The weekly MNT was back in full effect, showcasing some of the best talent you’ll see in one pool hall in Tooting on a Monday night. After last week’s showing, Rod “the God” Altes seemed confident with his chances in the 8 Ball tournament, but also seemed keen to lay down the law, telling the pre-tournament press conference that he wasn’t going to tolerate any inaccuracies in reporting, and reminded everyone that libel laws will protect him. The fearsome Rod certainly sent a shockwave around the press room and the pencils sharpened as clearly he was going to war with the media.
Starting off the evening was the usual Break and Run, at £40 a ball. As is always the case, my ball is yet to be picked out of the hat, and instead it was Sunny “Boy” Garib who got lucky. Putting all of his weight behind his break, 2 balls dropped, but rather than taking on the easy bank on the 1 ball, Sunny turned it down to pocket £80.
The first round had a few significant wins. Lots of quick wins, but notably, Spencer Oliver used the power of his Afro to whitewash Cedric Huang, whilst Gauhar Khan pulled his trousers up to win 5-0 against Josh Roberts. There was one really epic match going on, which captured the attention of the arena. In the bottom half of the draw, the legendary Ramon Navarro squared up to Sunny, for a match that Sunny must have thought he’d cruise through. However, Ramon is dangerous. The big smile on the little man hides the Filipino levels of banditry. If you’re not sure, Filipino’s have banditry sewn into their DNA. First off, play pool with flair. Secondly, look good. Thirdly, sucker your opponent into a false sense of security. Finally, beat your opponent, take their money, and smile at them whilst doing so.
Sunny got suckered, let down his guard, and Ramon took full advantage and snatched the win 5-4.
Into the second round, and Ramon went hill-hill again! Dan “no nickname” Jenkins was keen to grind Ramon into the ground, but a hugely competitive match ebbed and flowed, and went to 4-4. By this time, the upper half of the draw already had already completed their matches, and yet Ramon and Dan were holding up the entire tournament as the quarters and semi-finals still needed to be played! Regardless, Ramon snatched the victory, whilst the rest of the players prayed that the next match Ramon was going to be involved in wasn’t going to be quite as tight.
Tashunka Schultz faced up to the might of Khan in what was a very close match. Khan is, without a doubt, quite the phenomenon. Like a hungry hippo with all the flair of a Brazilian footballer, he is the Bill Werbeniuk of American pool. Khan not only makes some impossible pots, but it’s the ease and speed of which he does it. As easily and quickly as he consumes a kebab roll. However, despite playing some of the best shots of the night, it was Tash who crawled over the line with a solid display. Any other opponent, and Khan would have progressed, but Tash is no ordinary opponent.
Elsewhere, Spencer Oliver had to face SMB Champion from the night before, Andy “Banks” Curzon. Pre-match, Andy was clearly buzzing and re-lived his SMB win with other players as he vividly walked through his semi-final win against Tash and final against So Shaw in epic detail. A big congrats to Andy, but MNT is another day and the question on everyone’s lips was whether he could follow-up with another big performance. However, clearly this wasn’t going to be the night, and Andy crashed out, losing 5-0.
And finally, in the second round, Rod had little to say to the media, as he quietly slipped out of the venue under a blanket, as he lost 4-2 to Ciaran Boylan, fearing that any quotes might be taken out of context! Those pencils will sharpen even more over the week, and next week’s press conference should be lively!
The quarters had a bit of a surprise contender. Kris Sookhraz has recently been tearing up tier 3 in the Wednesday League, and is known to be quite a mean potter, but hasn’t quite set MNT alight…yet. However, after tearing Hassan Aljumalili apart 5-1 in the first round, he then beat Saman Gholami, who had been virtually flawless in his victory over the Destroyer. Furthermore, Kris played really well to then quickly steamroller Ciprian Dandu, 4-1, to set himself up for a place in the semis.
Kostiantyn “Junior Hee Haw” Ivanov played out a big match against Spencer, in front of his parents who had travelled over 1500 miles to watch their son win 4-2 over the famous Afro.
Tash recovered from his earlier scare against Khan, by playing brilliantly against Ciaran, who said after the match, “I don’t remember my hand touching the table”. And finally, with the slow progress, Ramon Navarro beat Muhammed “He’s the greatest” Ali, who looked like taking Ramon to another hill-hill match, but Ramon just about had enough and emerged unscathed 4-2….at 11.40pm!
The semis saw Kris against Kostya. Kris’s previous wins were totally deserved and he was performing at a level that was starting to make bookmakers feel nervous. However, Junior Hee Haw has no fear, maybe other than fear of his parents who had been watching his earlier win over Spencer Oliver, but with their departure from the arena to get some dinner, Kostya turned up the heat, and Kris finally ran out of steam, losing 4-2 to the young Ukrainian talent.
In the other semi, Tash looked to be in a bit of a hurry, and went at Ramon as aggressively as possible. Tash won 4-2, but Ramon could be very happy with his very long night’s work.
With the final being between Tash and Kostya, these are two players who are very similar. So similar, that you might argue that these two could be father and son. Both are fast-paced, aggressive, and make shots that leave crowds open-mouthed, but also both have the capability to be total donkeys. Both wanted to go at each other hard, especially because Ramon had single-handedly held up the entire tournament with his epic matches. Tash exploded into life and won 4-2, after 1am in the morning.
After the final, Tash had this to say: “After getting my ass handed to me by Andy Banks on Sunday at SMB, I had to re-establish myself as king of the donkeys. I was happy to be playing 8 ball, as I’ve become allergic to potting 9’s!”
So, Tash’s form proves to be too much for the others, as Tash holds an 88.2% win record in 2023, whilst big shouts out Kris and Ramon for their performances. The question is whether they can find consistency and challenge again?
