Concentrating on his snooker career has done nothing to harm Chris Melling's pool form.

The Keighley cue ace became the first player to retain the Embassy International Masters when he beat Jason Twist from Ilfracombe 10-6 at Blackpool Hilton Hotel.

It also made him only the second player to win three Sky TV pool events - the other being experienced Welshman Rod McKenna.

The first three rounds of the competition were staged at the Warwick Hilton and Chris beat Paul Dunkey (Birmingham) 8-3 in the first round, Andy Cross (London) 8-5 in the second and Bradford's Mark Slater 8-5 at the next stage.

Then it was on to Blackpool for the closing rounds with Chris beating Andy Barrett (Rugby) 8-3 to reach the semi-finals and Kevin McCallum (Corby) 9-4 to claim his place in the final.

It was a see-saw final encounter with Chris finding himself 3-0 down early on, only to strike back and take a 6-3 lead by the interval. He remained in control to retain the title and also claimed one of the fastest frames - just 29 seconds - during one of the earlier rounds.

The International Masters event is due to be shown on Sky TV from August 12-16.

Next event on the calendar for Chris is the qualifiers for the European Masters at Coventry Hilton next month.