CI team members (left to right) Paul Watts, Rob Priaulx, Miles Plumley, Richard Sutton, James Kirk, Lianne Priaulx, Dorota Piskorska, Alicia Corbin and Rachel Chandler surround CIPA chairman Trevor Kirk. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0716625)

THE Channel Islands are looking to improve on their performance last year at the 2009 European Eight-Ball Pool Tournament.

Next Monday sees the biggest event in the European eight-ball pool calendar gets under way in Dundalk, near Dublin.

A CI team including eight Sarnians will battle it out with the best players from 10 other European countries including England, Scotland, France and Greece in the week-long event.

‘We’re always aiming to improve,’ said the Channel Islands Pool Association chairman, Trevor Kirk, who is travelling with the team.

‘But if you imagine a large room with 15 or 16 tables all playing while everybody is giving their teams support, it can be bedlam.

‘It’s very intense, because you’re playing at such a high level. One miss and you sit down because you’re not coming back.

‘It can be intimidating as well because you realise you’re playing world champions.’