Mark Selby stunned the World and himself by coming back from as far down as 5-10 to win 18-14, as he admitted he dreaded coming to this event because of previous poor play. His competitor, Ronnie O'Sullivan, is widely known to be the best outright shooter in the game, often running centuries in minutes; dazzling anyone who has played this game before. O'Sullivan, who was the two time defending champion, was favored to win his 6th world title even though he had a sub par performance throughout the tournament.
Unfortunately for the Rocket and his fans, Selby was at the top of his game in the final two sessions, after closing the gap to 10-7 the previous day. Selby came back in the final day reinvigorated and determined as he began to implement a barrage of safeties and brilliant strategy to stifle O'Sullivan and take his first lead 12-11 at the end of the day's first session.
In the final session O'Sullivan had one more chance to regain his form and momentum, as he was down 14-15. However Selby, who later spoke of this frame as the point he identified where he could take over the match, did exactly that. Grinding out O'Sullivan to the extent where after the match he admitted to being numb for long periods of time because of lack of time at the table and lack of good opportunities. Selby ran away after that, completing the improbable but very entertaining comeback, winning his first world title and the £300,000 top prize.
Saskatchewan Provincial Snooker Championships
This past weekend at Kenetic Park in Swift Current, the Saskatchewan Provincial Championships took place. There was a full field of 16 with spots reserved for the top shooters in the province. New to the mix this year was Jared Amyot who hails from my home room of Rack-M-Up Billiards in Cornwall, Ontario. Just under a year ago Amyot, who recently became a professionally ranked pool player, moved to Estevan, Saskatchewan with his Fiancee for job opportunities.
Since moving out west Amyot admits he has been barely playing as there is no pool hall in his town nor any place close by to play. He has a friend with a snooker table who lives about an hour away who he sneaks over to play about once a month in his spare time. However when he learned about the Provincial Championships he said it was a chance to take a romantic weekend trip and fill his craving for competition.
Organizer of this event and accomplished player, Terry Lovestone, was Amyot's first match, which he won 4-2 and said he had to play at his top to do so. His next match was against Jim Campbell which he took 5-2. Then Amyot met up with Mike Peters in the Semi-Final who ended his bid at the title 5-3.
In the end Darryl Wouters won his 12th Provincial Title and Mike Peters took second, Amyot did get a consolation prize by taking the 150$ high run with a run of 58.
Darrly Wouters-$750
Mike Peters-$350
Jared Amyot/Guy Lovestone-$100
No comments:
Post a Comment