Abbas Delights in Dereham to Win Under-16 Title

Adam Abbas defeated Noah Gartell 3-1 to win the first event of the new English Under-16 Tour at the Woodside Snooker Centre in Dereham.

• Results

Abbas, aged 13, is the reigning two-time English Under-14 champion and proved once again to be the outstanding player in his age group as he secured the title in Norfolk.

The English Under-16 Tour has been newly introduced for the 2026/27 season and features three events for cueists aged 16 and under – with 31 players competing at the first tournament.

The eventual champion arrived at the Woodside Snooker Centre as one of the strong contenders but did not have things all his own way on Saturday – finishing second in the group phase after losing 2-1 to table-topping Faiz Majid.

Back-to-back half-centuries helped Abbas battle past Johnny Blaise Collier in a deciding frame on Sunday before he overcame Jack Wilding 3-1 in a repeat of this year’s English Under-14 Championship final.

A whitewash win over William Thomson then set up a title match contest against Gartell – who had beaten Emilio Bassilli, who had earlier made the tournament high break of 100 to earn another £5 donation for the EPSB’s official charity partner The Brain Tumour Charity.

Gartell, who was competing in his first EPSB final, took the opening frame of the best-of-five contest but Abbas was able to move ahead with a break of 62 in the third.

Abbas was then able to wrap up the victory by taking frame four by a 62-20 scoreline to secure the title at the Woodside Snooker Centre.

Event two of the English Under-16 Tour takes place at the Elite Snooker Club in Preston on 24-25 October. Enter now via WPBSA SnookerScores.