Bradford snooker player Wayne Cooper, was surprisingly knocked out of the World Seniors Snooker Championship qualifying yesterday, coming second in his group to Peter Lines.

Cooper formed part of Group A alongside Mukesh Parmar, Kevin Kelly and Peter lines, the latter the only player to defeat Cooper in the three matches played.

The defeat came in the Bradfordian’s first game, where he lost 3-2 on frame scores. After going 2-0 up, 60-58 and 60-54,Cooper let the lead slip as Lines swept up the table with three consecutive frames, 50-64; 34-63 and 13-64.

Cooper bounced back by defeating the experienced Kelly in a 3-0 whitewash and also Parmar by the same scoreline. Unfortunately for Bradford’s snooker veteran, the defeat vs Lines prevented him from progressing to the semi-finals.

Cooper, a renowned name on the West Yorkshire snooker scene and also record 10-time Bradford champion, said: “I was pretty confident going into the tournament.

“I’d done my two and a half weeks of practice leading up to the event and I was feeling pretty good about putting on a performance.

On his future plans, Cooper added: “That’s it until next season now. The next one for me is Alexandra Palace in January, which will be great.”

The North London venue, also known as “Ally Pally” is famous for hosting big events including: Masters Snooker and William Hill World Darts Championships.

On his performance,Cooper said: “I played okay in fairness. The only game I did lose was to Peter which was unfortunate because I was 2-0 up.

“Peter used his experience well. All these years on tour and taking part in weekly competitive matches worked to his advantage.

“You just can’t beat match practice. He plays all the time, so he was sharp, his positional play was quite a bit better than mine and he was used to playing on star tables.

“I usually play on my club table. As quick as it is, it doesn’t play like a star table.

After being 2-0 up on frames against Lines, Cooper admitted: “When I was 2-0 up , I was clearing colours up to get a respot and I had a massive kick on a black. I’m not saying I would have won the respot, but it’s a black.

“You would pot a hundred times out of hundred, but for some reason it got a massive kick on it and it changed the game to be honest.

With the current pandemic, crowds continue to be absent from sporting venues and Cooper said: “The event was good but it’s extremely strange having no crowd there. There was a limit of sixteen players aloud in too so yes it was very odd. It was dull and extremely quite.

“When you hear crowd noise it gives you that extra boost so it was disappointing not having them there.”