At the English Billiards junior ranking event at the Maltings Q Club, King's Lynn, West Acre's Bruce Welham reached the semi-final.Welham, 17, lost to Ryan Clark of Hartlepool who is considered the UK's top junior player 426 (50, 51, 63)-181.

At the English Billiards junior ranking event at the Maltings Q Club, King's Lynn, West Acre's Bruce Welham reached the semi-final.

Welham, 17, lost to Ryan Clark of Hartlepool who is considered the UK's top junior player 426 (50, 51, 63)-181. Bruce, who is supported by the county council's Sports Link scheme, had earlier defeated West Lynn's Chris Drew in the quarter-finals 205-188 and another local player Newton's Mia Elliott 264-54 in the last 16.

Drew had defeated North Pickenham's Alex Ward 165-115 to reach the quarter-final stage. Benn Elliott (Newton) did well to reach the quarter-final also where he lost to Clark 415-83, Benn beat Middlesbrough's Jack Taylor 170-136 to reach this stage.

Swaffham's Beth Duke had a good win over Niamh Mackenna of Castle Acre who was making her national debut, 141-27, however Beth's next opponent Michael Robinson (Middlesbrough) proved too strong, defeating her 231-99. Indeed, Robinson pulled off a big surprise when beating Clark 245-182 in the final.

Gaywood's Dan Westwood did well to reach the Plate final, where he lost to Hartlepool's Ben Wanley 261-178. Dan had defeated Jack Taylor 78-67, Beau Elliott 63-30 and Mia Elliott 105-22 to reach the final.

These results leave Welham still ranked sixth nationally, however with his English championship qualifying points added he should move up to fourth.

Drew is now a very impressive ninth in his first season, Benn Elliott 14th while West Acre's Danny O'Brien is 15th, and Beau Elliott is the highest-ranked female player at 17th.