Held at the ACBS Clubrooms : 05-07 October 2007 – FULL REPORT HERE!

DAY ONE REPORT BY WARREN BURKE: 

The NZ Open Snooker Championships got underway Friday 5^th October at the Auckland Confederation of Billiard Sports Clubrooms in Royal Oak. A top class field has been assembled to contest this prestigious event and the favourite for the title would be Auckland’s Dene O’Kane. O’Kane is a former Professional Tour player as well as IBSF World Masters Snooker Champion in 2004 & 2005 and the current Oceania Snooker titleholder but will not have it all his own way with former NZ Snooker Champions Harry Haenga (CC), Wyn Belmont (AK) and Steve Robertson (WK) also in the field. Other players to keep an eye on are current NZ Under 21 Snooker Champion David Meier-Bailey (Hawkes Bay), current NZ Seniors Champion Henry Killian (AK), former South Island Snooker Champions Gary Gillard (CA) and Dave Witehira (CA), Bay of Plenty’s Alastair Davidson, Chris Maltby (Taranaki)  and Auckland’s Ramona Belmont. Ramona is the current Oceania Ladies Snooker Champion and is fresh from a 3^rd place finish at the recent IBSF World Under 21 Ladies Snooker Championship in Goa, INDIA.

The match of the day went to the game between Aucklanders Dene O’Kane and Henry Killian. Killian comfortably took the first frame but then had to sit back and watch as O’Kane won the next frame and then put together the highest break of the tournament so far, a magnificent 128 total clearance. This only seemed to galvanise Killian into action as he put together a 62 break and a 42 point lead with only 35 points left on the table. Killian however over stretched while attempting to pot the final red and left O’Kane a chance to lay a snooker. O’Kane got the snooker and when Killian failed to get out of it and left a free ball situation O’Kane wasted no time in taking the free ball and a pink, followed by a black with the last red and then cleared the colours for a frame and match winning 50 break. Another great match was the battle of the Belmont’s between father (Wyn) and daughter Ramona and resulted in a very deserved 3 frames to 2 victory for Ramona who also rubbed salt into the wound with the game high break of 49.

Full results from Day 1 as follows:

SECTION 1

Dene O’Kane (AK) 3 (60) bt Alastair Davidson (BP) 0, Brendon Hayward (WK) 3 bt Steve Feierabend (0), O’Kane 3 (128cl,50) bt Henry Killian (AK) 1 (62), Davidson 3 (52,71) 3 bt Feierabend 0, O’Kane 3 bt Feierabend 0, Killian 3 bt Hayward 1, Killian 3 bt Davidson 0, Killian 3 bt Feierabend 0, Davidson 3 bt Hayward 1.

SECTION 2

Chris Maltby (TK) 3 (51) bt Dave Witehira (CA) 0 (51), Clive Thomson (AK) 3 bt Jeremy Ma (AK) 0, Maltby 3 (61) bt Gordon Fitzgerald (CA) 1, Witehira 3 bt Ma 0, Thomson 3 (52) bt Fitzgerald 1, Maltby 3 (53) bt Ma 1, Witehira 3 bt Fitzgerald 1, Maltby 3 bt Thomson 1, Witehira 3 bt Thomson 1.

SECTION 3

Gary Gillard (CA) 3 (40) bt Andrew Maher (AK) 0, Arthur Webber (AK) 3 bt Wyn Belmont (AK) 2, Ramona Belmont (AK) 3 bt Maher 0, Gillard 3 bt Webber 0, Webber 3 bt Maher 0, R Belmont 3 (49) bt W Belmont 2, Gillard 3 bt R Belmont 1, W Belmont 3 bt Maher 2, Webber 3 bt R Belmont 0, Gillard 3 bt W Belmont 1.

Highest Break of the tournament so far is a total clearance of 128 by Dene O’Kane

Play continues on Saturday 9:00am with round robin play for sections 4, 5 & 6 and the knock-out stages starting on Sunday 9:00am. Everyone welcome and entry is free.

