At the Annual End of Season LFP Golden Balls Awards Gala Dinner at the prestigious London Snooker Tooting, sponsored by London Snooker Tooting, and Korea Foods, press from around the world caught glimpses of some of the biggest names in Tooting on the red carpet. This long-awaited event is the highlight of Tooting's calendar, and many of the big names came out in force to receive their awards.
Award Winners were as follows:
Most Tournaments Played - Muhammed "He's the Greatest" Ali
Goliath Winner - Tomasz Jedlecki
Longest Winning Streak - Ramesh "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul
LFP Ranked Number 2 of 2022 - Rod "The God" Altes
LFP Ranked Number 1 of 2022 - Ramesh "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul
Ram took home a trophy, a Jack Daniels hamper with whiskey tumbler, and a special badge that he'll be wearing at the next official tournament. Just look out for it, as it is the most impressive badge you'll ever see.
Ram had some great words for the audience as he thanked Tash for introducing him to London's Finest Pool, where he's felt part of the family and pushed to improving himself as a player by everyone trying to gun him down. He thanked Asif, the staff, the LFP Organisers, and the players themselves for making it a true community.
Throughout the night, plenty of mini competitions were held, which brought a lot of laughs and really made the whole evening worthwhile. Winners were:
Speed Pool - "Pistol" Pete Cloherty with a flawless and stunning time of under 40 seconds. Pete won a £50 bar tab, which was generously consumed throughout the evening.
1 v 1 Speed Pool - Imagine the amazement of the crowd as Rod and Ram faced each other in the final of the 1 v 1 Speed Pool. Watching everyone run around the table was great viewing and in the end, Ram came away winner and took a box of chocolates as the prize, which he duly went round the club sharing with everyone.
1 Rack Shootout - Not surprisingly, the Destroyer made it to the final and looked most likely to win, but in the end, young Kostiantyn pounced on the one mistake the Destroyer made and ended up as winner. Kostya was eyeing up the champagne but was warned off it by security as he's still underage. In fact, his age was the sole reason the adult entertainment was cancelled for the event.
One-Handed Shootout - If there's one thing you can say about Rod the God, is that he learns bloody quickly. Starting off slowly in the first round, he ended up running out the last 4 balls in the final against Ranj and won himself a bottle of Moet, to add to his mini Jack Daniels hamper that he had already picked up for being ranked number 2 this year.
Killer - A lot of entrants for this one, and in the end Doug "the Shark" Clark pulled through to fend off the opposition. Given a choice between the chocolates and the Moet, Doug took home the champagne as the evening drew to a close.
This year has been a really extra special year for many of us who love playing pool. I cannot even begin to tell you the sacrifices that Cip and Andrew make to make this happen, every Monday, and it's the ONLY place in the UK where 32 players can get together on a Monday night and play a high standard scratch tournament, with fantastic characters and competitors. Cip and Andrew stay till the end every Monday, they piss off their partners/families, and most of all...they have given up their own pool playing standards to make this happen for you. They do not make a penny from these tournaments, so please bear this in mind for the future, just by listening to them, supporting them, and co-operating in any way you can, but most of all, enjoy yourselves and keep maintaining this community to its high standards and make this a welcoming place for all.
On behalf of Cip and Andrew, have a great Christmas period, have a wonderful New Year, and I hope you lot all bow down to the Destroyer in 2023.
