THREE Gwent snooker players have reached the quarter-finals of the second Welsh Billiards and Snooker Association's ranking event of the season.

Ian Preece and Darren Thompson of Newport qualified from the Dna Club, Pontyclun, and Neil Tomkins from the Green Baixe Club, Swansea.

Preece, who was the 1999 world amateur champion, defeated fellow Welsh international Byron Sage 3-0, Matthew Farrant 3-1 and season professional Steve Newbury 3-1 on his way to the last eight.

Thompson had wins over Steve Beynon 3-0, Allan Tanner 3-2, Paul Newbury 3-0 and David Donovan 3-1.

Tomkins had superb breaks of 98 and 60 on the way to a 3-0 win over Swansea's Mark Tucker.

He then defeated Calvin Howells 3-0, Marcel Price 3-2 and Andrew Padgett 3-2 on a final frame respotted black.

The other quarter-finalists are Gavin Pantall (Llanelli), Aled Brothers, Paul Crippen and North Wales pair Peter Roscoe and Gareth Coppack.