ACCRINGTON potter Chris Norbury has come out fighting after losing his professional tour card, vowing: ‘I’ll win it back.’

Norbury was unsuccessful in his bid to qualify for the professional tour through his recent efforts at the National Qualifying School.

However, he said: “I’d be crazy to stop – I’m only 28 and I still feel I can come back.

MORE TOP STORIES:

“It is a setback, but I’ve decided to go on the circuit in Europe for the next six or seven months and work even harder.

“If I can get my rankings up over there, I could get my tour card back for a couple of years.”

He added: “There’s no way I’m going to pack it in because snooker is such a big part of my life.”

Norbury, who runs the Elite Snooker Club in Lostock Hall with business partner Shokat Ali, reached the last 64 in the 2013 UK Snooker Championships.

The last year has proved a difficult one, though, and with Norbury ranked 108th he was relegated from the tour.

“I played very poorly at the first Q School event - I was never in the hunt,” he said.

“In the next I was three frames down and the guy I was playing against began showboating.

“I thought it was disrespectful. It got my back up.

“I didn’t like that one bit, and something snapped.

“It really put me in the groove, and I hauled it back to 3-2.”

Although Norbury raced into a 42-0 lead, he was eventually defeated 4-2, ending his hopes of a tour card.

“I was proud of the way I fought back – I played some really good snooker - and the fire was burning again.

“At least I showed it is still there, that’s the main thing. I’m definitely going to carry on and, hopefully, I’ll be able to get my card back soon.”