Connie Gough National Championship

RONNIE O’Sullivan’s cousin Maria Catalano will be bidding for a fourth straight Connie Gough National Championship when the women’s snooker circuit descends on Luton on Saturday.

The 27-year-old from Dudley joins a 23-strong field at Rileys, in Leagrave Road, for the World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association’s fifth ranking event of the season.

Catalano defeated world number one Reanne Evans 3-2 in last year’s final.

She said: “I love winning this tournament, especially as it’s a memorial tournament for Julie’s (Hemingway) mum. It’s a little bit more special than all the others, apart from the World Championships.”

The great Kelly Fisher, now the Women’s Professional Billiards Association’s 9-ball pool champion in the US, won the Connie Gough in five successive years, from 1999 to 2003.

Four-time world champion Evans, who partners Catalano in the European Team Championships in St Petersburg, Russia, on March 18, claimed the Connie Gough title in 2004.

Catalano has five WLBSA titles to her name. This season she has appeared in three finals, each time losing to Evans.

SR Cues Ltd are donating a £395 Majestic Rosemary A cue to the winner.

Swindon schoolgirl Jodie Symes, 14, makes her WLBSA tour debut after being awarded a scholarship.

The £600 Connie Gough National Championship is the fifth of six WLBSA ranking events this season. Cambridge Snooker Centre hosts the World Championships in April. Evans will be bidding for a record fifth straight world title.

Connie Gough National Championship

10am Saturday, March 7, 2009

Rileys

Unit 2 Britannia Estate
Leagrave Road

Luton

LU3 1RJ

Tel: 01582 731315

Entry list:

WLBSA provisional rankings

Next ranking event:

2009 World Championship

April 4-9, 2009

Cambridge Snooker Centre

Coldhams Road

Cambridge

CB1 3EW

Tel: 01223 249661