Last night, MNT was its usual explosive self, with a finish that will forever be recorded as the greatest end to an MNT ever. More on that later. As usual, many of London's Finest Pool players gathered for the weekly tournament at London Snooker Tooting, for a big showdown. This, after a controversial week where players had come out accusing the LFP Organisation of fixing the ranking points, but after an independent investigation, the LFPO was cleared of all accusations. In addition to this, some players had also come out reminding players to check racks for gaps, as some "might" be racking with micro gaps. Please be aware of this and opponents are very much within their rights to check the rack.
Phew, after such controversy over the week, could the drama be fulfilled, leading up to this week's MNT? Well, hell yeah! A very healthy line-up of 32 entered, all desperate to push themselves up the rankings, unless you're Ram, and the intention is simply to stay top. First off was the Break and Run. Yet again, despite entering every single week since it started, Dan "the Destroyer" Suh is yet to be selected, and instead Rod "the God" Altes stepped up to the mark and broke off, sinking a ball off the break, getting a combo with his next shot, but decided to turn down the next shot to call it quits at £80. A polite round of applause rippled through the arena from the other entrants as Rod played it safe to ensure that he got enough from the pot to fund his magic apple juice habit for the next two tournaments.
The first round proper saw most of the favourites progress with relative ease. Suk Gohil, who has hardly played since October, produced a great result against an under-par Saman Gholami who looked devastated as he went through three racks without being able to pot a ball. Krishen Sookhraz and Andy "Banks" Curzon (Professor of Pool Angle Geometrics) played out a tense and nervy match, that reached hill-hill. Despite Kris's struggles at MNT, and Andy's recent excellent form, Kris held his nerve to progress to the next round. Glen "THE Hitman" Hargreaves gave Tash Witko Schultz a big fright, but Tash somehow recovered his form and also progressed. Pistol Pete Cloherty produced some excellent pool to overcome an out of sorts Ciprian Dandu 6-1, and Ali Haidery almost secured his first win at MNT, but lost in the final rack to Ranj Sarraj. Only one whitewash in the first round, with Sunny Garib taking advantage of Sean "Scarf" Avery's current and temporary slump in form.
The upset of the second round came as Suk faced Rod the God. Suk is well-known to be a fearsome opponent, but hasn't been playing much recently. However, he was delighted to get through the round with a 5-3 win, using all of his years of experience, which left Rod stunned as Suk romped home. Dan Jenkins is continuing his rich vein of form, and whilst his battling style leads to many of his matches being close, he has shown that he can compete with almost anyone, and he progressed to the quarters by grounding out a win against Kris. Elsewhere, Pistol Pete fought out a tough battle against Andy Adams, who hasn't made many MNT's, but has shown decent form in previous events. This one went to the wire, and Pete showed off his class and nerve to edge this encounter. Meanwhile, Ranj and Shadi Ed, two stable-mates and sparring partners, had a real ding dong of a match that also went to hill-hill. Despite losing his tip before the evening started, Shadi had to get some emergency re-tipping performed by Doctor Tash to save his evening. With the new tip to contend with, the man described by some, to have one of the best cueing actions in Tooting, still pulled through against Ranj, and won 5-4.
The quarters may have the lacked the drama, but not lack the quality. Ram came out of the traps, and swiftly dealt with Suk. Suk may have exhausted himself with his previous round win over Rod, but Ram was flying high and looking good. Another of the old boys, Sunny Garib, also progressed through to the semis. Sunny has been slowly been getting back to form, and his ability is starting to match his years of experience, with flashes of brilliance. Up against the battling Dan Jenkins, Sunny really dug deep to win 5-3, to face Ram in the semis. In the other half, Gabriel "Hitman" Vasilache and Tash faced each other. Two of Tooting's Titans. Gabriel has started off 2023 slowly by his standards. Tash started off this evening slowly, but was motoring by this stage, looking pretty unbeatable. And so it proved. Gabriel upped his game, but Tash simply played that little bit better and came through 5-3. With the prospect of having to face Tash, Shadi and Pistol Pete went at each other in their quarter, but Shads was playing really well by this point and there was nothing the big man could do about it. 5-1 win to Shadi.
