Thanks to Andy “Banksy” Curzon for covering whilst I was on my travels in Korea, but this week, I returned back to the action and witnessed a fine night of pool, which saw some classic matches played out.
It’s always great to be back in Tooting and see the familiar (and new) faces who make up such a great community of pool players in London. The big guns were out in force, with Ramesh “Ramma Jamma” Gokhul, Gabriel “Fake Taxi” Vasilache, Tash “Witko” Schultz, and Rod “the God” Altes all in attendance. These guys make up the current top 4 players in Tooting, and all hold fearsome reputations across the UK too. This surely was going to be an epic night where the 4 biggest Titans of Tooting battle out for supremacy.
The first round threw up some really interesting matches. Gabriel managed to ease himself into the next round with a solid victory over Banksy, whilst Rod seemed to have demoralised Dan “DJ Grindr” Jenkins before the match had started, with Dan already telling fans that he was going home early once he had seen the draw. And indeed that was the case as Rod breezed past Dan 5-2. Meanwhile, Tash had to struggle past Jim “Greecey Nandos Slim Penis” Siampanis, with the match going to hill-hill. And finally, Ram was up against Muhammed “He’s the Greatest” Ali, who had a poor record against Ram this year. Surely this was going to be a breeze for Ram? But on closer inspection of Ali’s results of late, and you’ll see that he had won 9 from 11 in recent weeks, which makes him very dangerous. We all know, in fact, that Ali possesses super powers in his little snooker cue, and against Ram, he upped his game to what we know he can play, and eased past Ram 5-2. Fantastic result.
Other special mentions in the first round for Danny “Tsunami” Navidi for his narrow win over Ervin “Vini” Demiraj. Martinho Correia for his battling performance against Hassan Mehedi to win 5-4, a notable debut for big Carl Jones who made his mark by winning 5-0 against Marc Harris.
So, with Ram out, the field was thrown wide open in the second round. Tash managed to overcome Saman, who has been in really good form of late, winning 10 from the last 13. A 5-4 win for Tash, but Saman is ready to charge up the rankings in the upcoming weeks.
Despite pretty poor form from Rod lately, he had to face Martinho who is ranked 7 in Tooting. This was going to be another test for Rod, but in actual fact, Rod’s been turning a corner. Getting to the final twice in the last two MNT’s have spurred Rod on a bit, and a when Rod’s in the mood, utter destruction can occur. A 5-0 win for Rod, against one of the strongest players in Tooting was simply devastating. The whole arena was buzzing as word got round. Had Rod rediscovered the fear factor that he had previously instilled into players before a ball had been potted?
To the quarter-finals, and what a draw we had. The mighty Ciprian Dandu up against Tash. Both of these guys have shots in them that make people look on in awe, and a high quality match between the two ensued. However, Tash made fewer mistakes, and squeezed over the line, 5-4. With the way Ali and Rod were playing, you might think that this was going to be a close one. And it was. Rod charged into the lead, and 4-1 up, was hot favourite to win. But Ali was on a roll. 4 straight racks and 5-4 it ended to the snooker cue-wielding beast. In the lower half, Gabriel was quietly getting on with his business. 5-1 against Dhari Alduraibi, and a highly efficient performance, where Gab was looking menacing indeed.
And finally, a huge performance from Ranj “Lucky” Sarraj, who had to go toe to toe with Hassan “the Sniper” Aljumaili. Ranj hasn’t been winning too many games lately, but he had already beaten Pistol Pete Cloherty and Alan Llorente to get this far, and his momentum carried him over the line into the semis, with a 5-4 win. Well done to Ranj, and that will do his confidence the world of good.
The semis looked a really tasty, as Tash played Ali. Everyone’s prediction was that this was going to be a tight one, but Ali just went into overdrive whilst Tash wilted, and ended up an easy 5-0 win to Ali. Meanwhile, our favourite Fake Taxi driver/actor/performer, Gabriel quietly went about his business as normal. With Ranj making his first semi-final, the occasion just got to him, and to be fair, there’s not many chances that Gabriel gives you. 5-1 to Gab. His efficiency, at times, really is quite monstrous. And into the final that proved. Perhaps Ali was running out of steam, but when Gabriel’s in the mood, there isn’t much you can do about it. 5-1 to Gab, and he had only dropped 6 racks in 5 games. That’s really terrific stuff, and starts to demonstrate why he is currently ranked no 2 in Tooting. Hopefully much more to come from him, as the season hots up.