Champion Canavan Continues Channel Islands Snooker Dominance
Jersey champion Aaron Canavan defeated Guernsey champion Paul Le Sauvage 5-0 to win the 2025 Channel Islands Snooker Championship.
Canavan has now claimed the Channel Islands crown for each of the last four consecutive years. It is the 12th time overall that the 49-year-old has won the title and he maintains his 100% record of having never lost the unique champion v champion challenge match.
Pitching together the recent winners of the respective Jersey and Guernsey championships, the two biggest islands in the region take it in turns each year to host the encounter – this year it was held at the North Social Club in Saint Sampson, Guernsey.
Former world seniors champion Canavan took control of the tie early on, compiling a break of 71 on his way to securing the opening frame before doubling his lead. An effort of 50 helped him to a 3-0 advantage before he reached the hill with frame four. Canavan finished the contest in style, fashioning a run of 101 in the fifth frame to complete a whitewash.
This dozen of Channel Island triumphs came just days after he won an incredible 14th Jersey championship title.
For six consecutive years now, Canavan has conquered on the island. What’s more, it is the third year in succession that he has not dropped a single frame en route to glory. The last time he relinquished a frame was during a last 16 match against Brett Campbell in the 2022 edition. Canavan’s last defeat in the competition was the 2019 final when he was ousted 4-3 by Gary Britton.
In this year’s title match staging, Canavan registered breaks of 60, 67 and 73 in a 4-0 victory over former winner Karl le Fevre. It was the third year in-a-row that the two had met in the final.
A few weeks after his latest domestic glories, Canavan went all the way to the final of the 2025 World Seniors Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre where he was stopped by Alfie Burden. In his semi-final match, Canavan produced a memorable comeback as he pipped Dominic Dale, 6-5, having been 5-2 down.
Le Sauvage completes hat-trick of Guernsey crowns after 24-year wait
Although the Channel Islands title would prove to be a step too far, Paul Le Sauvage can look back on a fantastic domestic campaign in Guernsey that saw him win his third island crown.
Winner of the Guernsey Snooker Championship in 1994 and 2001, Le Sauvage ended a 24-year wait for his hat-trick, rewriting the record books in the process with the longest gap between titles in the 94-year history of the competition.
In the early rounds of this year’s event, Le Sauvage eliminated Ali Gilliland 3-1, Kate Le Gallez 3-0, and John Skillet 4-3, before recovering from 3-1 behind to dethrone defending champion Adam Shorto 4-3 in the semi-finals. Shorto had lifted the trophy in each of the last two years.
In the final at the North Social Club, Le Sauvage scored a 5-0 win over Roscoe Cloarec to regain the island’s top snooker prize.