And so to the semis. Ram and Sunny was going to be an epic. Sunny on the rise, and Ram's the man to beat...for a reason. Sunny has the game, it's all in his head and when it flows into his arm, he'll easily compete with the Tooting Titans. (The term "Titans" will be explained later)
Ram looked dangerously hot. But Sunny's one to pounce on any mistakes without doing anything too flashy. He kinda creeps up on you and before you know it, the 9 ball is disappearing into the pocket. 4-4 between these two dawgs, whilst Sunny is coming into form, Ram's already there. 5-4 to Ram but Sunny can be happy with his evening's work. On the other table, Tash was making light work of Shadi. Shads just hasn't shown the kind of form that has earnt him a machine-like reputation, but once he's on a roll, he plays the kind of pool that makes you feel like you're in a vice-like grip. But Tash has the experience and ability to get through that. Any lesser player would crumble, but not Tash. Tash took advantage of the little openings that Shadi provided and won 5-3 to progress to face Ram.
Pre-match, Tash was bang up for it. After beating Rod the God in the final last week, Tash was keen to beat Ram and show that he had all the ability to be number 1 in Tooting also. "I've beaten Rod and now Ram's going down. I'll show you that this donkey's the best in town." (LFP Publications may or may not have made up this highly cheesy rhyme)
It was no real surprise that the quality on offer was of the highest available. The crowd swelled as everyone in the arena gathered round to watch this display of pool artistry. Both players going to toe to toe until they reached hill-hill, with only two balls to go. Ram had played one of the best safety shots of the night to leave the 8 and 9 on opposite short rails, both balls virtually frozen on the cushion, in roughly the same diamond position. Ouch.
At this point, we've decided to print Ram's description of events:
"He looked perplexed and I swear I saw Tash say a prayer to Rod the God for his guidance, but Rod had gone home by this point. Anyway, he got down and I thought he was going to attempt a safety but no...the man fired the 8 back cut cross corner...crowd goes mad! Unfortunately though, he's left with bad shape on the 9 which was on the long rail between diamond 3 and 4. Cue ball was in the middle of the table with no bank to side pocket. What does he do? He says another prayer to Rod, lines up a long cross corner, and fires it in at 1000 mph to win! Imagine the scenes, crowd going mental...best finish to an MNT ever. Safe to say, it will be told for generations to come". (Thanks to Ram for taking the time to describe it out)
Others who were there to witness such a legendary match all agreed that it was the best game played out in LFP history, and in his own remarkable and honourable manner, after picking up his jaw off the floor, Ram was so happy for Tash too. Great to see Tash give some skin back out to the crowd, lapping up the atmosphere, which was the best ever seen at the MNT's. Tash only had this to say at the end of the match: "Shit or bust, man"
So another MNT ends, but what an end it was. Tash has now moved into 2nd place in the current rankings, and has hit an all-time high of 8.323, the highest points he's attained since rankings began, but still below Rod's 8.753 and Ram's 9.327, the only other two players who have reached 8 points or more. For Ram, and as Rod has recently found, points are very hard to come by and dropping points becomes very easy. This pretty much shows the approximate ceiling of points unless you're SVB or someone like that. So for now, without it being taken too seriously, Top Guns are those who have attained 8.5 points or over at some point or another. Titans of Tooting are anyone who have managed to attain 7.5 points or over at some point. Hope that's clear, nothing too serious. And yes, that means Top Guns do get Top Gun badges!!!
Anyway, please don't forget that there is a membership fee for 2023. As of next tournament, those not paid up will be required to do so or may not be allowed to enter until the fee is paid. It's less than £2 a month (£20 for the year), and ALL money goes back into the tournaments, including free table time, and website and rankings maintenance. Membership will give you access to all the weekly tournaments, and have a track record of your results/rankings on the website. Without the membership, you will have access to 2 MNT throughout 2023.
Please note that this is not the same as London Snooker Membership. You may need to check that your membership is up to date or pay guest fees, as this is a licensing issue that the club may be checking on.
We have requested that monies are paid either at the tournament or send it via PayPal to: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/londonsfinestpool and then add your name as reference.
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