DAY TWO REPORT BY WARREN BURKE:

It was a tournament organisers nightmare on day 2 of the NZ Open Snooker Championships currently being played at the Auckland Confederation of Billiard Sports clubrooms in Royal Oak. The seedings went out the door in several matches and with other players sneaking the odd frame here and there it meant there would be a play-off between 5 players for the last 3 spots in thePost Section draw.

Former 3 time NZ Snooker Champion and current North Island Champion, Steve Robertson appeared to be cruising towards qualification but Auckland’s Jackie Chu had othe ideas and came through 3 frames to 2 in a hard fought encounter. This left Robertson requiring a good win over current NZ Under 21 Champion David Meier-Bailey to avoid a match against one of the top qualifiers in the first round of post section play. In the same section Regan Williams had to wait untill the very last frame of thelast match before he was assured of one of the 5 play-off spots. Canterbury’s Mike Thorpe almost upset Auckland’s Paul Bason in their final section match but just couldn’t hold out the more experienced Bason. In section 5 Capital City’s Harry Haenga was in scintillating form and had the days high break of 112. Haenga also put up breaks of 55, 69, 55, 45, 78, 46, 52, 50, 42 and 40 to finish the day as top qualifier. Things look all set for some great matches in the Post Section and with O’Kane and Haenga on opposite sides of the draw there is every chance that these two top players will battle it out in the final.

Full results from day 2 as follows:

SECTION 4:

Paul Bason (AK) 3 (41,44) bt Srikanth Mangu (AK) 0, Mike Thorpe (CA) 3 bt Deepak Bala (AK) 0, Bason 3 (48) bt Bala 0, Moreton 3 bt Mangu 0, Thorpe 3 bt Moreton 0, Bala 3 bt Mangu 0, Thorpe 3 bt Mangu 0, Bason 3 (48,64) bt Moreton 0, Bason 3 bt Thorpe 2, Bala 3 bt Moreton 1.

SECTION 5:

Harry Haenga (CC) 3 (55) bt Eldon Lai (AK) 0, Rocky Cribb (WK) 3 bt Graham Backman (AK) 0, Haenga 3 (69,112) bt Backman 0, Lee Rudolph (AK) 3 bt Lai 0, Rudolph 3 bt Cribb 0, Lai 3 bt Backman 2, Haenga 3 (55,45,78) bt Rudolph 1, Cribb 3 bt Lai 1, Rudolph 3 bt Backman 1, Haenga 3 (46, 52, 50, 43, 40) bt Cribb 0.

SECTION 6:

Steve Roberton (WK) 3 (61) bt Steve Alderson (CC) 0,  Regan Williams (AK) 3 (73) bt David Meier-Bailey (HB) 0, Williams 3 bt Jackie Chu (AK) 0, Meier-Bailey 3 bt Alderson 0, Chu 3 bt Robertson 2 (41), Robertson 3 bt Williams 0, Alderson 3 bt Williams 0, Meier-Bailey 3 bt Chu 0, Robertson 3 bt Meier-Bailey 1, Chu 3 bt Alderson 2.

DAY THREE REPORT BY WARREN BURKE: 

Day 3 started with the play-offs for the last 3 positions in the Post Section draw and the upsets started immediately with Ramona Belmont too good for tournament top seed Alastair Davidson (I don’t know who was more thrilled at this result Ramona or Gary Gillard). Rocky Cribb was the second player to secure his spot in the last 16 with a win over Regan Williams and with Deepak Bala already through courtesy of the luck of the draw it was on to the last 16.

