Bwppa Ranking Event No.4 - The British Championships
Carl Gannon"s road to the final couldn"t have had a worst start in his wildest nightmares
as he lost his first round match to BWPPA rookie Shaun Madin 5 zip, Gannon then struggled over the line in his next match beating Graham McClounnan 5-4, then he defeated Mark McNeil 5-2 which effectively gave Frankie Gillen the number 1 spot in the Challenge Division. Gannon was looking for revenge in his semi-final as he was up against Madin again. Practise partners but in this event they had already had one battle but this time Gannon got the revenge he was looking for winning by 5 racks to 1. So Gillen vs Gannon in the final and in the end experience came through as Frankie took the title, the Challenge top spot and trophy to finish the year on a career high. The event was all the more sweeter for Frankie as he has found it difficult to find a wheelchair accessible practise venue, Frankie would like to thank Lee Tucker and Legends Pool Hall, Braintree, Essex for their support and assistance, Frankie"s prize for being top dog in the Challenge-Cup this year was a Poison Anthrax playing cue worth over 300 as Poison/Predator cues sponsored the BWPPA tour in 2009. Carl Gannon also received a Talisman Custom Cue case for finishing 2nd overall in the Challenge-Cup 2009.
In the Pro-Cup and Roy Kimberley won an incredible fifth event of the year. In his first round match however Roy got off to a bad start with a 7-5 defeat at the hands of Glaswegian Matt Duffy. Kimberley got back to winning ways with a 7-4 victory over old rival and BWPPA Chairman Matthew "The Mole" Gleaves. "The Sandman" then demolished Craig Welsh 7-1 to gain a place in the semi-finals, where he would face Karl Read. Kimberley was victorious against the man who recently partnered him in the Scotch doubles challenge match as part of a fundraising event for the BWPPA, the final score was Kimberley 7 Read 4.
This set up a rematch with the man who beat him in his first round match Matt Duffy. Duffy had to fight hard for his place in the final, after that 7-5 victory over Kimberley Matt lost a double hill match against Karl Read, followed by another hill-hill battle against Danny Luton. Liverpudlian Tony Southern was next up for Duffy and it was another close encounter with Duffy getting over the line 7-5.
Into the final, and as expected the hard work was far from over and it was a dramatic hill-hill match but Kimberley took the match 7-6 to claim his fifth tour title of 2009. Kimberly won a Talisman Custom Cue Case for finishing in First place overall in the Pro-Cup 2009 and Tony Southern received a Poison Cue for 2nd place.
The last Main Event of the year was the British Championship and Roy Kimberley fittingly took the title as the title 2009 BWPPA British Champion as well as ending the year once again as the British # 1. Kimberley began his campaign with a 7-0 victory over Matthew Lester, Roy made mistakes in the match but Lester couldn"t punish them and Kimberley showed the mark of a true champion and did the necessary. Kimberley struggled in the early part of his next match against another challenge player Shaun Madin, Madin showed Kimberley he was up for the task but again class told and Kimberley finished the match strong to win 7-4.
Elsewhere in the event Sheffield"s Gary Swift polished off a good clearance against Danny Luton to complete the semi-final draw. So with just 4 players remaining in the last BWPPA event as the decade comes to a close, the semi-finals looked like this:
Roy Kimberley vs Gary Swift
Matthew Gleaves vs Karl Read
In the first semi Roy demonstrated his killer instinct, as Swift won the lag and only made one mistake in the opening rack on the 5-ball. That was enough for Roy to take the opening rack. Swift had a chance to level the scores in the next match on the 9 but missed, Roy jumped on the mistake 2-0. 2-0 quickly became 3-0 and in the 4th rack a superb jump shot on the 1-ball into the side pocket from Roy looked as if it would be the catalyst for Roy to win his fourth rack, but Roy missed an easy 7-ball.
With ball in hand Swift committed the cardinal by scratching in-off the 7, 4-0 to Kimberley. Roy then went 6-1 up, Gary played solid pool in the next two racks to pull it back to 6-3 and looked good for a comeback, but Roy got over the line with a 7-3 victory.
Into the second semi-final, in the opening rack Gleaves took on a 7-9 combination but scratched leaving Read with a road map layout to take it 1-0. Both players missed a ball in the second rack but it was "The Mole" who levelled the scores. In the third Read but Gleaves in a terrific snooker on the 5 behind the 6-ball, this was enough for him to regain the lead 2-1 Read. Gleaves then took the next two racks to regain the lead at 3-2. Read won the next to level the scores at 3 a piece and the next two racks were shared to make it 4-4 and effectively a race to 3 for a place against Kimberley in the final. Gleaves quickly took those three racks for a place in his second final of 2009.
