POTTING queen Jan Hughes brushed off defeat against Ronnie O’Sullivan’s cousin to rocket to Plate final success at the WLBSA East Anglian Snooker Championships held in Cambridge at the weekend.

POTTING queen Jan Hughes brushed off defeat against Ronnie O’Sullivan’s cousin to rocket to Plate final success at the WLBSA East Anglian Snooker Championships held in Cambridge at the weekend.

Grand granny Hughes, 61, who is from St Neots, was defeated 3-0 in the first round by world number two Maria Catalano - cousin of three-time men’s world champ Rocket Ronnie - in the main competition.

But that didn’t stop her storming to victory in the Plate competition, which she achieved by beating Tina Owen-Sevilton, who is ranked 15 in the women’s world rankings, 2-0 in the final.

Impressive Hughes didn’t drop a frame on her way through the Plate, also seeing off world number seven Jenny Poulter 2-0 and then Naomi Clare, ranked 19, by the same margin.

It means Hughes, who represented England Ladies during the Home Internationals back in September, currently sits 22nd in the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association (WLBSA) rankings.

She said: “I lost to Maria but wasn’t too disheartened, as she went on to reach the final against Reanne Evans, who is number one in the world.

“In the Plate, I didn’t drop a frame in my three matches. It was the first time I had managed to beat Jenny and, as I’d never taken a frame from Tina, it was very nice to beat her 2-0.”

Hughes now turns her attention towards the British Open, which is being staged at the Pot Black Sports Bar in Bury St Edmunds on Saturday, November 27.