As the year comes to a close, some of the main pupils at Tooting Grammar School have received their end of year reports.  The school has decided not to publish the reports of all 128 pupils who attended the school this year, but here are a selection of some of the main students who attended regularly throughout the year.

Ciprian Dandu – is currently the head boy and maintains an excellent attendance record.  His concentration levels have tended to slip at times, mainly when distracted by other pupils shouting scores at him, but his performances have shown that he can outperform all other boys during exam time.  Is really good at helping the school maintain discipline, especially in the playground, but can lose his temper on occasion when the other boys ignore him. 

Andrew Phan – has been an able deputy head boy, and has exceeded teacher expectations by excelling at media studies.  His video assignments have been outstanding and he is likely to have a future career in this field.  His performances, however, have slipped since last year, but is still known to be a good performer.  Teachers have reminded him that his performances could improve if he played with both hands.

Muhammed Ali – has been the most committed boy in class this year.  His 100% attendance record and willingness to help the school has been noticed, and has been recently taken on extra-curricular activities by organising the shy students in a new snooker league.  However, Muhammed’s performances over this year have slipped slightly in recent months, and it is hoped that he will regain his form next year. It is also regrettable that Muhammed insists on using the wrong equipment during his performances. 

Ramesh Gokhul – is one of the oldest in the school, and a model pupil according to his teachers.  He sets an example to other boys, and has performed exceptionally well throughout the year.  In a recent school trip to the US, however, he did fail to live up to expectations, and has struggled a little to return to the form that he demonstrated before the school trip.  He is, still, the highest scoring performer in the school, and one of the most popular. 

Rod Altes – was transferred from a comprehensive school, only this year, and immediately outperformed most of the other pupils with his performances, leaving other students wondering if he had actually come from another grammar school.  Has since settled in exceptionally well, and his performances have occasionally outshone Ramesh’s.  Teachers are concerned whether he actually consumes anything other than apple juice. 

Tashunka Schultz – draws a lot of attention as he is generally a very popular boy.  Has a tendency to call himself a donkey and put himself down frequently, but still finished 3^rd this year.  We are also concerned that he has walked out of school on occasions, threatening to stop his studies, but relieved to see that he returned back to school quite quickly.

Kostiantyn Ivanov – recently moved to Tooting Grammar School and is the youngest in the school.  He has a youthful exuberance that is infectious, and is clearly very talented.  However, his expectations of himself are exceptionally high, and his teachers would like to remind him that he cannot pot every single ball on the table all of the time. 

Gabriel Vasilache – is one of the quieter members of the school, but is always knuckling down, concentrating hard, and has performed exceptionally well throughout the year.  He is likely to progress further next year, as teachers have reported that he has the potential to be the highest performing student at the school next year.  Gabriel has also been asked to stop intimidating the new boys to the school as he likes to stand at the door of the classroom and stare them out as they enter.

Andy Curzon – has exceptional enthusiasm whilst at school, but his performances are inconsistent, when he clearly has the ability even if he is slightly unorthodox.  It is hoped that he takes a little bit more time over 2023 to find that consistency, as his best performances have come when he finds his focus.  He has been asked, repeatedly, to stop running in the corridors.  He has a tendency to run everywhere without slowing down.

Sean Avery – is a very well-behaved student, but has been underperforming for most of the year.  Is definitely contender for having the best head of hair, although Gabriel might have something to say about this.  Sean has also recently been asked to help the school run detentions on a Wednesday night for the naughty kids. 

Saman Gholami – started the year very poorly indeed.  Consistently near the bottom of the class and the teachers have had genuine concerns for him.  However, he has been putting in huge efforts to improve over summer and been voted the most improved pupil in the school.  

Gauhar Khan – failed to attend many classes up to May of this year, but has since been attending regularly, impressing his teachers with his increasingly dogged performances.  He can occasionally be quite negative about himself at times, but still gets his head down and concentrates on improving.  Gauhar occasionally has trouble responding to authority, and has been repeatedly told to pull his trousers up.  Failing that, he is allowed to borrow a belt from lost property.

Doug Clark – was one of the brightest students in class until June, when he decided he didn’t want to attend any more and dropped out of school.  It was good to see him return to class in October, but his performances lacked the kind of panache seen earlier in the year, leaving Douglas with a permanent hang dog expression after most classes.  It has been promising to see his performances have improved lately, and his return to the front row of the class has been well-deserved.

