Bonney birthday for billiards star Emma

BIRTHDAY girl Emma Bonney added the English Ladies Open Billiards Championship to her three world titles in Norfolk on Sunday, July 13.

Left to right: Clive Scott (EABA), Emma Bonney, Eva Palmius, Karin Wannemacher, Joanne Davies, Beau Elliott, Peter Cooper (EABA).

Forced to get up at 5am on her 32nd birthday to make the 180-mile trip from her home in Portsmouth, Bonney won all four 45-minute round-robin matches at The Maltings Cue Club, Kings Lynn.

“I managed to score well and win quite convincingly which was pleasing,” she said. “I was glad I made the long journey.&rdquo

Bonney defeated former Swedish pool star Eva Palmius 186-62 in a repeat of the World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association world championship final in Cambridge in May.

And she proved too strong for Karin Wannemacher, Austrian women’s snooker champion in 2006 and 2007, 15-year-old Joanne Davies from Derby and Kings Lynn 13-year-old Beau Elliott, who is 17th on the EABA junior rankings.

The WLBSA sanctioned ranking event was run by Phillip Welham, English Amateur Billiards Association (EABA) regional coach and chairman of the EABA Junior Committee.

RESULTS (breaks)Emma Bonney (31, 51) bt Eva Palmius 186-62, Karin Wannemacher bt Joanne Davies 160-52, Bonney bt Beau Elliott 191-42, Palmius bt Wannemacher 107-77, Palmius bt Elliot 67-49, Bonney (50) bt Davies 211-57, Davies bt Elliot 124-44, Bonney bt Wannemacher 165-79, Wannemacher bt Elliot 131-45, Palmius bt Davies 98-75.

Picture: John Davies