Pro9 - Europe's No.1 Pool Player Resource

The Inaugural Mark Lovell Memorial Tournament
Rileys Sports Bar Solihull
Hobs Moat Road
Solihull
West Midlands
B92 8JN
0121 7426068
www.rileys.co.uk

Sunday 29 January 2012

2012 Mark Lovell Memorial Finalists Darryn Walker and Ben Moore
The Inaugural Mark Lovell Memorial Tournament

Former snooker professional Darryn Walker claimed the silverware on Sunday 29th January 2012 at the inaugural Mark Lovell Memorial Tournament at Rileys, Solihull.

Those both within and outside the world of 9-ball will surely be aware of Mark's passing back in December last year. A minute's silence was observed by the mixed yet strong field of 31 entrants before play commenced - a small but significant amount of time to reflect on a man whose mere presence in a pool hall drew a smile from all faces around him.

Play kicked off with the opening 8 first found matches at 11:30am and hardly half an hour had passed before the first result was recorded; a 7-0 destruction of Roger Haddon saw Darryn Walker through to the winners' bracket last 16. Tony Weafer and Tem Dixon achieved the same score not much later against Keith Walderdine and Dave Hopkin respectively, with Lee Rigby's 7-1 defeat of Alec Tasker being the other highlight of the opening round.

Both the winners' and losers' brackets had now fully taken shape, and surprising results started to come through both of them. Roy Kimberley, the day's only wheelchair competitor, ended the campaign of Al Coton with a tremendous 5-1 victory. Dave Hopkin and Keith Walkerdine, both of whom had failed to score a rack in the previous round, also met in the losers' string. Once again, however, Walkerdine just couldn't find his feet and ended his competition without winning a single rack, leaving the tournament with a 5-0 defeat. Over on the winners' side, Tony Weafer made it two wins on the trot, sending Tem Dixon to the losers' side with a 7-5 win. Another highlight of the round saw a battle between Tournament Director and GB9 Chairperson Andy Warden and tournament and GB9 player/referee Martyn Royce. Warden came away with a 7-4 victory against Royce, and then continued his rich vein of form in beating Dave Keown to book his place in the single-elimination stages. Joining him in the last 8 were Tony Weafer (beating Al John 7-4 in the winners' side last 8 ), Bristol's Jon Davies (beating Al Coton 7-2, Kevin Simpson 7-6 and Darryn Walker 7-3), and GB9 Tournament Director Lee Rigby (beating Mark Hughes 7-6 and Steve Williams 7-4).

Share this article on FaceBook

"Read More..." for the details.