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Written by Dan Suh

Category: Home

Published: 15 December 2022

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With Ramesh "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul going out in the first round last week, and Rod "the God" Altes taking full advantage to close in on the top spot, this week was going to be a tense affair.  The whole talk in the arena was whether Ram had lost his form or could Rod finally sneak into the top spot in time for the season end.  With the final round of the year to take place on December 12th, it was vital that Ram and Rod perform, as there would only be one more round after this one, to clinch the coveted top spot.  The arena was buzzing with excitement as the draw took place, and to everyone's relief, Ram and Rod were in opposite ends of the draw.  Could there be a a Ram vs Rod final tonight to make the final tournament of the year an absolute nail-biter?

As we know, it's not all about the top two players, though.  Ram and Rod might strike fear into opponents almost as much as the Destroyer does, but there were 28 of London's finest pool players chomping at the bit to upset the apple cart.  Noticeably, in the first round, Gauhar Khan and Dhari Alduraibi played out the most dramatic match.  Khan has had a pretty decent November, with a 50% win ratio, whilst Dhari pushed Craig "Bear" Laurie to hill-hill last week, so couldn't be underestimated.  A tense affair, littered with mistakes, great safety, and some wonderful potting saw Khan summon all of his powers to overcome Dhari 5-4.  Well played big man!  Meanwhile, Craig was firmly focused on flexing his grizzly like muscles, disposing Ervin Demiraj 5-0 to set up a tasty encounter against Rod in the second round.  Craig told ESPN: "I'm in good form, I can beat anyone, and I want a rematch against Rod after losing to him in last week's final.  I'm not attending as much as I want, yet I'm still ranked 10th, so it's obvious I'd be challenging for top spot if I'd been able to get here most weeks".  Fighting talk indeed from the highly dangerous Grizzly Bear.  Another to lay down the gauntlet was another of the best players in the house.  Gabriel "Hitman" Vasilache was looking imperious as he easily picked Sorin Stancu apart 5-0 to set up a mammoth match up against Ram.  Gabriel had no comment when interviewed, and just stared into the camera menacingly before sitting down to watch videos of car-washing.

Of course, pre-tournament favourite, Dan "the Destroyer" Suh had to face Henri Linnainmaa, but under trying circumstances.  With South Korea getting absolutely hammered by Brazil on the TV screen next to the table, the Destroyer was somewhat distracted and Henri sent Dan crashing out early doors. 

Into the second round, and tie of the round goes to Joe Granville for holding his nerve to win 4-3 against Hassan Aljumaili.  Doug "the Shark" Clark also kicked into a different level by beating Andrew Phan 4-1, telling Sky Sports Arena: "I couldn't miss.  Every pot was perfect and not even Joshua Filler would have taken more than 1 rack off me".  Meanwhile, Ciaran "Big Boy" Boylan squeezed the life out of Carl Locsin, not giving Carl a chance to win even 1 rack.  Certainly, all eyes were on some of the big guns battling out for supremacy.  Rod faced Craig in a re-run of last week's final and came out with the same scoreline as last week, 4-2 to Rod.  Meanwhile, Ram played out a 4-2 win against the very dangerous Gabriel.  The wins for Rod and Ram meaning that 2 of the highest ranked players in the tournament had been knocked out early.  Was this to leave a clear path to the final for the both of them?

Into the quarters, and some of the challengers were trying to leave their mark on the evening.  Geordie Glen Hargreaves was looking a bit like his normal self again.  Ruthless in his attacks, Glen went for it and easily overcame Joe to win 4-0.  Ciaran was determined to disrupt Ram's progress, but Ram was on a mission to win, and came through unscathed, 4-1.  Meanwhile, Doug had another impressive performance to send Saman home early with a 4-2 win.  And finally, Shadi did everything he could to beat the immortal Rod, pouncing on Rod's mistakes and taking it to hill-hill.  But Rod called upon his supreme powers to nick it at the death to continue his advancement.

The semi-final line-up looked very tasty indeed.  Doug had been playing some beautiful stuff, and over recent weeks, had been displaying the kind of form that earnt him a top 10 place earlier in the year.  1 loss in the last 5 games, so Doug was bang up for taking on Rod.  Meanwhile, Glen had showed earlier this year, that he's capable of winning tournaments, but had suffered from a loss of form over summer.  But as they say, form is temporary, and class is permanent.  Glen was equally ready to come flying out of the blocks against Ram.  Glen's record against Ram in 2022 hasn't been good, though.  In two previous encounters, Glen was yet to take a rack off Ram, but this time round, Glen pushed Ram all the way, looking like there might be a famous victory...but Ram finished Glen off to win 4-3.  In the other semi, despite Doug's fine form, Rod had one eye on the final and nothing was going to stop him from getting there.  Rod had already beaten Doug twice earlier this season too, and as the magic apple juice flowed through Rod's veins, an easy 4-1 victory ensued to ensure a Rod vs Ram final.

