Report by Malcolm Beehre : Disappointingly, only 12 players entered this tournament and I think it was probably because many players did not realise they were eligible.  The only condition of entry of this event is that a player must have never won a ranking event.  Also there was once again a clash of dates with a Valley Pool event.  However, all entrants had a good day with fairly long matches.

Quarter-finals : D Breen bt L Zi 7/4, R Alfonso bt C Cao 7/4, M Tomita bt K Cullen 7/6, A Arlidge bt A Singh 7/3.
Semi-finals : R Alfonso bt D Breen 7/2, A Arlidge bt M Tomita 7/2.
Final : A Arlidge bt R Alfonso 7/5.

Men’s event : (frame scores not supplied)

Last Sixteen : C Worts bt M Padrigo, K Zhang bt M Hatab, R Wang bt D Sadumiano, M Edwards bt A Ran, W Wen bt G Croudis, R Bennett bt B Wells, M Baabad bt C Bowman, N Pwera bt C Yang.
Quarter-finals : C Worts bt KK Zhang, M Edwards bt R Wang, W Wen bt R Bennett, M Baabad bt N Pera.
Semi-finals : C Worts bt M Edwards, M Baabad bt W Wen.
Final : C Worts bt M Baabad.

Women’s event : (frame scores not supplied)

Semi-final : M Kasemchaiyanan bt K Cullen, D Wilkinson bt M Godinet.
Final : D Wilkinson bt M Kasemchaiyanan

Quarter-finals : B Singh bt C Keach 2/1, L Ford bt B Andrews 2/0, J Taite bt P Masani 2/0, L Chand bt K Joyce 2/0.

Semi-finals : L Ford bt B Singh 2/0, L Chand bt J Taite 2/0.

Final : L Chand bt L Ford 2/1.

Highest Break : J Taite (24)

Quarter-finals : L Chand bt K aite 2/0, J Walker bt D Lihou 2/0,  J Taite bt P Masani 2/0, L Toh bt H Koh 2/0.

Semi-finals : L Chand bt J Walker 2/1, J Taite bt L Toh 2/1.

Final : J Taite bt L Chand 2/1.

Highest Break : L Chand (33).

Last Sixteen : Thomson/Burt bt McLennan/Gooch, Garforth/Watson bt Olsson/Hapi, Kwok/Kwok bt Van Wijk/Wells, Estocapio/Roberts bt Rambaud/Taylor, Kumar/Killian bt Easthope/Rangiaho, Davies/Honan bt Belmont/Belmont, Ry/Oconnor bt Lai/Webber, Belmont/Walker bt Gounder/Anderson.

Quarter-finals : Thomson/Burt bt Garforth/Watson, Estocapio/Roberts bt Kwok/Kwok, Kumar/Killian bt Davies/Honan, Belmont/Walker bt Ry/Oconnor.

Semi-finals : Thomson/Burt bt Estocapio/Roberts, Kumar/Killian bt Belmont/Walker/

Final : Kumar/Killian bt Thomson/Burt.

Highest Break : Tony Van Wijk (56).

A top field of 35 in this event which included players from Christchurch, Wellington, Napier, Waikato and Auckland.  Because of the calibre of the field there were some major upsets, notably 3rd, 4th and 5th seeds Gary Gillard, Shannon Swain and Eldon Lai failing to qualify for Post-section Play.  Section 7 ended by having 3 x 3 winners with Willy Florence first on a +6 differential, second was Dale Kwok on a +4 and third was Clive Thomson on a +3 allowing him to qualify in the number 15 spot as one of the two best thirds.  The other third place getter who qualified as number 16 was Shannon Swain.  At this stage of the tournament there had been 25 breaks over 40, the top break being 92 by Thomson.

Last 16 : B Jackson bt S Swain 3/0, W Florence bt V Ry 3/0, R Beedle bt S Kumar 3/0, C Maltby bt D Kwok 3/1, D Garnett bt R Redgrove 3/0, D Bala bt S Roberts 3/0, W Belmont bt R Clark 3/1, S Robertson bt C Thomson 3/2.

The Quarter-finals weren’t quite as one-sided : B Jackson bt W Florence 3/0, C Maltby bt R Beedle 3/1, D Garnett bt D Bala 3/0, W Belmont bt S Robertson 3/2.

