First week back, and a fairly rabid bunch of pool-starved LFP members commenced 2024 with a bumper turnout of 31. Always good to welcome new members. Aussie Marcus, Joseph McDonagh, and Ben Grady (geezer who makes the videos for Karl Boyes and Matchroom) were testing out the waters.
As is always the case at MNT’s, plenty of drama in the early rounds. Tash was caught out by Pistol Pete, who hasn’t been around so much lately, but clearly hasn’t lost his touch, as he just about squeezed past Tash, 5-4. The Sniper, Hassan Aljumaili had to face bottom-ranked Vini, but as anyone will tell you, the lower ranked players can and will spring a surprise on anyone if you don’t take them seriously. And Vini really pushed the Sniper all the way, but fortunately, Hassan just about held his nerve to win at the death. In what was always going to be a really interesting match, Cip the Spin King faced Ali Vahab. Two players who are capable of winning MNT’s and both have a really good game to watch. No surprise in that this went to hill-hill, but Ali took out the last rack to push into the next round. And newcomer, Ben Grady, showed off a few of his skills, as he went up against the unorthodox, Falak. Falak, though, is a superb potter, and pushed Ben to the wire, but Ben could be really happy to have won in his debut match at Tooting. The next round saw Ali Haidery push Saman all the way. Ali is really improving of late, and to go hill-hill with Saman is no easy feat. However, Saman is playing very well at the moment, and inched over the line.
Into the quarters, and Marius Dandu pumped Pistol Pete 4-0. Martinho schooled “The Uzi”, whilst Saman could be very happy winning against his fellow compatriot, Ali Vahab. However, all eyes were on the match-up between the top two players in Tooting. Ram vs Rod. They had already played in another tournament, the day before…so Rod was bang up for it. Despite a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes, it was Rod who managed to overcome his demons, although we all know that Ram is not going to lie down and be beaten easily. With Martinho on fire, Marius just couldn’t raise his game to that level, and bowed out at the semi-final stage. In the other semi, Saman went on to show why he’s going to be climbing up the rankings this year, and managed to beat Rod the God. As it was already getting late, perhaps it was going to be a battle of stamina, and it was Martinho who stayed awake long enough to ensure he won the first MNT of 2024.
The second tournament of the year was 9 Ball, and proved to be an absolute classic. Early rounds saw Henri Linnainmaa cause a bit of an upset against Martinho, Spencer “Afrotastic” Oliver demonstrated why he ended last year in 3rd place by beating Rod “the God” Altes, Muhammad “He’s the Greatest” Ali continued his recent dip in form by losing to the luckiest player in Tooting, Ranj Sarraj. Ranj went on his lucky streak by beating Sean “Scarf” Avery in the next round, whilst Richard Vinluan set about sharking players by beating Danny “Tsunami” Navidi and then went on to beat Usman “The Uzi” Khokar to reach the quarters. Meanwhile, Sam Storey and Ali Vahab had a really good battle, with Sam coming out on top at hill-hill.
The quarters saw the very dangerous Greg Mostyn up against Sam Storey. Two players who will be threatening top 10 places or higher this season. Sam has a really good record at Tooting, though, and came out on top 5-2. Henri has shown that he could threaten, but has some horrible levels of consistency, but after his win against Martinho, was confident and came through against Richard Vinluan, who looked pretty happy with himself for making the quarters. The game of the quarters was between Gabriel “Fake Taxi” Vasilache, and Spencer. Two players who, by their own admission, would beat each other as many times as they would lose. As equal a contest between two very high quality players, and it was Gabriel who found himself sneaking over the winning line. And, despite his best efforts, Ranj’s luck ran out against Ram, who set himself for a semi-final showdown against Gabriel.
The semi between Ram and Gabs should be close, but Gabriel took advantage of Ram’s mistakes by playing flawlessly, to win 5-1. In the other semi, Sam’s march continued on as he took down Henri 5-3. With Sam and Gabriel in the final, Sam demonstrated why he’s definitely a challenger, and a 5-2 win made him king of the hill for the week.
