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'Whirlwind' shows he's up for city challenge
CROWD favourite Jimmy White produced a gutsy comeback last night to keep his Maplin UK Championship qualifying hopes alive in Sheffield.
The Whirlwind fought back from 4-2, 7-5 and 8-7 down to beat Yorkshireman David Grace 9-8 in their first round qualifying clash at the English Institute of Sport (EIS). And with a dramatic final frame victory will now face Welshman Ian Preece tomorrow in the second stage of this year's qualifying.
White, down to No 65 in the world rankings, saw Leeds-based professional Grace force the pace with runs of 82, 66, 49 and 44. But the six-time World Championship finalist pocketed breaks of 59, 69, 59, 57, 75, 52 and then 81 in decider to progress.
However, there's still a long way to go for the 46-year-old potter, for he has to win three more matches to qualify for this season's BBC-televised ranking tournament which runs from December 13-21 at the Telford International Centre.
Sheffield-based Chinese cueman Li Hang, who practices at the EIS, had plenty to smile about with a 9-3 victory over promising Welshman Daniel Wells.
This year's qualifying tournament finishes next Monday, just five days before the ranking tournament gets under way.
n Snooker results Maplin UK Championship qualifying (English Institute of Sport, Sheffield) - 1st rnd, England unless stated: J White bt D Grace 9-8, S MacKenzie (Sco) bt V Muldoon (Ire) 9-4, P Davison bt W Cooper 9-5, M Couch bt S Mazrocis (Hol) 9-7, J Jones (Wal) bt R Stephen (Sco) 9-8, L Hang (Chi) bt D Wells (Wal) 9-3.
Today's schedule (session times 10.00, 2.30 and 7.00): Simon Bedford v Jin Long, Patrick Wallace v Stephen Craigie, Lee Spick v Chris McBreen, Matthew Selt v Andy Lee, Kuldesh Johal v Aditya Mehta, Lewis Roberts v Atthasit Mahitthi, James McBain v Liu Chuang, Rodney Goggins v Declan Hughes, Supoj Saenla v Andrew Pagett, Peter Lines v Michael Georgiou.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
