Snooker: Leslie given tough group in Montreal

Bonnyrigg's 18-year-old snooker star Michael Leslie is part of a three-strong Scottish contingent hoping to make a big impression at the World Under-21 Snooker Championship, which starts tomorrow at the Sheraton Montreal Airport Hotel in Canada.

Leslie will be joined by rising star Scott Donaldson, 17, of Perth, who was No.1 in the Scottish under-21 rankings last season and arguably the most improved player in Scotland during the last two seasons, and highly-rated 16-year-old Rhys Clark of Hamilton.

Leslie, who narrowly missed out on winning the European Under-21 championship earlier in the year, losing out in the final to Poland's Kacper Filipiak, will be hoping to go one better this time round but he will have to be at his very best in a tough group and a strong field. Ireland's Vincent Mundoon, who was runner-up at the recent European Mens Championship in Bulgaria, and Noppon Saengkham, World Under-21 champion in 2009, will compete in Leslie's group. Perth hotshot faces China's Anda Zhang in his section.

The event, which will last ten days, begins with a round robin stage, with four players from each of the eight groups qualifying for the knock-out stages.