Next up in January was Multiball. The discipline where the winner of the lag chooses between 8, 9 and 10 ball. As always, the early rounds are always full of drama, upsets, and provides plenty of opportunity for me to poke fun at people. Namely Muhammad “He’s the Greatest” Ali is having a shocker. No wins since November, and whilst he was up against Greg Mostyn, a younger Ali might have at least competed, but his slump was continue without winning a rack. Surely not long before Ali rediscovers his form and starts to pump players again. Ranj continued his decent form with a griding win over Sean Avery.
The second round saw most of the usual favourites come through. Ram, Rod, Cip, Sam Storey and Greg were progressing through nicely. Meanwhile, Ali Haidery looked intent on putting all of his late night practice into action, and reached the quarters after beating Obi. Pistol Pete was also showing signs of returning to the form that saw him have a very successful 2022 season, by beating Andrew “Speed Pool, one-handed king, I’ll beat you with my jump cue” Phan with relative ease. And Hamza Itum came through a gruelling battle against Ranj, where at hill-hill, neither player seemed to want to win.
The quarters saw Greg give Ram a run for his money, but it ended 5-3 to the dimunitive Guyanan. Rod barely batted an eyelid as he won 4-0 against Hamza. Cip was showing signs of himself as he had a tough one against Pistol Pete. But, all eyes in the arena was on the match between Ali Haidery and Sam. If you thought last week, Richard Vinluan was happy just to be in the quarters, Ali Haidery looked like he was in shock that he was having to face Sam Storey. 7 racks later, and it was Sam who looked like he was in shock, after Ali beat him 5-2! The semi-finals saw Ciprian “Spin King” Dandu trounce Ali Haidery 4-0, but in the other semi, it was Rod who put Ram to his sword, and mashed the Jamma up 4-1. With Rod in his confident mood, he’s always said that if Ram’s not in the final, then it’s his to be won. But not when Cip is in the mood. Cip came blazing out of the traps, and 4-1 later, it was Rod who was left stunned as to why he hadn’t won a tournament without Ram in the final.
The last tournament of January was an intriguing one. A couple of new players joined in. Sean and Darius, who had been watching MNT but never participated before. Both were given a stern lesson by Sam Storey, as he put Sean away 6-0 and Darius 6-1 in the next round. Tough start for the rookies. Another new players came in from Japan. Yuya Tanaka made his debut, only a day after winning the Premier Pool Promotions Division 1 title in Wycome the night before, beating So Shaw 7-1. Surely he must be one of the hot favourites for his first MNT? However, playing in Tooting is different. It’s a bear pit and despite winning against Marius Dandu, came up against a highly motivated and focused Rod, who gave him a Tooting welcome, beating him 6-2.
Meanwhile, Dan “Seoul Destroyer” Suh came back from 4-1 down to beat Henri, but failed to retain his focus and crashed out to Obi in the next round. Muhammad Ali failed to score a single rack for the third week in a row, as Ram absolutely annihilated him 6-0. Ram continued his momentum, and perhaps it was a good thing that Dan lost to Obi, as Ram didn’t give Obi a chance and won 6-0. Saman also was on fire, as he thrashed Cip 6-0, and that left Sam Storey to win against Ali Vahab for the second time in three weeks.
The semis looked like it could result in Rod and Ram meeting each other in the final, but Sam Storey did it again. Another performance to demonstrate just why he’s so feared in Tooting these days. 6-3 over Rod. Ram then demonstrated just why he’s number 1 in Tooting. A perfect display of pool, giving Saman almost zero chances to register a rack. Saman was left in his trail, and Ram won 6-2. But Sam’s a fighter and confidence was high. Ram had been telling people how he’d been in a slump of late, but after the final, you couldn’t tell. Ram’s number 1 for a reason, and he demonstrated exactly why he is the most consistent performer in Tooting. 6-3 to Ram and apparently he’s still in his slump.