Trans Tasman 9-Ball

Held at the ACBS Clubrooms 18-20 April 2008.

Report by Malcolm Beehre :

Men’s Event:
A smaller than usual field this year, but all the top Australian and New Zealand players were here.  One of the favourites to win the title flew all the way from the South Island, watched the two Men’s sections on Friday and then slept in on Saturday, missing his first two matches and therefore was defaulted from the tournament.
In section play, John Wims (Australia) and James Delahunty (Australia) were the only two players undefeated in section play.  Surprise non-qualifier was a former winner of this event - Chris Bowman, who only managed three wins from seven matches.  The Last 16 saw some really close matches - three of them going to the wire.  Wayne Belmont found another gear after beating Tony Van Wijk 9/8 in the Last 16 and overcame Anthony Obst from Australia 10/5 in the Quarter Finals.
Both Semi Final games were hard fought matches with both poised on 9/6 simultaneously.  There were some tense moments and with a good crowd of about forty watching, it was a great atmosphere.
Louis Condo (Australia) prevailed over Wayne Belmont (New Zealand) 11/8.  It was a great effort by Wayne who was ranked 32 in the field, with Louis being the number one seed.  The other Semi Final between Phil Wilkinson (New Zealand) and John Wims (Australia) went to the wire with Phil coming out on top 11/10.
Considering it was the 2008 Trans Tasman Final, we had the perfect final with a New Zealander and an Australian.  Neither player was more than two frames ahead in the final which went the full distance with Louis winning 12/11.

Men’s Event Results :

Last 16: M McInnes (NZ) bt J Delahunty (AU) 9/8, L Condo (AU) bt J Grimley (NZ) 9/4, W Belmont (NZ) bt T Van WIjk (NZ) 9/8, A Obst (AU) bt M Zhang (NZ) 9/3, P Wilkinson (NZ) bt D Burns (NZ) 9/3, J Henry (NZ) bt W Wen (NZ) 9/5, N Pera (NZ) bt D Reljic (AU) 9/8, J Wims (AU) bt G Dong (NZ) 9/8.
Quarter-Finals:
L Condo bt M McInnes 10/5, W Belmont bt A Obst 9/3, P Wilkinson bt J Henry 9/3, J Wims bt N Pera 9/8.
Semi-Finals:
L Condo bt W Belmont 11/8, P Wilkinson bt J Wims 11/10.
Final:
L Condo bt P Wilkinson 12/11.

Women’s Event:
Once again a smaller field than normal with Australian ladies absent.  With one section of six players there were four qualifiers.  Ramona Belmont dominated Miriam Tinkler 8/2 in one semi-final and Hazel Cook beat Denise Wilkinson 8/6 in the other.  Haze got away to a flyer in the final and took out the championship 9/2.

Women’s Event Results:

Semi-Finals:
H Cook bt D Wilkinson 8/6, R Belmont bt M Tinkler 8/2.

Final:
H Cook bt R Belmont 9/2.

Plate Event:

A Plate tournament was run this year with a $5 entry fee and a $150 donation from the Auckland Confederation of Billiard Sports.

Plate Semi-Finals: G Croudis bt W Cook 5/2, J Cook bt C Keach 5/4.

Plate Final: G Croudis bt J Cook