Snooker ace Mark holds exhibition in Minnesota club on Sunday

SNOOKER ace Mark Allen will display his talents in Ballymena this weekend.

The world number seven-ranked player – fresh from his success in the Haikou World Open in China - will play an exhibition in the Minnesota Snooker club this Sunday, March 18, from 5pm.

There will be no admission for the exhibition but club officials are hoping that the general public will support a raffle aimed at raising funds for the Cullybackey Road club’s thriving junior section.

“We’ve never had as many juniors as we do at present,” Minnesota official Brian Hannaway told Times Sport.

“At present we have 13 youngsters playing in a junior league on a Sunday and seven or eight of them also play in our club handicap competitions on a Saturday.

“Some of them are starting to play in ranking tournaments across the country and we hope that with the funds raised from the raffle at Mark’s exhibition that we can buy them waistcoats with the club logo etc on them – it makes the youngsters look and feel that bit more professional.

“It’s great to see so many young players taking up the game and being coached.

“Some of them will be playing against Mark in the exhibition – he is a real hero of theirs so you can imagine how excited they are at the thought of sharing a table with him.

“Minnesota is now Mark’s ‘home’ club and he is always very keen to help the club out in any way he can and particularly to help out the young players because he remembers what it was like himself when he was starting out in the game.

He will also be bringing the World Open trophy he won in China and there will be an opportunity for fans to meet Mark and have their photographs taken with him and the trophy.

“It certainly promises to be a great evening and hopefully the public will come out and support it, which in turn will help the next generation of snooker players in Ballymena,” added Brian.

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