As we know, Ram had recently been a little off-form by his standards, since his return from his world tour.  Only 2 wins from 4, losing to Rod and going out in the first round last week to, admittedly, a top top player in Craig.  With social media awash with stories of Ram's decline, all eyes were on this final.  I had previously requested interviews with Ram about his recent performances, but his refusal to provide a pre-match interview demonstrated his focus on this final.  And what focus Ram showed...winning 4-1.  The cool-headed Ram answered his critics but didn't let it get to his head.  Offering up some words at the end of the match, Ram said: "it's been a brilliant season so far, to be pushed by God who has missed a fair few weeks shows his high standards.  This win means that it goes to the wire, just want the fans wanted!".  Rod offered up his congratulations too by saying:  "Ram's a great competitor and missed weeks too.  It's great to have a target to aim for, and I'll do everything I can to overtake Ram and end the season as number 1".  

Amazingly, just before the final, Rod had briefly gotten to number 1 spot, but the loss to Ram meant that Ram was back on top with one week left to go.  

Finally, remember that December 19th is pencilled in for the End of Season Christmas Special.  It would be great to see as many of you come down for the awards ceremony, and loads of mini tournaments, plus food and drink.  Next Monday 12th December is the last official tournament of 2022.

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Written by Dan Suh

Category: Home

Published: 07 December 2022

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The final MNT of the season took place last night, at a packed venue at London Snooker Tooting.  All eyes were on Ramesh "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul and Rod "the God" Altes, as they were fighting it out to finish top of the pops in 2022, and seemingly, all Rod had to do was to perform better than Ram, and he stood a great chance of overtaking him in the final tournament of 2022.  Such drama, such anticipation, and eyes were firmly fixed on these two top dogs.

The first round was full of twists and turns, with 4 matches going hill-hill.  Gauhar Khan and Ranj Sarraj played out a tense game.  Khan has recently shown that he can compete well at this level, and it wasn't a surprise that he fought well to get into a winning position, but Ranj stepped up to the plate and finally came through to win.  Meanwhile, Glen "the Hitman" Hargreaves, embroiled in a legal battle over naming rights for "the Hitman" with Gabriel "Hitman" Vasilache, took on Andy "Banks" Curzon.  Andy's unique style bamboozled the big man from Newcastle, but Glen clung on to fight his way to hill-hill.  In the end, however, Glen just couldn't keep up and Andy C inched over the line.  Meanwhile, Dan "the Destroyer" Suh faced Joe Granville.  The Destroyer blitzed his way into a 3-0 lead, but with an horrific miss to go 4-0, Joe ground his way back and won 4 racks on the spin to get to the hill first.  The Destroyer is, though, feared throughout Tooting, and after finally recovering from his horrific miss, came back to destroy Joe in the final two racks to progress.  And finally, Ciaran Boylan and Henri Linnainmaa played out a really tense affair, knowing that the winner would go on to face the Destroyer.  It was unsurprising that both players knew that with so much at stake, real steel and grit was required to progress.  It wasn't much of a surprise, either, that this match went to hill-hill, but in the end, Ciaran took his chance to get the opportunity to destroy the Destroyer.

Only one whitewash in the first round, with Rod the God on a mission to dispose of Saman in as quick a time as possible, sending out a clear message to Ram that there was only one thing on his mind, and that was to end the year as Number 1.  

The second round is where the real action took place. Despite only joining the MNT in late September, Martinho Correia has a record that is pretty much on par with Ram and Rod in terms of win percentage.  Facing Muhammed "he's the greatest" Ali, Martinho had to call on his experience against the wily old snooker cue wielding potting machine, and despite the fright, ended up winning 5-4.  Doug "the Shark" Clark spent much of his second round tie shaking his head, looking like he'd seen a ghost, but somehow dug deep, took his chances, and came through 5-4.  In the meantime, with Ciaran on a massive high, and in a similar vein to Morocco getting past Spain on penalties to face Portgual, Ciaran exceeded expectations to progress further by causing a massive upset against the Destroyer.  All eyes, though, were fixed on Ram and Rod.  Rod was up against the highly dangerous Tomasz Jedlecki.  Tom's not been in the best of form of late, but on his day can and will beat anyone, and today was his day.  5-2 winner over Rod, leaving Rod looking nervously over at Ram, to see first place slipping away before his eyes. 

