CARDIFF & DISTRICT SNOOKER ASSOCIATION

The individual competitions start this week with the Cardiff Open Pairs final between Tom Cross & Kevin Brown of Taff’s Well B and Dan Bridle & Alan Morgan of Senghenydd/Savoy on Thursday 9th May at Taff’s Well Ex-Serviceman’s Club.

Cross and Brown will be looking to become the first pairing to win the title twice in the 21st century, so here at the CDSA we thought we’d take a look at the history of the competition and the previous winners.

Our records for the Singles and Pairs competitions goes back to 1983-84 when the first winners of the Cardiff Open Pairs were Joe Delaney and Clive Brown who beat Steve Burns and Paul Jenkins in the final, although Burns and Jenkins lifted the trophy two years later in 1986.

The 1990s were dominated by Richard Humphries who appeared in three consecutive finals alongside partner Spencer Symmons, winning in 1994 and 1995, but losing the chance to complete the hat-trick the following season in 1996.

The twenty years of the 21st century has seen different winners every season starting off in 2000 with Kevin Brown and James Llewellyn’s victory over Richard Humphries and Graeme Prance, with Spencer Symmons holding the record for the most wins with 4 titles to add to the two he won in the 1990s.

However, Rhys Carpenter holds the record for the most final appearances since 2000 with five, although he’s been on the losing side on four occasions, including three-in-a-row from 2009-2011.

There have been two occasions when the same pair have won both the Cardiff Open Pairs and the Cardiff Handicap Pairs, firstly in 2010 when Huw Carpenter and Layton Brooks lifted the title, and then in 2014 when it was the turn of Savoy’s Sam Thomas and Ryan Rowlands.