Held at the ACBS Clubrooms : 01-02 May 2010 

Report by Malcolm Beehre :
A very strong field for this event, and also the biggest field for a few years, which was always going to be a recipe for upsets.  It was good to see a few juniors in the event and Louis Chand who is only about 4’6″ tall, and the youngest in the field, had a great match against Gordon Dong with Chand going down 2/1.

Peter Heksel from the Howick Club almost caused a major upset over Vanny Ry.  Ry won the second frame and third frames on the black, to win 2/1.

The 2010 South Pacific Champion, Sani Roberts, was in dynamite form.  In his match against John Bull, Roberts had an 86 break missing an easy red, leaving four reds on the tble.

Eleven-year-old Chand also took a from from Dennis Yin and had a 2/0 win over Tony Bartlett.  Thirteen-year-old Joseph Tialata also performed very well, taking frames from Jackie Chu, David Gourley and Mick Reilly.

Most sections went pretty much to order of seedings.  Nita Clarkson was on a great winning streak of 2/1, 2/0, and 2/0 and only losing to section winner Vanny Ry 2/1.

A relative newcomer to ABSA tournaments, David Gourley, who wasn’t ranked, won all of his matches and probably surprised a few players with his excellent potting.  Gourley had a close post-section game against Chu, who he had beaten in Section play, but lost 2/1.

In the other Post-section games Roberts had his work cut out against 2010 C-Grade Champion, Lee Paul, which he won 2/1.  Clarkson and Greg Crichton had a marathon match with Crichton winning 2/1.

The Semi-final matches were between Gordon Dong and Greg Crichton, and Lee Rudolph and Roy Clark.  Clark won the first frame but Rudolph managed to win the next two.  In the other Semi-final Crichton had a 50 point lead in the first frame but managed to lose it and Dong eventually won 2/0.

The Final between Dong and Rudolph went to five frames with both players playing attacking Snooker most of the time.  In the fifth frame both players missed and easy ball at the start of the frame and it was Dong who compiled a nice 37 break to take the lead.  Rudolph had some bad luck potting a pink and splitting the last six reds up, but one of them knocked the black in and Dong won the Final frame 66/11.

Plate Final: A fantastic effort by 11-year-old Louis Chand to make the Final, beating two old campaigners in Graham Backman and Jonathan Cox on the way.  However, Dennis Yin proved to be too strong and won the Final 2/0.

Great to have an audience of 20 to see both finals.

Last Sixteen : S Roberts bt L Paul 2/1, G Crichton bt N Clarkson 2/1, V Ry bt G Jakeman 2/0, G Dong bt J Rehman 2/0, R Clark bt N Garforth 2/0, J Chu bt D Gourley 2/1, L Rudolph bt K li 2/0, G Moreton bt K Tea.
Quarter-finals : G Crichton bt S Roberts 2/0, G Dong bt V Ry 2/0, R Clark bt J Chu 2/0, L Rudolph bt G Moreton 2/0.
Semi-finals : G Dong bt G Crichton 2/0, L Rudolph bt R Clark 2/0.
Final : G Dong bt L Rudolph 3/2.
Highest Break : S Roberts (86)

Individual player profiles have been updated.