Nathan Nemes 4 - 3 Jake Mccartney
REPORT ON 2011 BERRI RESORT HOTEL OPEN 8-BALL SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIPS HELD ON SATURDAY JULY 23RD & SUNDAY JULY 24TH
Nathan Nemes from Adelaide defeated defending champion Jake McCartney from Ballarat by 4 frames to 3 in one of the closest finals for several years in front of an appreciative audience of over 200 spectators.
Competitors were playing for $15,000 in prize-money.
Nathan Nemes became the nineteenth person to have won the title in the 24 year history of this prestigious event. Nathan received $3,500 in prize-money, together with a replica of the Perpetual trophy and also the much treasured distinction of having his name engraved on the Perpetual trophy. Jake received $1,700 plus a trophy for being Runner-up and fell just one win short of being the first triple winner of this event.
The Grand Final saw Nathan race out to a 2-0 lead, only to lose the lead after Jake rallied to win the next three frames to lead 3-2. Nathan managed to hold his nerve to take the next two frames to win the match 4-3. A highlight of the final was the clean potting by both players.
These two players also played each other in the Quarter Finals of the 2010 event, which Jake won 4-3 before going on to win the event.
Spectators were treated to an excellent display of the skills of the game by all players competing in the Quarter Finals. The highlight of the Quarter Finals was the match between Mark Williams and Nathan Nemes. Mark lead this match 3-0 before Nathan won the next 4 frames to win the match 4-3. In what can only be described as a cruel twist of fate in another Quarter Final Match between Ben Nunan and Adam Andretzke, with the scores locked together at 3 all, Ben played the black into the top pocket, only to see it spit out. Adam then made an excellent clearance to win the match. Ben once again proved to everybody in the room what an excellent sportsman he is by his conduct following his misfortune.
Quarter Final results were:
Jake McCartney (Ballarat) defeated Justin Campbell (Adelaide) 4/2
Adam Andretzke (Barossa) defeated Ben Nunan (Melbourne) 4/3
Nathan Nemes (Adelaide) defeated Mark Williams (Robinvale) 4/3
James Hammond (Kalgoorlie) defeated Jakk Phillips (Melbourne) 4/1
Semi Final results were:
Nathan Nemes defeated Adam Andretzke 4/2
Jake McCartney defeated James Hammond 4/1
Three hundred and fifty eight players nominated in this year’s tournament, compared to 357 players that entered the 2010 event. Organizers were extremely pleased with nominations received this year, considering approximately 30 regular players not attending due to the Goldfields Open Snooker event held at Bendigo. Event organizers were also pleased to receive entries from a group of 7 players from Bendigo. The event consisted of players being divided up into 36 sections, with the sectional play being held at various Clubs and Hotels in the Riverland. At the conclusion of play on Saturday, 144 players had qualified for the finals on the Sunday.
The Friday night restricted knock-out competitions resulted in Steve McCormick defeating Cameron Dixon and Steve Perry defeating Neil Brown. The Friday night Invitational knock-out No. 1 resulted in Aleck Evreniadis defeat Jake McCartney in the final. The Friday night Invitational knock-out No. 2 resulted in Brenton Collier defeat Jake McCartney in the final.
The Under 18 knock-out resulted in Jarrod Bennett defeat Nick Young in the final. 13 Under 18 players competed in this competition and the skills shown by all players were exceptional.
The Saturday night Pot out competition was won by Brad Richmond. Fifty entries were received for the Saturday night Ladies competition, which is always keenly contested, resulted in Gemma Pike defeat Emma Babauta in the final.
The “Could have been Champions” knock-out on Sunday for non qualifiers and Round 1 losers saw Jamie Stevens defeat Michael Schulz in the final.
I wish to mention the work done by the Riverland 8-Ball Association. President Daryl and his committee spent many hours over the week-end to make sure that everything ran smoothly. I would also like to show my appreciation to the members of the Riverland Women’s 8-Ball Association who assisted with the selling of raffle tickets over the weekend, all proceeds of which are distributed as prize-money to the Saturday night Ladies and Under 18’s knock-outs. A special thanks also goes to Tracy Altschwager, Deb Trenwith and Trish Stieler for their assistance in organizing the Ladies Knock-out.
All 18 tables used at the Berri Resort Hotel are supplied and serviced by Aaron Court from Court’s Amusements and I would like to acknowledge his efforts to supply tables of the highest quality.
At the Official Presentation, Berri Resort Hotel’s Manager Shane Roberts assisted in the handing out of the major prizes. Shane briefly mentioned plans to upgrade facilities before next year’s event. Shane also announced an increase in prize-money for the 25th Anniversary of the event next year and thanked all players for competing and invited them to come back next year.
Neil Lemmey
Tournament Director