IT was a busy weekend for amateur UK snooker last weekend. Although the professionals have flown out to Daqing, China, to contest the lucrative International Championship won last year by Mark Selby, amateurs from across the UK were battling it out for "modest" prizes.

The winner of the IC will pocket a hefty £150,000. At the South West Snooker Academy in Gloucester, however, the ladies contested the Eden Women's Masters, with Hong' Kong's talented Ng On Yee scooping the title beating Reanne Evans 4 - 3 to collect the £800 first prize. It's the second time this season On Yee has beaten Evans, as in the Litetask UK Championship in Leeds back in the summer, On Yee lifted her third UK title.

Last season, Evans ended the season on a high with a great performance at the World Championship qualifiers down in Ponds Forge, Sheffield, by getting to the second round after beating Finland's Robin Hull. It was also an achievement for the 11-times World Champion Evans on Saturday, who earlier on over the weekend had made her third century break in match competition with a 139 in the last 16.

Fans lined up on Twitter to congratulate her on her incredible feat. Unfortunately, though the high break prize was a mere ridiculous £50.

In the Under-21s category, Chloe White beat the Under-21 UK Champion Emma Parker in the final in a deciding frame 3 - 2.

Double Scoop for O'Connor on English Amateur Tour

Miles away from Gloucester, in the Home of Snooker up in Sheffield, the second event of the English Association of Snooker and Billiards (EASB) was being contested on the English Amateur Tour at the highly renowned Star Academy.

It was a double sweet victory for England's Joe O'Connor, 21, who, in 2015 faced World Champion Selby in the first round of the UK Championship in York - but lost 6 - 0.

The year before, O'Connor got whitewashed by the same scoreline in the same tournament to Australia's 2010 World Champion Neil Robertson. O'Connor, a former champion pool player, beat a former snooker professional Steven Hallworth in the final in a best of 7 4 - 2.

at the Star.

World Champion Testimonial

He also racked the highest break of the event - a 113. Hallworth was also on the century tally list with a 103. World Champion Mark Selby rates the fellow Leicester potter, and back in 2014, told the BBC: "I have known Joe for many years. He won numerous titles playing English Pool. I think it is great he is giving it a go on the World Snooker Tour."

The winners of the six events on the EAT scoop £1000 prize money plus a free spot in next year's QSchool, a tournament where a handful of players qualify for the World Snooker Tour. O'Connor defeated another former pro-Kuldesh Johal back in Event One, down in Gloucester earlier this month. The EAT moves back down for Event Three in Gloucester, at the SWSA in early December.
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