POOL: Young-gun Elliot pots international crown (From Oxford Mail)

POOL: Young-gun Elliot pots international crown

10:20am Saturday 27th October 2012 in Sport

YOUNG Oxford star Elliot Hooper has won an international under 18 tournament at the tender age of just 15.

The teenager, from Botley, teamed up with Josh Jones. from Derby, to win the Home Nations Under 18 Doubles Cup in Dublin.

They recorded a 3-1 victory in the final to lift the crown.

It’s the biggest triumph for Hooper, who took up the sport at eight, playing at the King & Queen pub in Wheatley, and who went on to play for the England junior side four years later.

He has even played a number of times for the England Under 23 side.

“My ambition is to become a professional player, although there’s not a lot of money to made from it,” said Hooper, who attends Lord Williams School in Thame.

He does not play local league pool, but instead plays for the Oxfordshire county youth side in a series of matches.

Elliot now practises three or four hours a week at the Crown House, Cowley Road Oxford.

“I don’t play any other sport,” he said. “I played football for about six years, but gave it up, because pool comes first.”