A WOMAN in her 60s who took up snooker two years ago plucked up the courage to enter her first tournament.

Sarah Pendarves said it was “nerve-racking” competing in the Saturday afternoon Open Series at Chandler’s Ford Snooker Club but she was put at ease by her “very kind” first opponent, Christopher Brown.

Fellow competitor Mickey Joyce, 11, whose highest break is 62, hailed the 64-year-old as “cool”.

Despite losing both matches on her debut, Pendarves described the experience as “excellent” but “tiring”, adding: “You learn a lot by competing.”

The personal tax accountant from Hamble, whose favourite green-baize star is five-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, was introduced to the game by a friend in 2012 and plays socially once a week at the Literary Institute in Lymington.

Explaining the fascination with snooker, she said: “You have to concentrate and it’s absorbing.

“You get into it. If you’re not tired, you want to play more and more and more.”

WEEK-3 RESULTS (16 RUNNERS) First round: Charlie Pringle 2 David Stewart 1, Steven Hughes 2 Michael Göz 0, Pete Jordan 2 Joe Organ 1, Christopher Brown 2 Sarah Pendarves 0, Dan Sykes 2 Austen Petty 0, Olly Gibbs 2 Jamie Wilson 1, Mickey Joyce 2 Scott Foster 1, James Budd 2 Oliver Sykes 0. Quarter-finals: Hughes 2 Pringle 0, Jordan 2 Brown 0, Gibbs 3 D Sykes 2, Joyce 3 Budd 0.

Semi-finals: Jordan 2 Hughes 0, Joyce 3 Gibbs 1.

Final: Joyce 2 Jordan 0.

Plate final: Wilson 2 Stewart 1.

Breaks: Budd 31, Jordan 20.

Top ten: Paul Allen (Hedge End) h/cap -1, 25 pts; David Stewart (Odiham) -7, 23; Mickey Joyce (Basingstoke) -12, 22; Olly Gibbs (Gosport) -1, 17; James Budd (Fareham) -23, 16; Pete Jordan (Bitterne) 14, 16; Steven Hughes (C/Ford) 11, 15; Charlie Pringle (C/Ford) 30, 12; Oliver Sykes (C/Ford) 30, 11; Jamie Wilson (Portsmouth) 5, 10.