Judd Trump, the 2009 Championship League winner, moved a step closer to a return to the Premier League Snooker competition by winning Group Three of 2010’s Championship League, last night.

The 20-year-old sealed his place in the winners’ group after defeating Mark Allen, 3-2, in the Group Three play-off final; and also overcame the challenges of Neil Robertson, Marco Fu, Ali Carter and Joe Perry earlier in the session.

Trump had previously failed to qualify from Group One and Two, but he made sure of his place in the winners’ group after beating Carter 3-0 in the play-off semi-final, before a narrow 3-2 win against Allen.

The left-handed player had enjoyed a tremendous start on day one of Group Three, winning all four of his first four matches, and only slipped up against Stephen Hendry on day two of the group.

“I’ve played decently in spells but I probably played better in the first two groups as I’m still missing a few easy balls,” Trump said.

“I enjoy this event, I don’t know what it is about it but I just relax and play well. It’s a good tournament and I like the atmosphere.

“It’s just more quick-fire compared to other competitions and the best-of-five format suits me.”

He now joins Stephen Maguire and John Higgins in the Championship League winners’ group, which is scheduled to take place in the last week of March. The winner of that will be guaranteed a place in the Premier League Snooker competition, and Trump will be keen to get there again after reaching the semi-finals of last year’s tournament.

An exciting and talented youngster, Trump caught the attention of the snooker world in 2004 by hitting a competitive maximum break of 147 aged just 14 years and 208 days. It was a remarkable achievement made all the more exciting by the fact he had broken Ronnie O’Sullivan’s record set in 1991.

Since then, the Bristolian – nicknamed Haircut 100 because of his boyband hairstyle – has continued to progress at a fast pace, and is expected to be a major challenger for the big prizes in the sport before too long.

Rob Swan