Snooker: Simon Bedford is hoping a knuckle injury will not keep him out of the finals of the Riley's UK Tour Event Four in Stockport, which start on Monday.

The 23-year-old from Fairweather Green contracted the injury after an incident at Leeds station.

"I thought I might have to miss the tournament, but I hope to make it now as the injury seems to be healing OK," he said.

"Although I still have the British Open and World Championships to add, I don't think I will qualify for next year's main tour by being ranked in the world's 106.

"So my hopes are likely to rest with the UK Tour. If I manage to finish in the top 100 there, that should be enough to go through as most of the leading players will qualify by their world rankings.

"I face Darren Clarke in the first round, which isn't a bad draw."

East Bowling's Wayne Cooper - through to his first UK Tour final stages - meets Iceland's Kristjan Helgason at 2.30pm. Helgason, 25, is a former European amateur champion and beat Bedford in this year's World Champion-ship qualifying.

But Harry Cooper, father of the 20-year-old, says: "If Wayne plays like he did in qualifying for Stockport, then I think he has a good chance. Wayne made good breaks, and that is the sort of thing you must do against players of this calibre."

Peter Lines of Leeds is the third West Yorkshire qualifier through to Stockport. He meets Notting Hill's Nick Pearce (2.30pm).

l Jason Prince must wait and see if he has qualified for next year's top 64 on the main tour. The 28-year-old Birstall-based Ulster-man is waiting for his results to be added from the last two ranking tournaments.

Bedford admitted: "Jason seems to think he has missed out on a top-64 place, but others aren't so certain because players above him in the rankings have been doing poorly too."

Bradford's teams complete their Yorkshire Inter District League fixtures on Saturday at Lilycroft WMC. The billiards team meet Huddersfield No2 and the snooker team face Wakefield.

Teams - Billiards: Paul Devitt, Stephen Kershaw, Richard Lodge. Snooker: Wayne Cooper, Kevin Firth, Matthew Holt.

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