Kimberley vs Gleaves - The Final
The two old rivals met in the final, Gleaves" semi-final antics seemed to have had a big effect on him as he looked exhausted in the final. A break and run in the opening rack set the tone for the final, Kimberley soon doubled his lead 2-0 quickly became 3-0. Then an excellent 4-9 combination shot down the rail from Gleaves ignited hopes of a comeback 3-1. The comeback looked a distinct possibility when Roy missed the 8-ball with the rest, but for a second time Gleaves missed the chance to take a rack, Roy regains the three rack margin. Matt demonstrated what a ferocious competitor he was pulling back another rack to once again cut Kimberley"s lead to two racks.
Kimberley soon extended his lead to 6-2 and he was on the hill, Gleaves managed to win the 9th rack by cleverly employing the three fouls rule, but it proved to just be a consolation, Roy took the next rack to become the 2009 BWPPA British 9-ball Champion, British number 1 and his sixth BWPPA tour title of the year. However that wasn"t all Roy won. Thanks to the BWPPA sponsors Roy has also won a new cue case courtesy of Talisman Billiards and a custom made cue made by one of the best custom cue makers in the world Wayne Holmes, worth a cool 1000.
On behalf of all the players I would like to thank the BWPPA sponsors The Gentlemans Night Out Charity, Predator/Poison Cues, Iwan Simonis cloth, Delta 13 racks, Talisman Billiards, Wayne Holmes Cues, without the support of these sponsors the British Wheelchair Pool Players Association would not be able to be the largest wheelchair pool tour in Europe, and the largest pool tour outside of the USA.
Also a huge thanks to Andy Warden, the official photographer of the tour, and finally Matthew Gleaves the BWPPA Chairman for making 2009 the best season ever so far on the BWPPA, without his hard work we would not have a tour at all. I"m sure 2010 will be even bigger. If you are interested in joining the British Wheelchair Pool Players Association please visit www.bwppa.org for more information.
MAIN EVENT PLAYERS
Roy Kimberley, Karl Read, Matthew Gleaves, Danny Luton, Matt Duffy, Graham McClounnan, Tony Southern, Frankie Gillen, Adam Pearson, Kenneth Bendikson, Nicky Oliver, Shaun Madin, Carl Gannon, Mark McNeil, Matthew Lester, Craig Welsh, and Gary Swift.
THE BWPPA EVENT NO.4
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE LAST 16
Roy Kimberley
7 : 0
Matt Lester
Shaun Madin
7 : 2
Frankie Gillen
Gary Swift
7 : 6
Matt Duffy
Danny Luton
7 : 3
Craig Welsh
Matthew Gleaves
7 : 5
Nicky Oliver
Kenneth Bendikson
7 : 6
Graham McClounnan
Tony Southern
7 : 6
Mark McNeil
Karl Read
7 : 0
Karl Gannon
THE BWPPA EVENT NO.4
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE QUARTER FINALS
Roy Kimberley
7 : 4
Shaun Madin
Gary Swift
7 : 5
Danny Luton
Matthew Gleaves
7 : 1
Kenneth Bendikson
Karl Read
7 : 6
Tony Southern
THE BWPPA EVENT NO.4
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE SEMI FINALS
Roy Kimberley
7 : 3
Gary Swift
Matthew Gleaves
7 : 4
Karl Read
THE BWPPA EVENT NO.4
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT
THE FINAL
Roy Kimberley
7 : 3
Matthew Gleaves
CHALLENGE CUP EVENT PLAYERS
Frankie Gillen, Mark McNeil, Matthew Lester, Graham McClounan, Adam Pearson, Kenneth Bendikson, Nicky Oliver, Shaun Maddin, and Carl Gannon.
THE BWPPA EVENT NO.4
THE CHALLENGE CUP
THE SEMI FINALS
Carl Gannon
5 : 1
Shaun Madin
Frankie Gillen
5 : 4
Adam Pearson
THE BWPPA EVENT NO.4
THE CHALLENGE CUP
THE FINAL
Frankie Gillen
5 : 2
Carl Gannon
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PRO EVENT PLAYERS
Roy Kimberley, Tony Southern, Danny Luton, Matthew Gleaves, Matthew Duffy, Craig Welsh, Karl Read, and Gary Swift.
THE BWPPA EVENT NO.4
THE PRO CUP
THE SEMI FINALS
Roy Kimberley
7 : 4
Karl Read
Matthew Duffy
7 : 5
Tony Southern
THE BWPPA EVENT NO.4
THE PRO CUP
THE FINAL
Roy Kimberley
7 : 6
Matthew Duffy
by: Sophie Louise
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