With Ram away, without creating a nemesis situation for Rod, Rod does tend to shine and last week, he took full advantage to win MNT. This week, with Ram still away, the question was whether Rod could keep up his momentum and get back to the god-like form that he showed for most of last year.
First up was the Break and Run. Ranj "Lucky" Sarraj did get lucky and with his sledgehammer break, sunk 3 balls off the break but found himself snookered on the 1 ball, therefore banking £150.
Into the main comp, and with a longer race to 7, there were some unbelievable matches. First round saw one of the favourites get knocked out early by a newbie to Tooting. Ali Vahab had only been in London for 3 days, before finding London's Finest Pool at London Snooker Tooting, and it was pretty clear he's got knowledge of the game. Despite being a touch nervous being in a completely new environment, Ali V put on a very strong display against Muhammed "He's the Greatest" Ali, to beat him 7-5. Lots of players were paying attention to Ali V, and eventually unearthed that he's considered "pro level" in Iran, and hadn't even played for the past 4 months!!! Certainly one to look out for. Meanwhile, Oscar Li returned to London from his summer holidays, and had to face Ranj. Ranj was well up for it and both players fought hard to reach hill-hill. Fortunately for Ranj, he came through to win, but Oscar must be happy that he competed really well and almost secured his first win at MNT. Also in the first round, Kris and Hassan Mehedi had a bit of a battle. Kris had recently been playing at JJ Faul's club, Savanna's, in Manchester, and reached the final up there, so a dangerous match for Hassan, and so it proved. You just cannot underestimate Kris, despite being mistaken for Ram at times (from behind), he might not have the technique of Ram, but he can pot anything on the table and that makes him a tough opponent. Kris played well to push Hassan to hill-hill, but Hassan has experience and resolve, and came through to win.
The next round saw yet more close matches go right to the wire. Ranj faced up against an in-form Andy "Banks" Curzon, who was off the back of a superb showing in St Alban's last weekend. The match was close all the way, but Ranj managed to get over the line first. Meanwhile, despite both players out of form, Marius Dandu and the Seoul Destroyer had a hard fought match where it was a matter of who made the least mistakes was going to win. Both players conceded after the match that neither deserved to win, but the Seoul Destroyer finally came through. And meanwhile, Mark Abrigo, one of the best Filipinos in the region, came up against a resurgent Dan "Grindr" Jenkins, who did his best to grind Mark down, playing some excellent stuff. But Mark finally edged it but Dan will be happy to have performed well enough to have won.
Into the quarters, and Ranj had the unenviable task of facing Ciaran, who bullied his way through the match to win 6-1. Great to see Ciaran back on form. Newbie, Ali V had luck on his side as he came through to win 6-3 against the Seoul Destroyer. Rod followed up from an excellent performance in the previous round, to win 6-4 against Hassan Mehedi, whilst Mark Abrigo managed to win against Saman 6-4 to reach the semis. The semi-final line-up was top class, and Ali V was just getting into his stride as he would need to be at his best to overcome Ciaran. Ciaran, though, under-performed by his high standards, and lost out 6-3. This left Rod to work his magic against Mark, and despite going 3-0 down, won 6 on the spin to beat Mark 6-3. The final was always going to be a close call. Ali V is clearly one heck of a player, whilst Rod was on his 8th pint and could easily have thrown it away. But Rod the god had told Dazn before the match that he only loses to Ram in finals, and so it proved again. 6-5 to Rod, a very close call, but Ali V is undoubtedly going to go far in future MNT, whilst Rod will be happy to have come through this stern test.
It's great to see the standards continually improve within the community. Some have taken their games to new levels and are genuinely competing to win, whilst many are competing really hard against the better players. it's also great to welcome new players to the community, and we hope that everyone will make every effort to make newcomers feel welcome.
Have a great week and look forward to next week when many people's souls will get destroyed.
