York Students lead England to victory
With the amount of publicity professional snooker receives in Britian, it is hard to believe that few students on York’s campus are aware that two of our own representatives helped lead England to win the BUSA Home nations tournament in 2003.
York Students Andy Marshall and Matt Tugby, both members of the national student snooker squad, competed in the championships in Belfast last year on the five-man team.
Tugby, making his debut at the international level, won the first 3-0, as the team ended up hanging on for a 9-9 draw against Scotland.
In the second match, however, they were able to overcome Northern Ireland 11-7 and beat the favoured Republic of Ireland in the finals.
This year, 30 York students are practicing to compete in the BUSA championships in mid February, where a five-man team will compete. Tugby, who will play in the BUSA individual event, said his “main ambition for this year is to win the competition.” He has been playing snooker for 5 years.
Tugby hones his skill by competing on the York city squad and is ranked second in the city. Just last week he took his ability to the next level when he hooked a 92 point break.
The team is not only looking towards the BUSA competition, but Roses as well. “2003 was a disappointing loss, and we want to come back strong this year,” said Tugby.
The snooker team practices weekly in local pubs, due to the fact that there are no full sized snooker tables on campus. Tugby intends to begin campaigning for a table, “It is ridiculous that a team like Belfast, who we knocked out easily along the way in BUSA, has six full-sized tables, and York, a much better squad, does not have one,” commented Tugby.
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