament – a 117 during the groups phase. Walker bowed out to Williams in the quarter-finals.