Lincoln snooker player Steven Hallworth has won back-to-back events despite Storm Babet causing his practice room at RAF Waddington to shut
Steven has practiced on the RAF Waddington base for over 20 years, but has been unable to recently since Storm Babet caused the ceiling to fall in and leak water onto his snooker table.
Originally from Skellingthorpe, Lincoln, Steven is the only professional snooker player to come from the city.
He fell off of the professional tour last season and is now applying his trade in snooker’s English Amateur Tour. Steven has won the first two events of the season, achieving a rare back-to-back. Speaking to LincSport, he said: “I’m delighted. To win two on the spin is great.”
“I want to win everything I play in to stamp my dominance.”
He won the opening event in September, before winning the second event in the last weekend of October.
Steven’s sole aim is to return to the professional tour. He has played snooker legends like Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins over the years, and faced former world champion Mark Selby in-front of 2,500 people in Berlin.
He said: “I’m focused on getting back on the pro tour. I want to get to the European Championship and do it through that route.”
Steven’s consecutive wins have not been straightforward, battling through the adversity of a ruined practice facility. “I can’t use my practice table because of the storm. I played for two hours all last week,” he said.
His practice room has been declared an electrical hazard because water is leaking through the ceiling near to electricals. So, Steven has been forced to significantly reduce his practice from his usual eight hours a day.
However, he says it might been a blessing in disguise, as he celebrates his recent success and looks ahead to the next tournament. He said: “I really want to do well. I’m aiming for three in a row, I don’t think that it’s ever been done before.”
Steven will look to complete a hat-trick in the third event of the season on November 18th-19th, in Reading.