'Tommy the Tornado' aiming for world snooker glory
· Yahoo Sports
A nine-year-old boy has set his sights on becoming a world snooker champion.
Tommy, who has the nickname Tommy the Tornado, first picked up a cue aged six and fell in love with the sport. He went on to play competitively against teenagers and alongside adult professionals.
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"I'm going to be the world number one," the Stourbridge youngster told the BBC.
Tommy, who has autism and ADHD, competed in the World Snooker Federation (WSF) Junior Championships in Bulgaria in January and in Morocco last year.
He is believed to be one of the youngest to have taken part.
Tommy's dad James says his son's passion for snooker started at the age of six [BBC]"My mum took him to a snooker club when he was six years old, and he spent a whole hour putting the ball into the bottom bag from the top on a 12ft (3.7m) x 6ft (1.8m) table," his dad James said.
"That's how we found out that he had something and he enjoyed it, so he kept going.
"He's an amazing child. Everything he does, he's dedicated to this. When you put him in the suit, he feels like a superhero because he then becomes Tommy the Tornado."
In snooker, a player's personal best is known as their break, it is the highest number of points they have ever scored during a single turn on the table, and the maximum possible score is 147.
"In a match I've done 47, and then when I've just been practising, I've done 147," said the youngster, who trains at Atack Snooker Club in Nuneaton.
He has showcased some of the games he has played against much older players on social media and it has led to him being recognised in his hometown.
"We've had messages from China, we've walked around our shopping centre and he was dressed normally but we had loads of people following us, it was just surreal," James recalled.
He is set to head to the Netherlands and Ireland to compete.
Sending a message to his favourite player Ronnie O'Sullivan, Tommy said, "he's the best, but he's not going to be the best for long because I really want to beat him".
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