Snooker teen’s professional dreams for 2013

FOR one Thurcroft teenager the perfect Christmas present would be to retain his status as the top Under 19 snooker player in England.

And Ashley Carty’s new year resolution is to turn professional in the sport he loves.

The 17-year-old has recently pocketed a win in a national event, beat a player ranked number 82 in the world and helped himself to victory in the Yorkshire Handicap competition in Bradford.

Proud dad John listed the youngster’s recent achievements: “He’s in a national series of five events, and they take the rankings from your best four results.”

“He got to the final in the first event, the quarter-finals in the second and he won the third, in Gloucester. That made him number one in the Under 19 category.”

“Last week in Sheffield he beat a player ranked 82 in the world, and then only lost 4-2 to Jack Lisowski who is 43rd in the world.”

“I’d have been happy if he’d just taken a frame off these professionals, so of course we’re really proud of him.”

Carty, who has been coached by Worksop professional Daz Presgrace, believes his game has come on leaps and bounds in 2012, thanks to lots of hard work at the practise table at North Notts Arena in Worksop.

He told the Guardian: “I feel like I’ve improved a lot in the last year, I’ve been practising with better players and I seem to be getting bigger breaks more often, I’m more consistent.”

“I have to thank the Arena for letting me practise for free, and my parents for supporting me, that has helped a lot this year.”

Along with retaining his place at the top of the rankings, Carty is hopeful of progressing even further in snooker next year.

“Hopefully I can turn professional, but if not I want to keep winning national events and keep improving,” he said.

And thanks to a new sponsorship deal, the financial burden of his entry into those national events won’t fall entirely on the Carty family.

John said: “He’s recently signed a sponsorship deal with Hudson Removals in Thurcroft, so they’ll help with entry fees for tournaments, and that will take some of the pressure off.”

“If Ashley progresses in these tournaments he’ll get a place on the professional circuit.”

Carty is in action in Surrey this weekend, in the latest English Association of Snooker and Billiards series event, before travelling to Scotland next week for a European tournament.

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