Biography:

I started playing on holiday in 1998. I got addicted really fast and wanted to play more so my dad (Boris) looked up some places to play around our area and we then found the Rainbow Snooker Club where some top players at the time were playing, I learnt from them, Mainly Tanny Iqbal, Dave Perrott, Les Jones, Benge, Eddie, Stuart Cree and My Dad. They were all kicking my ass for a couple of Months till i got alot better and learnt a brush pass and Snake. 

I won my first OS title at the end of 1999 beating Bruce, Tanny and Tich along the way, I was 13 at the time and I was really happy. My confidence was always high and relishing beating older players was very motivating and to my advantage as they didn't want to lose to a kid, lol.

In 2000 I went to the HOFC in Las Vegas with my dad. We took 4th in Rookie Doubles and I think I was 5th in Rookie singles, I also won 17&Under doubles too. I was really Satisfied with these results as no brittish player in the past has ever done anything in the states before. I took alot from this tournament, meeting lots of top players which improved my game by 100%.

In National Events I teamed up with Dave Perrott and my dad teamed up with Stuart Cree. Dave helped me improve my mental game and developing other options to my game which i didn't know about, like a Straight Pull shot, I only went long before it. We made a successful team winning a lot of national tournaments.

In 2001 I went to the Tornado Worlds in Dallas with Dave P and my Dad, I was 15 at the time. I went there as the highest seeded rookie with expectations to win it. That was until i got there and saw tony spredeman playing as a rookie, I faced off against him about 6-7 times over that weekend in nearly every event. I was 2nd in Rookie Doubles, 2nd in Rookie Mixed, 4th in Rookie Singles and 2nd in 17&Under doubles, losing the final to tony S and Ryan Moore in the final on the last ball.

I was dominating the UK Scene by this time and then we went to the Dutch open in November of 2001, all the top Euro pro's were there, Jamal, Fred and the germans along with the top dutch players and some brits. I played the winners final of OS against Frederico, all the crowd were behind me, I won 5-3 in the 5th game. I then beat Fred/Henk Habets in the DYP too just after it. In the Final of Both fred came back and beat me twice, i was satisfied with the weekend.

At the Worlds in 2002 in Dallas Me and Wolfgang Reszler won Semi Pro Dubs in a field of over 230 teams. Coming from the Losers side we beat a texan team twice in the final, i was over the moon.

The Same year I was at the Garlando Worlds where I saw a completely different style of play, tic tacking, faster different shots which amazed me at the time and I started to practice all of them so I could bring everything i learnt into my own style of play which left my opponent guessing on what will happen next.

During the next couple of years my game didn't really improve as my results showed in the States, didn't really have any good results as I turned pro and had no other events to fall back on, my results in Europe though were very good, winning in Austria a few times and getting to World finals on Garlando, Roberto Sport and Eurosoccer. My tornado game wasn't going anywhere though.

During 20005/2006 I made a couple breakthroughs over in the States, probbably because I was living with Billy Pappas for a number of months and we were practicing alot together and learning different things, I feel I was part of a reason as why billy was soo dominant in them 2 years, he won the worlds both years I was staying with him. My results were quite good too, winning Pro singles and Doubles in 2005 worlds, Taking top 3 in OM a couple times in Vegas and placing top 5 in OS in most tournaments. This gave me more confidence against the Top players and playing them more made it easier for me.

In 2006 was the last world cup, we took a good team and we played our hearts out, we were unfortunate to get drawn against france in the 1st round as it was a bonzini team and most players weren't comfortable on this table, hopefully this time around we are ready for them and any team we come up against. But we played good matches against Canada/Germany showing we can compete at the top level as a Nation.

This World Cup we are taking the strongest possible team IMO, we have experience on all the tables and all the squad have had much more internation experience. I have noticed over the last 2 years there is a new  crop of players who are standing out in the UK playing to a much higher level than before. I am proud and honoured to captain this team and I can't wait to get stuck in!

Wish us the best of luck!