ST PETER PORT schoolboy Jez de la Haye is off to the World Pool Championships in Blackpool later this month. De la Haye, 13, clinched his place with his victory at the Taunton regional tournament in which he shocked himself by beating the England number one at under-18 level.

‘I didn’t think I’d get far at all,’ said the youngster on his return.

‘I didn’t expect to do well,’ he added.

De la Haye, who practises most days and between six and eight hours per week, survived a scare in the quarter-final stage, where he won 4-3, but in the final he destroyed the England number one, Terry Gibbs, 5-2.

The youngster is a product of the Blind O’Reilly’s pool school run by the Guernsey World Pool Association through coach James Le Cras.

Meanwhile, a delighted Adrian Locke, chairman of the Guernsey World Pool Association, said de la Haye’s success was a big fillip for the local game.

‘We’re really proud of him. It’s a brilliant achievement and shows that our youth development programme is working.’

De la Haye has been playing pool since the age of eight and loves the sport.

He has already forced his way into the CI under-18 team and says his immediate aim, after the World Championships, is to win the CI Junior Champion-ship.

‘I want to keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully I’ll get better,’ he said.

Le Cras, his coach, says the lad was a future senior island men’s champion.

‘He’s a very good player . . . a very good potter and good temperament.

‘He’s very keen and always practising.’