The Pink Ribbon event

Snooker'S annual fundraising charity event, the Pink Ribbon, ended up being won by Gloucester's very own professional Robert Milkins.

Nicknamed the Milkman, Milkins, 41, defeated amateur Rob James, who also played some incredible snooker, to take the trophy and the £1,400 first prize.

A whopping £9,000 was raised in aid of the Breast Cancer Now charity, as the tournament was set up after the owner of the South West Snooker Academy had a family member pass away from cancer.

The event saw 255 entries - a mixture of professionals and amateurs with the qualifying amateurs playing in the first couple of days for the knockout.

The professionals came in on the weekend, and Rob James, the losing finalist was awarded £200 for the best performing amateur in the event.

Milkins had defeated fellow pro Craig Steadman in the semi-finals, a player who reached the Crucible in 2015, and lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round.

Last year, the Ribbon was won by Welshman Jamie Jones. Now the event is in its eighth year, with Michael Holt winning the first event, beating the six-times World Championship finalist Jimmy White.

Former World Champions Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan (see video below) have also won the event, when they entered, and players all wear pink to highlight awareness of the disease and Breast Cancer.

Over £73,000 has been raised for the charity from the event since its first appearance in 2010.

High hopes for 2017/18

Milkins is currently ranked 35 in the World and has reached six World ranking semi-finals including last season's Welsh Open. In 2014 he reached the final of a minor-ranking event on the European Tour, although no longer in operation since it was ditched from the calendar to make way for more major ranking events.

The Mllkman has already qualified for the first of 19 ranking events this season, the Riga Masters which begins towards the end of this month, and also reached the final stages of the China Championship.

He will be looking for a good season this season - but is still one of several top players who has not won a ranking event in the 40-year-old plus bracket who are still competing at the highest level in the game.

The likes of Anthony Hamilton and Mark King have already erased their names on that list of players never to have won a ranking event as they both won silverware last season for the first time; with Hamilton picking up the German Masters and King winning in Belfast and picking up the Alex Higgins trophy.

In the first pro-am of the season, David Grace amazed in Vienna.