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Six of the Best for England at the 2026 HIBSF Championships
England dominated the 2026 Home International Billiards and Snooker Championships (HIBSF) by winning six titles at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.
It was a second successive year of dominance for England, who also won six of the seven titles on offer at last year’s event, as they secured glory across the Main, Junior, Seniors, Women’s and Billiards events.
The annual Championships, which are organised by the HIBSF, returned to West Yorkshire for six days of competition from 7-13 August.
ENGLAND RETAIN MAIN TITLE
The England quartet of Lewis Ullah, Daniel Womersley, Daniel Boyes and Bradley Cowdroy earned their country a fourth Main event title in five years by beating Wales ‘A’ 7-1.
Three successive 7-5 wins in the group stage against Northern Ireland ‘B’, Wales ‘B’ and Republic of Ireland earned the sole England side a place in the semi-finals, where they then overcame Scotland – once again by a 7-5 winning margin.
In the final they faced a Wales ‘A’ team made up of Thomas Lancastle, James Matthewman, Charlie Bolton and Luke Vokes after they had beaten Republic of Ireland in the last four.
The Welsh outfit proved to be no match for the host nation, however, as Ullah, Womersley, Boyes and Cowdroy earned the title with a 7-1 win.
SENIORS SHINE
There was a stunning double for England in the Seniors competitions as they won the title in both the Masters (over-40s) and Over 55s tournaments.
An all-England final in the Masters event guaranteed that the title would return to the country for a second consecutive year – having previously not been won since 2018.
Ultimately it was the England ‘B’ side of Neal Jones, Robert Marshall, Simon Bedford and Andy Yates who defeated the England ‘A’ outfit made up of Wayne Brown, Ian Martin, Steve Crowley and Steve Donner by a 7-4 scoreline in the final.
Elsewhere, there was joy in the Over-55s competition for Nick Pearce, Gary Miller, Karl Townsend and John Leahy as they beat Wales ‘A’ 7-5 to win the title for England ‘A’.
SEVENTH HEAVEN FOR UNDER-16S
England’s remarkable run in the Under-16s competition continued as Adam Abbas, Jackson Pope, Nicholas Ayers and Faiz Majid ensured that the title was won by an English side for a seventh successive year.
The quartet romped through their group with an aggregate scoreline of 31-5 across their three matches before downing Republic of Ireland ‘A’ 7-3 to reach the final.
The title match was an all-England affair as England ‘A’ met with England ‘B’ – featuring Jacob Corbett, Johnny Blaise Collier, Noah Gartell and Asten Sahota.
It was the ‘A’ teams day though as they ran out 7-4 victors to earn a famous win at the Northern Snooker Centre.
KILLINGTON SISTERS SCORE ENGLAND HAT-TRICK
The England ‘A’ team of Zoe and Laura Killington won in dramatic fashion by defeating Scotland ‘A’ in a play-off to make it three successive victories for England in the Women’s event.
The sisters, who are both ranked inside the top seven of the World Women’s Snooker (WWS) Tour’s under-21 ranking list, won all of their group matches before defeating Wales ‘A’ in the semi-finals.
Before the final, there was also success for England ‘B’ as the team of Rose Nicholson and Lesley Roberts whitewashed Wales ‘B’ in the third-place Cup final.
Meanwhile Scotland ‘A’, made up of Natasha Kent and Gillian Hayes, awaited England ‘A’ in a dramatic final that went all the way to a play-off before the Killington sisters made it three wins in a row for their nation.
BILLIARDS BRILLIANCE IN LEEDS
England ‘A’ retained the title in the Billiards event on the final day of the Championships to round off the week of action in style at the Northern Snooker Centre.
The team was captained by reigning EPSB national champion Robert Hall and also included Peter Sheehan, Jonathan Marwood and Robert Marshall – the latter of who become the only England player to win the title in two categories, having also done so in the Over-55s competition.
Following an impressive group phase, a 2-1 win over Jersey ‘A’ set up a final meeting with Northern Ireland ‘A’.
A 3-0 victory followed to earn England the title in the Billiard tournament for the second year in a row.
