Massive apologies, but due to work and other commitments abroad, it's been a tough month to get match results and reports updated. As a result, the format may change to a monthly round-up, but still no less taking the mick out of players, general immaturity, and so on.
Big news in the Break and Dish over the last month. No-one has won it, still. Such a bunch of lame-o's. Closest was Joe Prince, when he sunk 6 balls off the break. Yup, you heard that right. 6 balls, each worth £50. However, having a massive break is worthless if you can't keep the cue ball on the table. Sadly for Joe, the cue ball flew off the table, and then he spent the next 10 seconds watching 6 balls drop, knowing that he wasn't going to get a penny from it. Lots of people watching on, trying not to pee themselves, but it was hard not to, and it was just sad that it wasn't caught on video along with Joe's reaction.
31st July: 9 Ball
Notably, Andy "Banks" Curzon managed a run to the semis, after overcoming Henri Linnainmaa, Ciprian Dandu, and Ramon "Monster" Navarro to get there. We all know that somehow, Andy can go balls deep into tournaments, but hasn't shown it nearly enough, but occasionally, he somehow manages to push himself and go far. Well done Andy, but he couldn't overcome the main man, Ramesh "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul, losing 5-0. In this particular Monday, Andrew "Don't call me Andy" Phan also pushed really deep into the comp too. Andrew pushes himself to play almost as fast as Andy "Banks", and when he gets into his flow, is devastating. Andrew reached the semis too, but like Andy, lost 5-0. This left a proper tear up of a final, between Ram and Rod "the God" Altes, the top dawgs in Tooting. With Rod coming back into form, it was expected to be a close contest, but it ended 5-1 to Rod, who was delighted with his form.
7th August: 10 Ball
This particular MNT welcomed the first appearance of the notorious Gareth "Darkside" Esprit, who captured worldwide attention at the Spanish Open with his entrance against Shane Van Boening. Not so much of this at Tooting's MNT, but a big welcome to the big character from all at Tooting. Notably, Gareth and Hassan Mehedi were setting themselves up for a quarter-final showdown, and with Hassan having to go hill-hill in the first and second rounds against Krishen "Kris" Sookhraz and Dhari Alduraibi, the schedule was already falling behind. Whilst I was personally in Germany, following the scores online, I really thought that Cip and Andrew had given up, such was the time taken to finally get a result, but eventually Hassan came through to win his third hill-hill of the night. Elsewhere, Andy "Banks" was continuing his good form and reached the semis, but fell 5-4 to Saman Gholami, who has recently been showing that he has all the attributes to rise to the top, such is his improvement this year. Cip managed to win 5-3 against Hassan in the semi, and then had to dig deep to claim a long awaited MNT win, by beating Saman 5-4 in the final.
14th August: 8 Ball
It was really good to see the resident incomprehensible Geordie, Glen Hargreaves, return to action after a few months out recovering from back surgery. Whilst it did take an inordinate amount of concentration to understand what he is saying, I think he told the local press conference that he was pain-free and ready to go again. Something like that anyway. Joe Prince (whose favourite discipline is 8 Ball, as he struggles to count numbers beyond 8 had performed well and was probably one of the pre-tournament favourites to win. However, Ali Hirji Kheraj, who was back in London for summer, was determined to show that his game continues to improve over in the US, and pulled off a series of great results to beat big Carl Jones, Ranj Sarraj, Muhammed "He's the Greatest" Ali, and then smashed up the Prince 4-0 in the semis to face up to Spencer "Afrotastic" Oliver. Spencer was really getting into some form, after being pushed early on be Kris and Dhari, and then came two massive wins over Cip (4-1) and Rod the God (4-1). Ali HK just couldn't stop the big Afro man, and Spencer took home this week's title with a easy 4-1 win.
21st August : 9 Ball
This MNT saw a guest appearance from JJ Faul, owner of Savannah's in Manchester, who holds a fearsome reputation in the UK scene. JJ managed to reach the final, and took a tough route as he had to overcome Hassan Mehedi (6-2), Danny "Tsunami" Naviid (5-2), Doug "the Shark" Clark (5-1, and the original gangster of Tooting himself, Martinho Correia (5-4) to set up a final against Ram. Elsewhere, it was good to see a revitalised Sean "Scarf" Avery get a couple of decisive victories under his belt to get to the quarters, but eventually fell to Muhammed Ali. Ali had already had to beat Rod (6-5), and was feeling confident about getting to the final, but with Ram stood in his way, Ali just couldn't find a way past him. This left JJ against Ram, but there was no way Ram was going to allow a newcomer to Tooting to get the better of him, and Ram eventually came through to win his first after an enforced break.
In other news, there is the 8 Ball Autumn Open taking place in Tooting on September 17th, which requires entry fees to Andrew Phan. Details of which were on the WhatsApp group, so please check it out as LFP members get priority entry. No pay, no play.
Finally, whoever paid their entry fee the other week with a fake £20, please note that it had to come out of Cip and Andrew's pocket. Bit out of order, so please don't do that again as checks will be more stringent from now on, or we may be forced to go cashless.
Have a great Bank Holiday weekend and hope to see you all on Monday at the MNT at London Snooker Tooting.
