MacGillivray charges on in Latvia

Granton cueman Craig MacGillivray booked his place in the last-64 of the European Amateur Snooker Championship with a 4-0 whitewash over Alexander Iljin (Latvia).

MacGillivray was in fine form, making breaks of 89 and 76 on his way to a comfortable victory which ensures that he will finish top of his group with four wins out of four and will seeded number four when the knockout stages start tomorrow in the Latvian event.

MacGillivray said “Whilst I was favourite to win my group I am pleased with how I played so far. The conditions have been quite difficult with the table lighting much different to what I am used to but I have been scoring well and have not really been troubled so far.”

When asked of his chances of returning to Scotland as European champion, MacGillivray added “If I can keep playing like this I will be in with a chance but there are a lot of good players left and it will be tough.

“Based on what I have seen from the opposition so far, I think that the winner could very well come from Scotland or Ireland, however it is hard to say during the group stages as the competition doesn’t really start until about Tuesday as we approach the latter stages.”

James McBain(Glasgow) came from 3-1 down to defeat England’s John Whitty 4-3 to lead his group with one match remaining whilst Scott Donaldson(Perth) whitewashed Rene Vaxelaire (France) to top his group.