Jackson never gave Maltby a chance in their Semi-final match, winning 3/0 with Maltby never really getting a chance to be in a winning position at any time.  The other Semi-final between Belmont and Garnett went Belmont’s way 3/0.
Semi-finals : B Jackson bt C Maltby 3/0, W Belmont bt D Garnett 3/0.

The first frame of the Final saw Jackson open with a 60 break.  Then two breaks in the 30′s to take the second frame, breaks of 25 and 33 saw the frame score 3/0.  Belmont started off the fourth frame with 20 but played a reckless safety shot and Jackson replied with a 48 break eventually taking the frame to win 4/0.
Final : B Jackson bt W Belmont 4/0.

Former NZ Champion Dale Kwok won the Flyte event 2/0 over Thomson and Gillard won the Plate event beating Tony van Wijk 2/0 and it was good for one of our ardent cue sports sponsors, John Rehman to reach the Semi-finals of the Plate event.

Report by Malcolm Beehre : Probably one of the strongest fields for a long time, with three former NZ Snooker Champions plus the current Champ, Bayden Jackson and two NZ Champ Runner-ups.  This was a full field of 30 players, six sections of five with two qualifying from each section, plus the next four bestthirds to take up the last sixteen Post-section draw.

Roy Clark astounded himself by being top qualifier for Post-section play.  This was the first time he has been top qualifier in an NZBSA ranking tournament.  Clark was ranked10th in this tournament, winning three matches 3/0, then beating the 2009 NZ Snooker Champion, Chris Maltby by 3/1.  Maltby won the first frame having a 56 break in that one, but Clark won the next three making a 30 break in each frame and then played good safety to keep Maltby out.

In Post-section play his opponent, Pierre Lyndon, did not show and all I can think is that he had played all of his matches on the first day of the tournament including beating 6th seed Paul Bason, and Gordon Jakeman, but didn’t think he would qualify for Post-section play.  However, Bason lost his match, which meant Lyndon was third qualifier in his section and 16th for the tournament.  Unfortunately for Clark, his Quarter-final match was against Maltby and he didnt retain some of his form from the day before and lost 3/0 to Maltby, never relly getting into any of the frames.

Other Quarter-final games saw Clive Thomson beat Steve Robertdson 3/1; Henry Killian beat Eldon Lai 3/2 and Vanny Ry beat Sanjay Kumar 3/1.

The Semi-final between Thomsodn and Maltby was a great match to watch.  There were only three visits to the table in the first frame – Maltby opened with 41, Thomson follwed with 36 then Maltby went to the table and took the frame with a 38 break.  The second frame saw Thomson open with 47, then a 31.  The third frame was a lot different with quite a lot of safety play; Thomson eventually went on to lead 2/1.  There was lots of drama in the fourth frame.  Thomson eventually eneded up 44 in front with one red still on the table.  Maltby played some great safety shots, eventually getting a snooker that Thomson missed getting out of, but also getting a free ball from which Maltby got 14 leavingt a difference of 26.  Thomson hadn’t potted a ball since having the 44 lead and missed a few chances on the colours to seal the match and Maltby eventually got the colours down to pink and decided to take on a difficult black, missed it and left it over the hole but the white went up and down the table and just nudged the black leaving it safe.  Thomson played safe and Maltby had to play a soft safety shot leaving a double on which Thomson got, to win 3/1.

The other Semi-final was won by Killian 3/2 over Ry.  Killian won the best of seven frame final 4/1.  Highest break of the tournament was 71 by Steve Robertson.

Last Sixteen : R Clark bt P Lyndon 3/0, C Maltby bt B Jackson 3/1, S Robertson bt K Haycock 3/, C Thomson bt W Belmont 3/2, E Lai bt B Moore 3/2, H Killian bt L Rudolph 3/1, S Kumar bt R Redgrove 3/1, V Ry bt D Tauhore 3/0.

Quarter-finals : C Maltby bt R Clark 3/0, C Thomson bt S Robertson 3/1, H Killian bt E Lai 3/2, V Ry bt S Kumar 3/1.

Semi-finals : C Thomson bt C Maltby 3/1, H Killian bt V Ry 3/2.

Final : H Killian bt C Thomson 4/1.

Highest Break : S Robertson (71).

