Darryl Hill reached the last 32 at the EBSA European Snooker Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria last week

The 21-year-old was competing in the event in a bid to return to the professional circuit, with the winner of the championships earning their place on the tour.

Hill was in imperious form during the group stages as he got off to a flying start in the championships to top his group.

In his opening match he got the better of Ukraine’s Vladyslav Vyshnevskyy 4-1 before dominating Finland’s Joona Koskela 4-0.

He then claimed a notable scalp as he came back from 2-0 and 3-1 down against former Scotland professional Michael Collumb from Scotland, eventually clinching the match 4-3.

Hill’s final group match was against Nikolai Georgiev of Bulgaria and once again Hill was in superb form, running out a comfortable 4-0 winner to secure top spot in the group.

As as result, Darryl progressed into the knockout stages where he faced Malta’s Jason Peplow and his fine form continued as he triumphed 4-1.

In the last 32 he took on Peplow’s compatriot Duncan Bezzina but Hill’s run was to end there as he went down 4-1 to the Maltese player.

Despite that, Hill was pleased with how the championship went, commenting: ’Generally I was happy how the week went. I was pleased to be back in an international event after a few months out and the officials of the organising association - the EBSA - have always been good to me so it was good to see everyone again.

’The group matches went well. I started quite confidently and seemed to be finding some form quickly which I needed to do as I knew my third match was going to be the toughest, playing Michael Collumb of Scotland.

’This was my first real test so I was interested to see how this match went and also how I performed once I had some pressure put on me.

’Michael started better than me and with a 57 in frame two went 2-0 up. I then had a decent 62 break which settled me, although I lost the next frame which angered me a bit - in a best-of-seven match I was 3-1 behind which I knew then was going to be hard to come back from.

’However, I got the match back to 3-3 and from my break-off shot, Michael slotted a long red in and left himself just about on the black but it was tough.

’He then missed that black and left me a few open reds with the cluster so I just started taking it ball by ball and eventually I won the frame and match from that chance, so that was very satisfying and probably my best result of the week.’

Away from the action in Bulgaria, Hill was also approached by the International Billiards & Snooker Federation regarding the Isle of Man’s participation in a new event in Qatar.

’Whilst I was in Bulgaria I was approached by a member from the IBSF who host the World Amateur Championship with an interesting invitation for me.’ explained Darryl.

’The IBSF is hosting a brand new tournament in Qatar called the World Team Cup and it is an invitation-only event for 24 teams of two players. Initially, as it was based on results from last year around the international amateur scene, the Isle of Man didn’t receive an invitation, but three teams have withdrawn.

’I was told that if I could find a partner within 24 hours then the island would be offered a place in this. After consultation with the other committee members, the Isle of Man accepted this place and I am competing in the event with Sean Corkish.

’Sean, who was the 2016 island champion, has won two events this season including the Champion of Champions and has competed internationally on many occasions over many years, most recently in the Home Internationals tournament last August where I also competed.

’The format is that 24 teams are put into eight groups of three. The top two teams will qualify and the matches are the best-of-five frames, with the first two being individual frames and the third is an alternate shots, scotch doubles frame.

’If required, frames four and five are then reverse singles from the first two frames.

’The tournament runs from next Tuesday, February 27 until Friday, March 2 and we are travelling on Sunday night.

’Live scoring and streaming will be available throughout the event on ibsf.info. Isle of Man snooker is very pleased to have a place in this new world event.’