FORMER world champion Stuart Bingham edged past Ebbw Vale’s Jackson Page at the ManBetX Welsh Open snooker but he believes “the sky is the limit” for the 16-year-old amateur.

Bingham, who is the defending champion at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena, fought back from 1-0 down to beat Page 4-2 in round two of this year’s tournament.

But the 41-year-old from Basildon, who won his world title at the Crucible in 2015, was full of encouragement for his opponent after the match.

“I’m glad to get through, Jackson is a very talented 16-year-old,” said Bingham.

“I think at 16 I only had one 100 break to my name so for him to go out there and perform the way he does is unbelievable.

“He’s thrown his arm at a couple of shots when he probably needed to tighten up a little.

“He went for a long blue at the end and when you’re 3-2 down sometimes you have to bite your lip and play a safety shot.

“But he’s 16 and you can’t moan about that – the sky’s the limit for him.

“It took me 20 years to pick up trophies and if you keep believing you’ve got every chance,” he added.

“He’s got a good mentor behind him in Mark Williams and winners breed winners so it’s only going to rub off on him, I think.”

Page, a world and European champion at under-18 level, made the third round of last year’s Welsh Open as a 15-year-old and he feels his game has progressed well over the past 12 months.

And he’s confident he can follow Cwm star Williams in enjoying success in the professional ranks.

“I’ve definitely progressed due to playing with people like Mark,” said the talented teenager.

“My safety has improved and I feel every aspect of my game has improved because I feel more comfortable out there now.

“I’ve learned a lot and when I watch Mark play I think I can do what he’s doing if I keep practicing.”

Page took the first frame against Bingham with an impressive clearance of 80 and levelled at 2-2 before the Englishman showed his experience to get over the line.

“I started well but towards the end my consistency dropped and I took a dodgy blue on at the end,” added Page.

“But I felt alright. I didn’t play too bad and I’ll take the positives from it.

“He fought back well and it’s always tough against the top players.”

On a day when big names like Judd Trump and Ding Junhui crashed out in the capital, five-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan had no such problems.

The 42-year-old breezed past 2006 world champion Graeme Dott, winning 4-0 to book his place in the third round of a competition he’s won four times before.

Asked what he put his good form down to, O’Sullivan said: “Food, relaxing and probably not playing as much as the other players.

“I’m picking and choosing [events] and enjoying my life and just having a good time, really.

“I’m into my health and fitness and running but because of injuries I couldn’t run as much so I started to get a bit fat.

“Fat for me. I wasn’t fat but I felt a bit chubby so I decided to work with a nutritionist and one of the benefits of that was feeling good in myself and having more energy.

“I take my diet more seriously now than I ever have done. It’s like fine-tuning a car.

“I’m not getting any younger and at this stage of my career I need to try to use any advantage I can get and that’s what I’m doing.”