Ram, was up against the highly menacing looking Gabriel.  We all know that Gabriel is one of the best players in Tooting, with levels of consistency that almost match Ram and Rod.  He strikes fear into many opponents, and he is fearful of no-one.  Least of all Ram or Rod.  Determined to finish off the year with a statement of intent for 2023, Gabriel took every chance that came to him to win 5-3, and send Ram crashing out, wondering if he had, indeed, slipped to second place in the last tournament of 2022.  Speaking after the match, Gabriel turned to the camera to tell his army of fans: "I'm the biggest fish here now, only small fish can stop me".  

Into the Quarters, and despite no Ram and Rod, what a line-up we had.  Two of the old school crew, Sunny Garib and Martinho faced each other in a match that could well have taken place 30 years ago.  However, roll onto 2022 and Martinho demonstrated that he hadn't lost any of his magic to win 5-3.  Tomasz kept the momentum up, after beating Rod, with a 5-3 win over Ranj.  Tash was up against a high-flying Ciaran, who was fresh off his historic destruction of the Destroyer.  Tash was one of the favourites to win after Ram and Rod exited in the previous round, but found the challenge of Ciaran to be a tough one, and found a way to scrape through 5-4.  And finally, Gabriel went into a tough clash against Doug, but Doug couldn't quite mount enough of a challenge, and bowed out at this stage, losing 5-3.

The first semi-final was between Martinho and Tom.  Tom was looking pretty good, and was feeling confident after knocking Rod out earlier.  This promised to be a great match-up, but Martinho went into the game with a fierce determination and cruised through 5-0.  In the other semi, Tash and Gabriel fought it out, but Gabriel was looking imperious and played some beautiful stuff to win 5-2, setting up a tasty final between himself and Martinho.

And the final did not disappoint.  Martinho is not only in-form, but has a huge amount of experience and know-how.  Gabriel is, simply, one of the big guns at Tooting and when he plays well, there isn't much stopping the hard-staring Romanian.  So not much of a surprise that this final went to hill-hill.  but with all that confidence flowing through his icy veins, Gabriel snatched the win and sets the tone for the 2023 season.  Speaking after his win, Gabriel said "all people talk about is Ram and Rod, but next year, they will only be talking about me".

So, despite all the talk of a Rod vs Ram final to really work out who was going to end up in first place, Gabriel and Martinho really showed that 2023 will have a very different look to the rankings.  Congratulations to Ram for being the number 1 ranked player at the end of the season and there will be a small awards ceremony at the Christmas do on Monday 19th at Tooting, to recognise certain achievements. 

And, for those who were wondering, the rankings are a bit like snooker, or tennis, etc.  It is NOT reset.  It'll remain as they are, and those playing in 2023 will simply pick up from where they left off, but if you played in 2022, but not in 2023, then you will not show up in 2023 rankings.  What will make next season interesting is that there will be the feature to show your improvements on 2022.  Also, we are still toying with the idea of recording Break and Runs and/or Table Runs, but it will depend on whether players can record these accurately or not.

Also, don't forget, all welcome to the Christmas Do next Monday 19th December.  There'll be the awards ceremony, there'll be really bad Christmas jumpers, mini tournaments such as speed pool, and a chance to get together before the Christmas break.  Hope to see you all there.

And finally, a massive thanks to Ciprian and Andrew for making 2022 a really good year for us pool players at Tooting.  Please appreciate what they do for us, as there isn't anything like this for pool players in the area, on such a regular and consistent basis.  They give up so much time to make this happen, and get very little thanks back.

Here's the final player rankings:

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Written by Dan Suh

Category: Home

Published: 13 December 2022

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The MNT is really hotting up as we're edging closer to the end of the year, and you can barely separate Rod "the God" Altes and Ramesh "Ramma Jamma" Gokhul for the race to the Number 1 spot.  A mere 0.011 points separate the two Goliaths of Tooting after what was another big night at London Snooker Tooting.  Regular Tooting reporter, Dan Suh, reports from last night's action.

