YORK VX ace Scott Snowden defended his senior title at the National Singles Championship.

Snowden was leading 46-35 against old rival Tom Hildreth in the final of the sport formerly known as Rock-It-Ball, before his opponent had to retire after taking a shot to his eye in the second half.

Earlier, Snowden had won all his group games with the key match a clash against his stablemate Carl Alsop.

The latter led 40-34 at the midway point, but the champion fought back to clinch a tight 73-69 victory.

Alsop went on to be edged out 85-79 by another York player Will Charters-Reid in the third/fourth place, play-off contest, but received a notable consolation prize when he won the competition’s Cornerstones Award, recognising his honesty, integrity, sportsmanship and respect.

In his group matches, Charters-Reid had lost narrowly to Hildreth 97-95 but won the rest of his fixtures.

In the Masters, York’s Leigh Branton finished runner-up to reigning champion Paul Hilderth, pipping Easi-RockIts’ Karen Bruin into third place by virtue of a superior strike difference of just two.

Bruin beat Branton 46-35, avenging her World Cup defeat in 2016 but, after the York ace also went down 50-36 to Hildreth, he stormed back to defeat Ricky Gibson 61-16 and Northallerton’s Dave Snowden 59-56.

When Bruin then lost to Snowden 77-67, Branton was confirmed in second place.

In the juniors, York pair Cain Branton and Abbie Webster were competing at national level for the first time and finished with ninth and tenth-placed rankings respectively after meeting each other in a play-off.