As has been the case recently, I'm sorry for lack of updates, but workload is extremely high. This report will be a brief rundown of events at London's Finest since 28th August to 5th October:
28th August: The Bank Holidays often bring out a few big names, and it was a big field as we saw the likes of Tash back in action after a long absence. Robert Nightengale was also making his debut, and is much heralded as a tasty opponent from East London. And we also welcomed two other East Londoners, who are well-known in other tournaments: Jonathan Hughes and Jaz Bamotra. Great to see faces who are familiar on the scene, but making their debuts in Tooting. But Tooting is a bear pit and it's not always the easiest place to play if you're making your debut Robert put up a fight against one of the Tooting resident players, Saman Gholami, but lost 5-4. Jonathan Hughes also had to face up to Muhammed "He's the greatest" Ali, another of Tooting's stalwarts, and also lost out 5-4.
Deeper into the tournament, and Ram had an extremely tough run to the final, where he had to overcome Martinho, Tash, and Ollie Lawrence to get to the final, where he faced Ali. Ali's route was equally tough, as he had to beat Kris, Ollie's Dad, Alex; and then really went at Rod the God in the semis, to win 4-0 and give him the opportunity to beat Ram. However, as is often the case, get to the final against Ram, and the little Guyanan is still playing hot. And indeed, Ali found Ram too hot to handle, and lost 4-2.
4th September: Blind Scotch Doubles was back, and created its usual complete unpredictability. Favourites were Robert and Saman, who looked to be a formidable partnership, but almost all pairings looked strong and the competition proved to be fierce. However, one pairing went completely unbeaten throughout the tournament, and it was a hugely popular win as Mariusz and Spencer took all the glory. Everyone was delighted for Mariusz especially, as he doesn't win too often, but played some really solid stuff, covering at times for one of the leading players in the UK, Spencer Oliver. Mariusz and Spencer had to beat Robert Nightengale and Saman (twice). Once in the quarters (4-0 win) which created the psychological damage, and again in the final (4-2). Well done Mariusz and Spencer, and richly deserved.
11th September: Before the tournament began, quite possibly the moment of the year happened...in fact, the moment of the last two years. One person in our community has put money into the Break and Run almost every single week. An estimated £400 at the every least has gone into the pot by one single player and has never ever been selected. It's incomprehensible! But Monday 11th September will go down in history as the sheer disbelief went round the club as Dan's name was called out for the first time. Luck would have it, Dan didn't have his break cue, so had to borrow one. And of course, despite potting off the break, scratched the cue ball into the middle and it just wasn't his night. Such an anti-climax, but at least he can say that he had his chance.
Into the tournament, and with the importance of the Autumn Open coming up, it was 8 Ball for everyone to contend with. And the big guns came out blazing. Ram's the Tooting Top Gun for a reason, and despite the best efforts of Rod the God, Ram went through the tournament unbeaten again, winning 4-3 against Rod in the final. Ali continued his pretty consistent form, as he reached the semis and pushed Ram to hill hill. Gabriel does his usual trick, when he attends, of getting really deep into the tournament, but Rod had the better of him in the semis.
17th September: Autumn Open time, and out come some pretty big names in the pool scene. A full field of 32 battled it out in the group stages, with Daniel Baker, Gareth Esprit, Imran Majid, Chris Seville, Marius Dandu, Ollie Lawrence, Rod, and Gabriel topping their respective groups.
Into the knockout stages, and up stepped Muhammed Ali to put in two incredible performances, taking Ramon “Monster” Navarro to hill hill, and winning, and then repeating the feat in the quarter-finals, against none other than Imran Majid! However, in the semis, Ali faced up to Spencer “Afrotastic” Oliver, one of the most feared opponents in the UK, and it was Spencer who easily won 7-2. In the other half of the draw, Gabriel showed that when it matters, he’s always competitive and it was no real surprise to see him reach the semis, but Ollie Lawrence was absolutely on fire and powered into the final to face Spencer. The final was a tight affair, but Ollie was showing too much resilience against a flagging Spencer and came through to win 7-4. Well done Ollie!
18th September: The very next day after the Autumn Open, and we were back in action for the MNT. This time, we had a debut appearance from the infamous So “Gamble Gamble” Shaw, who possesses great skill and considered one of the most talented players in the UK when he’s on form. So was, therefore, favourite to win and ended up in the final against one of the stalwarts of the UK pool scene, Martinho Correia. Martinho had put in really strong performances to get to the final, notable against Saman, Rod and Glen “The Hitman” Hargreaves, but in an entertaining final, couldn’t fend off So, who won 7-4 at his first MNT.
25th September: For the second week in a row, So Shaw was back in town, but with Ram back from his USA trip, bookies stopped taking bets on for who would make the final, seeing as So and Ram were on opposite sides of the draw. So ploughed his way through the field, making relatively light work of Tooting’s best, and reached the final. Ram, though, almost was stopped in the quarter-final stage as he had to face a resurgent Seoul Destroyer, who was leading 4-2 with a chance to win 5-2, but somehow contrived to lose 5-4 in the end. Ram knew he had been let off the hook and a determined performance saw off Rod in the semis, leaving the inevitable So vs Ram final.
Tension ran high, as game faces were switched on and they went at each other like two gladiators fighting for their lives. So struck first, running into an early lead, as Ram was making uncharacteristic mistakes that he might not have made against any other. Perhaps So was in his head, perhaps Ram knew that Dan Suh should have been in the final instead of him, but Ram found it difficult to keep pace and in the end, lost 5-3, as So retained his 100% record at MNT.
We also said a permanent farewell to Dhari Alduraibi, who has now been deported and never to be seen at MNT ever again. He brought to us a new level of slow play, an unbelievable knack for dogging important shots, but we’ll miss him loads and hope he might be allowed back in the country again. In all honesty, it’s sad when people leave our community and we all wish him the very best for the future.
Finally, some of you greedy gits munched on so much of Dhari’s farewell cake whilst everyone else was busy playing, that I didn’t get to eat cake. Mind you it was bloody good…available at Korea Foods in New Malden! 😉
2nd October: With So out of town, and Ram having to pull out, Rod the God eyed up the rest of the field and felt very confident indeed. That’s not to say the rest of the field didn’t stand a chance, but Rod doesn’t tend to lose too often, and if he does, it’s usually to Ram or Ali. Ali fell victim to Arjon in the early stages, so all eyes turned to Cip (in the other side of the draw), to see if he could prevent Rod from winning. Likelihood was that Hassan Mehedi and Saman might be the ones to force Rod out early on, but instead, Andy “Banks” Curzon charged through the field to challenge Rod. However, as well as Andy was playing, by the semis, he just couldn’t come up with the answers, and Rod progressed to the final. In the other semi, Cip had unsurprisingly made it through to face Danny “Tsunami” Navidi, who had progressed to the semis for the first time. Well done Danny, but regrettably, facing the newly bespectacled Ciprian “Dennis Taylor” Dandu, Danny couldn’t challenge Cip and lost 5-0. Cip, though, couldn’t get his A game going for the final, and Rod ran out 5-0 winner, but it’s always good to see Cip progress far, as he pretty much as the largest repertoire of shots in Tooting.
