Not 24 hours after the pandemonium of Sunday’s scorching 10 ball Summer Open (won by Anthony Ginn 9-8 over Ramesh Gokhul in an intense final) a full field of 32 graced the baize of our Tooting honey hole for this week’s MNT 8 ball.
After a long day yesterday, it was short races to 4 throughout the evening, and we had fivenewcomers to welcome: Waqas Sikander, Rosen Delchev, Vratislav Mali, Raza Sikander, and Alexander Plunkett.
Kicking things off on the Brunswick were Josh Roberts and the ever-improving Mariusz Wiszowaty, who put on a show all the way to the tip of the hill, where Marius’ grit proved slightly too much as he sliced the final black into the heart of the pocket.
Next door on table 4, Sunny Boy G took on Hassan ‘Angles’ Mehedi in a surprisingly sharp six racks, over in a jiffy, seeing the South African outfox the Bangladeshi Professor 4 to 2.
Continuing in the top half, Joe G spanked Ranj 4-0, rushing to meet Cip in the second round as he toasted Scotch Double Champ, Vini, by the same scoreline.
Rod Altes, always happy to earn an invitation to the whitewasher’s circle, took Dhari for a longwalk with a short leash, his skills and consistency further lending credence to Hassan Alijumaili’s comments in his interview after yesterday’s 10 ball Open that “The Chilean Dinamo seems back to near his best”, and leaving Dhari to scuttlehome alone with his tail between his legs.
A rising tide lifts all boats, they say, and as Ali HK noticed a few weeks ago the average club level here at our MNT has been sky-rocketing (something obviously easier noticed when you’ve been away a while, maybe a little like watching your kids grow up).
Dandu the Younger was uncharacteristically careful with the relatively unknown Waqas Sikander – showing off some defensive nous alongside his usual fluid potting, standing more than equal to the task after six racks and coming through 4-2.
Cue-Action Boylan, clearly inspired by beating Spencer yesterday in a high-octane slugfest, sailed past Hassan A without taking a second breath, as Master Martinho (despite missing a howler 1 ball in the pre-tourney break and run)roasted Rosen over his coals, 4-1.
The bottom half of the draw saw Raza whitewash Alexander Plunkett, an in-form Gabriel Vasilache tip-toe past the shark that is Doug ‘anything-but-8-ball’ Clark, 4-2, Spencer school Tomasz 4-2, and Vratislav Mali dig deep to inch past Tobes Anyouku.
Banks went 3-2 up against Ali the Greatest but couldn’t muster himself to hammer the last nail in Ali’s coffin. As his opponent’s penultimate slice into the side-bag overcut by a whisker at hill hill, Ali was heard tenaciously muttering “Finish Him” – and that he did, as Jenkins eagerly awaited him in the last 16 having bruised Sorin 4 racks to 2.
Danny “Tsumani” Navidi couldn’t stop the Mighty Saman from his electric rise to the top, only snagging himself a consolation rack before packing his bags for an oily bath – leaving us a mouth-watering clash with Yoda in the last 16, who dusted off Alan Llorente 4-0.
Alongside Spencer cracking Vratislav 4 racks to 1, 6 of the 8 last 16 matches were whitewashes (big circle this week), with special note to the steam-train that is Cue-Action, decimating Master Martinho to set up a quarters with his favourite deity.
Tidying us up to a last 8, Ramesh took his foot off the gas at the wrong time, paling under the might of Saman’s wand, who remains (alongside Steve Norris and Marius Wiszowaty) among the most improved players at the Club over the past year – real inspirations to all of us – it’s more important the direction you’re going than where you are now’n’all.
So as the sun set late on another summer Monday, we were left with 8 Tootski regulars in 4 tightly-set matches:
Sunny v Ciprian
Rod v Ciaran
Spencer v Gabriel, and
Ali v Saman
Memories of beating Ram and Rod in the same night only to be milked on the hill by Cip in the final only a few months back [see ‘Cip Stops Sunny from Shining’ MNT report from Feb 7th2023] reared their ugly heads for Sunny Boy, as Cip did the dirty yet again at the final hurdle to secure his spot in the last 4.
It was Chile 4, Northern Ireland 1 as God showed his mettle against an off-the-Boylan Cue-Action – setting up a semi-final clash with a tired Cip.
Running late a little because of the mammoth first round clash between Tobes and Vratislav, Spencer ramped up his efforts to lightly throttle the Gabriel 4 to 2, and in pool’s “Fight of the Century”, as on March 8th, 1971 against Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali couldn’t execute the fatality against the mighty right arm of Saman,and the judges decided unanimously Ali was second on the night.
With the World Cup of Pool looming, Rod waved the Chilean flag high over the Romanians, announcing his return-to-the-top once again with a nifty 4-2 victory over Ciprian, and another seat at his usual final table.
The second semi was anyone’s guess. Despite Spencer being by far the more seasoned cueist(and a tasty American 8 ball player), taking a peek at Saman’s last few months’ scalps you’d be a fool to go in confident betting short against him.
Midnight approached, and passed - the twojousters still locking horns - and as an expectant Chilean sat whistling tunes over the lip of his bottled apple juice in anticipation of leapfrogging above Gabriel in 3rd in the long-term MNT rankings, a bead of sweat glid down Saman’s forehead as Spencer sailed off victorious into the distance.
At this stage it’s probably fair to highlightSpencer’s 9th place (before tonight’s MNT) in the rankings not reflecting his big-boy status within London’s pool scene, and It’d be remiss to exclude him from the current “Big 8” of Tootingregulars:
Ram, Tash, Rod, Spencer, Gabriel, Sunny, Martinho, and Ciprian.
Despite Ram being a clear cut above the rest long-term, you wouldn’t give anyone much over a 55-60% chance of beating anyone else from the above 8 on ‘any given Monday’.
But as with every craft, so much is how much time we cordon off for useful dedicated practice,and two of the most watchable players at the Club, Tash and Martinho, hardly make time to practice at all, despite being monsters on their day.
Interviewed before the final, Spence had a glint in his eye offering only
“Feeling good since the lessons of the UK Open and I’ve even set the phone to do not disturb – no distractions coz I’m taking Jen home the trophy tonight.”
And that he did, 4 to 2, as Rod’s last unfinished apple juice sat, mirroring him from the tableside,softly fizzing out in the corner.
Remember, the better you get at *anything* the more scope you have to enjoy it – don’t shoot the messenger – that’s just the way it is!
Keep practicing, kids.
Be part of that rising tide.