By: Erik Hjorleifson
The 23rd edition of the Turning Stone Classic is set to get underway this Thursday in Verona, New York. The 128 player field was once again filled months in advance. Players in the North East and pros from around the U.S. have responded very well to this bi-annual tournament in recent years, it is always professionally run and is set in the spacious event center at the Turning Stone Casino. The space is equipped with permanent stadium seating which makes the spectator experience very enjoyable as well. The event will also have live stream coverage and live scoring courtesy of azbilliards.com the stream produced by Upstate Al can viewed here http://www.ustream.tv/channel/turning-stone.
Rounding up the notable names for the international and U.S. contingent are former world Champions Johnny Archer, Thorsten Hohmann and Mika Immonen, Steve Moore, Mike Dechaine and Rodney Morris are among the top contenders. It must be noted that although it is a full field the overall strength of the field is a little weaker than we are used to at the Turning Stone. One of the main reasons is the coincidence of the Chinese 8 ball event that is currently going on in China, Dennis Hatch and Earl Strickland are among the American contingent in action over in China.
The Canadians will be well represented in this edition of the tournament with myself, John Morra leading the list of hopefuls from Ontario and Martin Daigle, Dany Nguyen and Dany Hewitt leading the way for Quebec. From the east coast Rob Sakell an Stephane Doiron will be making there first appearance, Brittany Bryant, Randall Truscott, Randy Fawcett, Randy Whitehead and Eric Cloutier will also be in action. Stay tuned to cuesportnation.com as I will be providing updates and insight for this years event. Finally in a recent announcement Turning Stone has been added to the WPA ranking system. Meaning participants will be carrying a world ranking, this is great news for players who are unable to travel overseas.
No comments:
Post a Comment