HOLDER Wayne Cooper failed to make it through the qualifying stages of the Yorkshire Snooker Championship at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds.

However, two players from Bradford did advance to the quarter-finals – Cooper's representative team-mate Lewis Walsh and surprise package Daniel Farmer.

Cooper was knocked out 3-1 by Castleford opponent Mikey Tomlinson in the last 16, while Walsh had a nail-biting 3-2 victory against Josh Walker.

Farmer, who plays for Haworth Cons in the Conservative League, fully deserved his place after wins against Joe Markie (3-1), Neil Connor (3-0) and Paul Lawson 3-2.

Walsh, meanwhile, beat Darren Goy 3-0 and Chris Thorpe 3-1 on the way to facing Walker, who had beaten English Amateur finalist Sean Wilkes 3-2 in the previous round.

Of the other Bradford entries, 2010 champion Gareth Green was working away and unable to make the event to face Cooper in what would have been a mouth-watering tie.

Anthony Green won his first match 3-0 against Gary Ambleton but fell to Richard Binns of Leeds by the same score.

Kevin Firth also won his opener 3-0 against Mikey Gaughan but lost 3-1 to eventual qualifier Tommy Doherty from Leeds, who also beat Damian Bentley 3-0 and Russell Morgan 3-0 en route.

Mark Ball made the last 16 but narrowly lost out on qualification to Wakefield's Chris Hall, while Hanif Rafiq fell 3-1 at the first-round stage to Sheffield's James Dabell.

In addition to Walsh, Farmer, Tomlinson, Doherty and Hall making the last eight, former professional Jonathon Bagley (Leeds), Martin Finnigan (Sheffield) and Declan Bristow (Harrogate) will also compete on Sunday, April 10 for the right to play the end-of-season final at the Yorkshire Billiards & Snooker Association's presentation night.

In the Yorkshire Inter-District League, only Bradford No 2 played at the weekend in Division Two, beating Castleford No 2 5-1.

There were 2-0 wins for debutant Stefan Risidi, who also had a break of 91, and Peter Hamilton, while captain Hanif Rafiq drew his match.

* Three-time Bradford snooker champion Gordon Craven has died peacefully aged 88. The funeral date has been set for Monday, March 21 at Scholemoor.