LAST 16

Henry Killian wasted no time in disposing of Lee Rudolph and included breaks of 55 & 56 in his 3 – 0 victory. Canterbury’s Dave Witehira didn’t let the reputation of 3 time NZ Snooker Champion Steve Robertson (Waikato) worry him at all as he comfortably took out the match 3 – 0. Current NZ Under 21 Champion David Meier-Bailey was another to knock over a more fancied opponent. Despite a 63 break in the first frame Taranaki’s Chris Maltby couldn’t sustain the effort and Meier-Bailey ran out the winner by 3 frames to 1.Top seed for the knock-out stages, Capital City’s Harry Haenga easily defeated Auckland’s Deepak Bala 3 – 0 to remain on track for a show-down with Dene O’Kane in the final. Despite conceding a 1 frame start to his opponent (for arriving late), Auckland’s Arthur Webber was just too good for Canterbury’s Mike Thorpe, winning 3 frames to 2. Clive Thomson and Paul Bason had another titanic battle but this time the spoils went the way of Thomson with an absorbing 3 frames to 2 victory. Ramona Belmont certainly wasn’t fazed by having to play Dene O’Kane and managed to take a frame before eventually falling 3 frames to 1.

1/4 FINALS

It was like old times for ex Capital City player Henry Killian as he renewed his battles with Harry Haenga in the first of the 1/4 finals. Killian went out to a 2 – 0 lead and it looked all over but once again Haenga showed is fighting spirit and with a break of 45 secured the third frame, followed by a 64 to square the match at 2 each and then when Killian missed on 6 early in the deciding frame Haenga patiently put together a match winning 82 to run out a deserved 3 – 2 winner. The second 1/4 final was between David Meier-Bailey and Clive Thomson and Thomson went out to an early 2 – 0 lead before Meier-Bailey managed to grab a frame back. The fourth frame seemed to be going Thomson’s way quite comfortably until an unexpected miss gave Meier-Bailey the chance he needed and the match was all square at 2 frames each. With a lot at stake the final frame was a cat and mouse affair with Thomson eventually prevailing 3 frames to 2. Canterbury’s Gary Gillard cruised to a 3 frame to 0 win over surprise 1/4 finalist Arthur Webber and in the last 1/4 final Dene O’Kane was too strong for Canterbury’s Dave Witehira, running out a comfortable winner at 3 – 0.

SEMI-FINALS

Gillard started strongly against O’Kane and sneaked the first frame on the black. This only served to fire O’Kane up and with breaks of 62, 52 and 85 in the fourth frame was able to cruise home 3 – 1. Haenga meanwhile easily won his first frame against Thomson and then seemed to lose concentration a little and struggled through the next frame to make it 2 – 0. The third frame went down to the wire with Thomson showing good skills to stay in touch with Haenga. When Thomson was put back after a foul & miss on the last red he clipped the red on his second attempt but only moved it closer to the pocket where Haenga jumped at the chance to finish the frame and the match 3 – 0.

FINAL

A good crowd, including former NZ Champion Kel Tristram, had gathered to watch what promised to be an enthralling final.

It seemed to take Haenga a little while to settle into his stride and following some excellent play from O’Kane including a break of ??? he was soon 2 frames down. Haenga took the 3^rd frame with a break of ??? and was leading 62 – 0 in the 4^th when a miss gave O’Kane a chance. A 35 break and a snooker on the last red soon had him back in the frame and when that red went down, followed by the Blue, Yellow and Green O’Kane found himself only 16 behind with 22 on the table. A series of safety shots from both players ensued and when O’Kane missed getting out of a snooker the difference went to 20 with 22 left. Haenga attempted a risky “markers double” only to see the Brown jaw the wrong way and give O’Kane a chance. This was all he needed and a brilliant positional shot from the Blue to the Pink meant two simple pots for the frame and a 3 frames to 1 lead. Haenga opened the 5^th frame with 2 Blacks before missing on a tricky red to the centre. O’Kane was soon into his reply with a Blue, Black, Black, Blue and Black before playing safe. It wasn’t safe enough however as Haenga clipped a red into the bottom green pocket followed by a Blue. When Haenga went in-off on the Yellow it looked all over but a miss on the Blue by O’Kane left a glimmer of hope. When Haenga failed to get the snooker on the Pink O’Kane stepped up to the table and clinically put the Pink away for the match 4 frames to 1.

2007 NZ Open Snooker Draw