The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Spalding and District Snooker League ace Mark Gray came agonisingly close to being a World Cup winner on Sunday.
Gray, who plays for Bourne Snooker Centre in the Spalding league, was part of the England B side that were beaten 10-8 by Chinese Taipei in the World Cup of Pool final.
The 42-year-old, nicknamed “Granite”, was one half of the England B side with Daryl Peach at the event held at York Hall, Bethnal Green.
Dynamic duo Gray and Peach led 5-1 and 7-4 in the final, but missed a few big chances to extend their lead and allowed their opponents to launch a comeback and pip them at the post.
Gray was making only his second appearance in the competition, having also partnered Peach in 2008. They also reached the final then, but lost to the USA. England B beat Sweden 7-4, second seeds Philippines 7-4, former world champions Finland 9-4 and Japan 9-7 on their way to the final.
Gray said: “We played great to go 5-1 up in the final, but we messed up easy clearances that would have put us 7-2 up. From 7-4 the game seemed to slip away from us, but Chinese Taipei were pre-tournament favourites and had the current 9-ball and 10-ball world champion Ko Pin Yi in their team.
“I’m gutted to have lost, but reaching the final twice in two appearances is a great achievement.
“The result completes a decent month for me as I also reached the semi-finals of the World Pool Masters.”
The Masters, a 16-man invitational event, was held in Manchester. Gray beat world champion Ko Pin Yi 8-5 before producing one the best showings of his glittering career to come back from 6-3 down to win 8-6 against legendary German cue ace Ralf Souquet.
Gray won five frames in a row without missing a shot.
However, Granite was then beaten 8-4 by fellow Englishman Darren Appleton in the semi-final.
It was a tough mental test for Gray, who found it hard to concentrate on the game after hearing his young daughter had been taken to hospital.
Meanwhile, Gray went out in the last 32 of the World Championships in Doha, Qatar earlier this month.
He beat opponents from Egypt and Singapore before again coming from behind (5-9) to beat Souquet 11-10. Gray then lost 11-10 to world number six John Morra from Canada after leading 10-8.
This week Gray, who is ranked number two in Europe, plays in a Euro Tour event in Holland.
