Sport

Robbie McGuigan makes winning start to UK Championship bid

The Antrim rookie pro will face China’s He Guoqiang on Monday after beating Habib Sabah 6-3 in Leicester on Sunday

Robbie McGuigan
McGuigan won his opening match in qualifying for the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship in Leicester (TAI_CHENGZHE)

ROBBIE McGuigan won his first match on the WST tour since the end of August on Sunday, beating Bahrain’s Habib Sabah 6-3 as qualifying began for the Victorian Plumbing UK Championship in Leicester.

The 20-year-old from Antrim enjoyed a fine start to his career in late summer but has fallen to a series of defeats since winning two matches at the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.

He didn’t get the best of starts against Sabah but recovered from 2-0 to lead 3-2, and although Sabah levelled at 3-3, McGuigan reeled off another three frames on the spin to close out victory.

He now faces He Guoqiang on Monday afternoon. Cork’s Aaron Hill is also in action on Monday, against Ka Wai Cheung of China.

Jordan Brown suffered a 6-2 defeat at the hands of Florian Nuessle of Austria