Scotland’s Michael Leslie excited after winning 2012 U-21 European Snooker Championship
Scotland’s young snooker player, Michael Leslie put up an excellent display at the Dedeman Hotel in Sofia, Bulgaria in the final encounter of 2012 European Under-21 Snooker Championship where he defeated England’s Shane Castle by an easy score line of 6-2.
The Scottish potter started the tournament impressively with noticeable victories in the round robin formatted group matches and then in the initial stages of the tournament. During his run in the advanced stages, Leslie did not face any resistance at all
and grabbed a couple of whitewash wins in his campaign.
His final encounter against was a piece of cake for the 19-year-old Scotsman as he cruised into 4-0 lead instantly in the first session with the help of some sensational knocks of 46, 76, 42 and 121. The Englishman, Castle sprang back into the game at the
start of the second session with back-to-back frame wins by the score line of 25-62 and 0-84 to move within two frames up at 4-2.
Before Castle could do more damage to Leslie’s match lead, the Scotsman fought back to take two consecutive sets to claim the 2012 European U-21 title by 6-2. The young Scotsman was quite excited after winning the title as it will lay a foundation for his
future in Snooker.
Speaking to the local media after grabbing the title, Leslie said, “I cannot believe it yet. It feels like a dream. I’ve dreamed of this a few times, that I’d won the final, and thought please don’t be a dream, but then woken up and been gutted.”
He added, “I think maybe a wee bit of experience showed in the final which made the difference. Shane is absolutely amazing. He’s going to be a top player, one of those players you look at and I think he’s got everything. Of course nothing is guaranteed
but he’s absolutely brilliant.”
Leslie was astounding from the start of the tournament topping his group in the round-robin formatted Group matches. With his win in the European Championship, Leslie has earned a two-year pro tour card and will be participating in the professional snooker
events in the next two years.
Tags: