ABSA A-Grade Snooker
May 27th, 2008
Held at the ACBS Clubrooms 17-18 May 2008 – BACKMAN’S ON THE COME-BACK TRAIL – Read on for the tournament report by Malcolm Beehre
Graham Backman caused a stir in section play when he defeated Dene O’Kane 2/1. Dene had a 110 clearance in the first frame but Graham didn’t let that worry him and scrambled on to win the next two frames. Wayne Carey once again was a giant killer ending up being the number one qualifier on the day.
It did appear that a lot of players must have been out all night as there were about six who found somewhere to sleep in between their matches.
This was probably the strongest field for a number of years and with two qualifiers from each section plus the next best thirds going through to post-section play there were certainly some surprises in the qualifiers.
Ben Farnworth quickly overcame Gordon Dong in the last sixteen 3/0 with a break of 50+ in each frame. In the match between Dene O’Kane and Eldon Lai Dene quickly won the first two frames but with some steady, level-headed potting and safety play Eldon won the next two frames. In the final frame Dene was 2 in front with the colours left after some good tactical play by both players. Eldon played a long pink down the rail which hung in the hole which Dene potted and won the frame and match 3/2.
In the semi-finals Ben Farnworth beat Clive Thomson 3/0. Clive had a reasonable lead in each of the three frames but missed an easy colour towards the end of each frame allowing Ben to clear up at the end. In the other semi Henry Killian was up 2/1 on Dene O’Kane. Dene prevailed in the end but not before giving Henry a couple of chances to take the match. Dene won the final 3/1 over Ben with both players having some nice breaks. The highest break of the tournament was Dene’s 110 clearance.
With a full field of 30 players I announced that we would play the rules as introduced but then rescinded by the World Body about 5 years ago. Also there were no referees present and players were refereeing their own matches. It’s not an ideal situation because of the dreaded “foul and miss” rule and probably well past time the World Body did something about it as I know a lot of average club players won’t play in tournaments because of it.
Last Sixteen: W Carey bt A Webber 3/1, B Farnworth bt G Dong 3/0, C Thomson bt P Bason 3/2, V Ry bt R Williams 3/2, W Belmont bt L Rudolph 3/1, D O’Kane bt E Lai 3/2, R Belmont bt G Backman 3/0, H Killian bt J Chu 3/1.
Quarter-Finals: B Farnworth bt W Carey 3/1, C Thomson bt V Ry 3/0, D O’Kane bt W Belmont 3/1, H Killian bt R Belmnt 3/0.
Semi-Finals: B Farnworth bt C Thomson 3/0, D O’Kane bt H Killian 3/2.
Final: D O’Kane bt B Farnworth 3/1.
Highest Break: D O’Kane (110 clearance)