The night started off with a really strong first round showing.  Three of the first round ties went to hill-hill.  Newbie Dhari Alduraibi faced an in-form Andy Curzon, who was off the back of a 6 in 9 winning record in recent weeks.  Unknown quantity that he might be, Dhari snatched victory at the death and Andy was left to rue his chances.  Gauhar Khan faced up against another newbie to Tooting, Jim Williamson.  Khan has a lot of experience in the game, and he summoned up all of his panther like prowess to progress to the next round.  One of the big results was Ram losing out to Craig "Bear" Laurie, where Craig took every chance that came his way and played flawlessly to win 5-1.  Absolutely the result of the night fell to Dan "the Destroyer" Suh.  A bit like a non-league team facing a Premier League side in the FA Cup, the odds were stacked heavily against the Destroyer, as he faced the might of Ciprian Dandu.  Cip, however, just wasn't at the races, and the Destroyer is starting to befit his fearsome reputation, taking his chances when needed.  5-4 to the Destroyer, who celebrated as if he'd won the World Cup.  This sits 2nd in the Goliath table, where Saman still sits at no 1 after beating Ramesh back in August.

One whitewash in the first round, where Ramon Navarro obliterated Mariusz Wiszowaty 5-0.

The second round saw Paz "the Punisher" Brennan face Ciaran Boylan.  Ciaran has recently been trying out a new stance, but couldn't quite get into his groove, so decided to revert back to his snooker stance, and it reaped the rewards as he ran away with an easy victory over the Punisher.  At this stage, a big mention to Paz and Ciaran for supplying some free beers as gratitude for letting them into the Tooting gang.  It was much appreciated and shows what a great community we have at Tooting. 

Also in the second round, newbie Dhari faced up against Craig.  Being a newbie, reputations mean nothing to Dhari, and took Craig right to the wire, but in the end, it wasn't enough and Craig sneaked into the quarter-finals.  

Notably, Sean "Scarf" Avery looked like a potting machine, so Gabriel "Hitman" Vasilache had to dig deep to get to the quarters, but only after Gabriel admitted in the press conference that Sean had gifted him 3 racks.  Olly Lawrence produced some of the finest potting displays against the Destroyer seen at Tooting, to ease through 5-1.  Olly said he was intimidated by Dan's bodyguards, who has recently shot to TV stardom, so he ran around the table on fire!  GJ "Panda" Oyangoren looked unbeatable against Doug "the Shark" Clark and explained that a mixture of luck and Doug not performing won him the match.  Meanwhile, Rod eased past Ranj Sarraj with the kind of ruthlessness that we've come to expect, and Ramon continued his fine form to beat Saman Gholami.  Result of the second round, though, goes to Gauhar Khan.  Muhammed "he's the greatest" Ali couldn't stop the juggernaut-like momentum of Khan, although Khan played down his efforts in the post-match interview: "Ali was a bit distracted after winning £380 in the skill shot, so this was the only chance I'll get to beat Ali".  Ali was unavailable for comment, but the skill shot win of £380 must have been a small consolation for losing to Khan.

The quarters saw two of the big guns face each other.  Gabriel had earlier played his chances down by telling Sky Sports that he had "zero chance" of winning tonight, and perhaps that played on his mind a little as he went hill-hill with Rod.  That little element of doubt might have crept into Gabriel's mind, as Rod finished up and ended up in the semis.  Two huge wins for Craig and Ramon, as they threw down their gloves to the rest of the field by securing their semi-final places without losing a single rack.  And finally Ciaran's night ended as GJ was revving up his engine to win 4-1.

The semis looked tasty indeed.  GJ vs Craig, and Ramon vs Rod.  It's true to say that Ramon has some style about his game, and participating in his first semi-final of the year against the fearsome Rod, the occasion might have gotten to him.  Ramon lost out 4-2, but it's highly likely that Ramon will be back challenging for further progression, very soon.  Moving to the other semi, and Craig was really flexing his bear-like muscles.  If GJ is a panda, then Craig is a grizzly bear, the meanest badass bear on the planet, compared to the rather docile and cute panda.  4-0 to the Grizzly Bear and nicely set up for the final.  GJ said afterwards, "the fans love pandas more, and I'm here for the fans".

Those who follow London's Finest Pool community at Tooting know that Craig is no stranger to winning.  You also know that Rod is on fire of late, on a 14 match winning streak before the final.  A final of high quality, but in the end, a few mistakes cost Craig in the end, and Rod extended his winning streak to 15.  In fact, Rod's lost two matches at MNT since the 26th September.  He needs two more to go second in the winning streak competition, as Ram holds the current record of 23.  Most importantly, Rod is now within 0.012 of overtaking Ram, and that means next week's competition has an extra bit of spice.  This time next week, we could have a new leader, as the race for top spot heats up as we enter December.

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Written by Dan Suh

Category: Home

Published: 29 November 2022

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