THE inaugural East Lancashire Snooker Championship is down to the quarter finals and co-organiser Jonny Hannan is excited to see the best in the business battling it out for glory.

Past and present Fosters Golden Cue champions, current Challenge Tour players and some of the best potters in East Lancs will be aiming to reach next month’s finals weekend.

The quarter finals take place on successive Tuesdays and Thursdays - starting with last night’s clash between Golden Cue champion Peter Mercer and John Barnes.

Tomorrow night, ex-Golden Cue champions, Simon Blackwell and Farakh Ajaib - who are both on Challenge Tour - go head to head. Next Tuesday former professional, Justin Astley takes on Hannan - who won the large table title in this year’s Golden Cue competition - who is still flying the flag for the organisers.

And the last quarter final match sees Shabaz Ditta, the surprise package of the tournament, taking on the brilliant Jack Dady.

Meanwhile, the draw for the semi final of the Plate competition has been made.

Russel Large faces a tough trip to Clitheroe to face Gary Simkin and Lee Baxendale faces the youngest competitor still left in the tournament, Sean Ince

“It’s going to be a fantastic climax to both competitions,” said Hannan who runs the competition with Jonny Clark.

“I’m so excited to see how it’s all going to unfold. We have two players competing on the Challenge Tour facing each other, we have the overall Golden Cue champion, we have an ex pro and we have the Golden Cue large table champion trying to do a big double.

“We also have the ever consistent Jack Dady and two players who could defy all the odds and go all the way.”

  • The Plate final takes place on Friday, November 2. The main competition semi finals will be held on Saturday, November 3 with the final on Sunday, November 4.