Quartet Qualify for UK Seniors Championship
Rod Lawler, Wayne Cooper, Lee Walker and Peter Lines all put their names into the 16-player draw for the venue stages of the 2021 ROKiT UK Seniors Championship after emerging from the latest World Seniors Q School qualifiers last week.
Held at the Crucible Sports and Social Club in Reading, these were the last opportunities for hopefuls to book a place at the Bonus Arena in Hull – venue for the Championship between the 12th-15th August.
Former ranking event finalist and PTC event winner Lawler will make his main arena debut on the world seniors tour.
On his way to qualification, the experienced Liverpudlian made a 99 break in the deciding frame of his last 16 3-2 win over Richard Jones. On the final day he eliminated Johnathan Bagley 4-1 and repeated that result over Lines to make it through.
Cooper was a qualifier for the world seniors championship at the Crucible Theatre in 2020 and the Yorkshireman will be back at a big venue – this time in front of a live crowd – after he saw off consistent performer at this level, Darren Morgan, 4-1 in the final round.
Prior to that, Cooper dropped only one frame during his opening trio of wins before a 4-0 triumph over current professional Gerard Greene in the last eight.
Walker and Lines – who are both still on the main tour – booked berths via the second event held at the venue later in the week.
Welshman Walker relinquished only one frame in five matches, culminating in a 4-0 success against Brazil’s Igor Figueiredo. In the previous round, Walker finished off with a break of 107 as he dispatched the in-form Tony Knowles 4-0.
The final cueist to progress was former world seniors champion Lines, who got over the disappointment of just falling short in event one a few days before.
Following a hat-trick of 3-0 wins in the early rounds, Lines was taken to the limit twice on the last day, ousting Leo Fernandez and then number one seed Patrick Wallace both by 4-3 score lines.
Super Seniors Success for Morgan and Filtness
Elsewhere in Reading, there were two further Super Seniors events with prize money and all-important ranking points on offer.
Morgan claimed the honours in the opener on Thursday, compiling a break of 122 in the deciding frame of his 2-1 final win over Chris Cookson.
Gary Filtness secured another win on this particular circuit on Sunday after defeating John Hunter 2-0 in the final.