Semi-finals : J Ifa bt W Carey 314/305, V Ry bt R Milicich 434/268.

Final : J Ifa bt V Ry 451/423.

Highest Break : W Carey (93)

Men’s Event Last Sixteen : S Liu bt N Tupu 8/1, C Bowman bt C Keach 8/6, K Zhang bt A Alnaztia 8/2, W Pera bt J Walker 8/4, M Hatab bt N Yang 8/7, R Wang bt C Hoggart 8/7, C Worts bt T Cockle 8/2, L Jones bt D Breen 8/3, V Adams bt J Pera 8/6, J Grimley bt Z Lin 8/3, N Pera bt N Piahana 8/2, M Edwards bt L Zhu 8/0, M Baabad bt C Yang 8/4, M Padrigo bt S Reddy 8/1.
Men’s Event Quarter-finals : B Wells bt J Pologa 8/6, S Liu bt C Bowman 8/2, K Zhang bt W Pera 8/3, R Wang bt M Hatab 8/6, C Worts bt L Jones 8/3, J Grimley bt V Adams 8/3, N Pera bt M Edwards 8/3, M Baabad bt M Padrigo 8/5.
Men’s Event Semi-finals : B Wells bt K Zhang 10/7, C Worts bt N Pera 10/9.
Men’s Event Final : B Wells bt C Worts 11/7.

Women’s Event Quarter-finals : M Ksemchaiyanan bt L Everett 8/1, C Hobbs bt K Cullen 8/7, L Frost bt G Bullmore 8/2, D Wilkinson bt J Guest 8/3.
Women’s Event Semi-finals : M Kasemcaiyanan bt C Hobbs 9/2, D Wilkinson bt L Frost 9/7.
Women’s Event Final : M Kasemchaiyanan bt D Wilkinson 10/8.

Tournament Report by Malcolm Beehre : An over-full field of 40 players for this event meant two sections had to be played at the ACBS Clubrooms on the Saturday. Both of these sections ended up having to have play-offs between three players, to find the top two players to qualify for Post-section play.  There were also two play-offs required at the Onehunga Workingmen’s Club, but they were only between two players to determine runner-up spots in the Sections. This was an unusual amount of play-offs, which was caused by the calibre of the players in this event.

Sunday was a full-on day with sixteen players qualifying for Post-section play plus 24 players in the Plate Event and then the first round losers in the Main draw playing a Flyte Event.  Six players were unbeaten in their Sections with Henry Killian qualifying number one, having been the only player to not drop a frame and with two players having three wins and not qualifying, and three players qualifying with only two wins, showed the quality of the Sections.

The highest break in the tournament was 80, by Sanjay Kumar and also, Ramona Belmont had a 77 and Killian had two 71 breaks.

Killian won the Final 3/1 over veteran Barry Moore, after Moore disposed of Paul Bason 3/1 and Killian had a closer match with Lee Rudolph, winning 3/2.

The Flyte Event was won by Clive Thomson over Tony van Wijk 2/0.

The Plate winner was OWMC member, Nita Clarkson who defeated Kay Tea from the Manurew Cosi Club.

Finally, from my own point of view, with a new Club Manager, Vicky Horan and Club President, Steve Phillips, it is good to see the OWMC getting back on track with regard to supporting sporting events.

Ramona Belmont caused one of the lighter moments of the tournament when she was refereeing and was asked to clean the white ball. As she was doing so the ball slipped out of her hand and into a bunch of reds, sending balls everywhere.  Fortunately the frame had only just started with only two reds already potted and both players agreed to re-rack and start again.

Last Sixteen : H Killian bt E Hill 2/0, S Robertson bt C Thomson 2/1, L Rudolph bt R Belmont 2/0, C Lagor bt S Kumar 2/1, P Bason bt T Van Wijk 2/1, P Lesslie bt E Lai 2/0, B Moore bt G Burt 2/0, W Belmont bt M Scarborough 2/1.

Quarter-finals : H Killian bt S Robertson 3/1, L Rudolph bt C Lagor 3/2, P Bason bt P Lesslie 3/0, B Moore bt W Belmont 3/2.

Semi-finals : H Killian bt L Rudolph 3/2, B Moore bt P Bason 3/1.

Final : H Killian bt B Moore 3/1.

Highest Break : S Kumar (80)