Teenage snooker sensation Peter Devlin aims to be the best player in the world, to win the World Championship title more times than Stephen Hendry and more than anything else, to do it all with his mum watching in the crowd.

Sixteen-year-old Devlin, who lives in Leyton, left Walthamstow’s Holy Family College last year to concentrate on a blossoming career in snooker.

This month the confident youngster claimed his 16th title at the Upton Park Snooker Centre, where he trains four hours a day, three days a week.

He’d like to play more however. Devlin’s parents split up when he was younger and his mum sometimes has to work through the night to pay for him to play tournaments.

“My mum is extremely supportive, she works really hard, I don’t know how she does it,” he said.

“She works through the night – crazy hours to fund my practice and my tournaments and I want to pay her back.

“I’d like to play more but I have to be careful with the money because I don’t have sponsorship at the moment.

“Hopefully I can pay back all the hours and work my mum puts in for me. It would be great if I could win the World Championships or a major tournament and have her see me win. I would love it if that happened.”

Devlin first played snooker when he was ten years old but problems at home saw him take a three-year break from the game.

Playing catch up with his rivals isn’t easy but that hasn’t hampered Devlin’s self-belief and determination to succeeed.

“I want to be world number one and world champion more times than Stephen Hendry. I set my ambitions high because if you don’t set them high you won’t want to work so hard,” he said.

“If I can enter more tournaments and get more experience I can start entering the tournaments where you turn professional and then move up the ranks from there.”

The professional game doesn’t faze Devlin, who captained an England Under-16s team earlier this year and came from 53 points down to win a decisive frame.

He insists the big stage, and the style of play deployed at a professional level, will play to his strengths.

“A few people I know have turned professional and it takes them a long time to settle in but I know that because of my game, when I turn professional it’ll be a lot easier for me,” he explained.

“I play a more defensive game and I’m a lot slower. I’m very controlled and I’m very confident so I won’t be fazed by the big stage. The tough part is getting there.

“I think the game is 90 per cent in the mind anyway and luckily I have that advantage because I have a very strong mental game.”

Devlin’s next target is the Under-18 World Championships which will take place at the end of July in Gloucester.

Despite a disappointing result in the competition last year, Devlin believes he is ready to do better.

“Last year I didn’t do as well as I would have liked but this year with a bit more practice going into the tournament I’m more hopeful,” he added.

“I’ve proved I can do it by beating big players but it’s a world event with players coming from Russia, Hong Kong, China, Thailand – so it won’t be easy.

“Of course I’d like to win it, but if I could get somewhere close to the semi-finals I’d be happy.”