Rileys American Pool and Snooker - Barnsley
1st & 2nd Floor
47-51 Peel Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2RL
www.bwppa.org
www.rileysltd.com
Saturday/Sunday 5-6 December 2009
Frankie Gillen won the Challenge Cup.
The BWPPA British Championships
The concluding tour stop of the British Wheelchair Pool Players Association (BWPPA) 2009 Dynamic Billiards 9-ball tour took place at Rileys in Barnsley on the 5/6 December, many players were fighting for positions in the rankings ahead of 2010. Londoner Frankie Gillen completed a successful season in the Challenge Division of the tour beating Mansfield’s Carl Gannon in the final of the Challenge-Cup. Frankie started his campaign with a devastating display over Glaswegian Graham McCLounnan whitewashing him 5-0. There was a slight hiccup in proceedings for Gillen has he lost his next match to Shaun Madin 5-1, Madin who is playing in his debut season on the tour, has fond memories of Rileys Barnsley has he won the Challenge-Cup here at his first event tour stop 2 in June. In the one-loss bracket Gillen came through a tough match against the Norwegian Kenneth Bendiksson 5-4. Into the semi-finals and Gillen had another tough task, this time in the shape of Adam Pearson from Birmingham, Pearson put up a good fight but Frankie came through with a 5-4 victory to gain the first spot in the Challenge-Cup final, Frankie had already secured top spot in the Challenge-Division at this point, so with that extra confidence under his belt he was looking for the trophy and the winners cheque to top off his season.
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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.
Frankie Gillen.
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.
Tony Southern.
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:
Karl Read.
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.
Roy Kimberley.
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 http://www.bwppa.org/membership.htm for more information.
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 |
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 |
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 |
Roy Kimberley.