Rileys American Pool and Snooker - Wealdstone
35-43 High Street
Harrow
Wealdstone
Middlesex
HA3 5DE
Telephone: 020 8863 3705
www.gb9balltour.com
www.rileysltd.com
Over 120 photos from this event - AVAILABLE NOW!!!
Sunday 1 June 2008
2008 GB9 London Classic Champion Imran Majid (left),
presented with his trophy by Pete Williams, Director of CueSportTV
Imran Majid maintains unbeaten record at GB9 Ball Tour Main Event
After three days of play, with a full field of 128 elite quality players in the Main Event at the GB9 event in Harrow, Imran Majid has done the unthinkable and won for the third time in a row. It shouldn't be possible should it? There's too much luck needed in nine-ball to have a dominant champion isn't there?
Well... Apparently not, but the journey wasn't without hiccups, not least the final match which went hill-hill with both players missing the final nine ball once, after Majid left himself too straight on the eight to get good shape on the nine. He missed a long thin cut playing from near the rail, then Hundal missed the only shot available to him, a table length bank into the opposite corner pocket!
Both shots were very makeable, but nine ball is all about the pressure, and these were the hero shots, the ones that count, the "make or break" shots, the ones that nine ball is all about - these two shots made this the best GB9 final so far... After three days of play the title, the money, the ranking points, the glory - everything hung on this one last 21/4 inch yellow striped ball. Majid executed a perfect cut down the opposite rail to send the nine into oblivion and his star into orbit. Nine ball pool at it's best - absolutely thrilling!!!
"Read More" for details...
In an interview before the final Imran said, "Well I think to start off with I've got a big advantage playing on these tapped in conditions, I use a cut break and it works very well."
"Most of the time I'm getting a shot on the one and I'm never going to scratch, whereas other people are putting it down to luck to get a shot on the one ball and scratching a lot of times, you know hitting the ball hard and they don't really know where the cue ball is going sometimes so I think I'm three racks up before I start any match."
Three wins out of three tournaments and only six events in a season, is it too early to be mentioning the possibility of a Grand Slam? Well... Majid is already looking forward to the next GB9 event, the GB9 Yorkshire Cup to be held at the beautiful seaside town of Scarborough.
"The club looks very nice", he said!
2008 GB9 London Classic Runner-Up Raj Hundal (right),
presented with his cheque by Pete Williams, Director of CueSportTV
Action from the final of the 2008 GB9 London Classic
Raj Hundal in action at the 2008 GB9 London Classic
Jonathan Mathers in action at the 2008 GB9 London Classic
2008 GB9 London Classic player David Walsh in action
Valentine's Day Massacre
This is incredible... Six foot five inch Michael "The Yeti" Valentine - yes, a giant of a man with a giant-sized break was playing a match when the joint of his break cue failed. The shaft snapped off mid-break and fell noisily onto the bed of the table, but despite all the balls rolling all over the play-field, not one of them touched the shaft.
"The shaft went flying up in the air and the butt actually hit my chin, I didn't really know whether to hold my chin or go for the shaft", "I've never broken a break cue before and it was quite funny as Karl didn't get a foul from it as it never touched a ball".
A quick inspection of the SledgeHammer cue components revealed that the actual joint pin was completely obliterated and had sheared right off.
With the debris from the shaft not impeding the flow of any of the balls, Valentine was permitted to continue playing after removing the shaft from the table and proceeded to completely clear the table for a well earned, but expensive point.
Valentine's break is deceptive, it doesn't look like there's too much power going on, and it isn't an elaborate affair with a ton of follow-through either, but the give-away is if you listen to it.... A controlled, understated break that produces an ear-splitting crack every time the white hits the one ball.
THE GB9 LONDON CLASSIC | ||
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT | ||
THE LAST 32 | ||
Imran Majid | 9 : 8 | Paul Williams |
Andy Appleton | 9 : 6 | Clark Smith |
Neil Raybone | 9 : 5 | Paul Medati |
Andy Barnett | 9 : 8 | Daryl Peach |
Scott Higgins | 9 : 6 | James Kay |
Tommy Donlon | 9 : 8 | Andrew Nicholson |
Adam Clarke | 9 : 7 | Kevin Uzzell |
Michael Valentine | 9 : 8 | Karl Boyes |
Darren Appleton | 9 : 4 | Chris Cowie |
Damian Massey | 9 : 4 | Gary Houstoun |
Jonathan Mathers | 9 : 5 | Christopher Robson |
Andy Worthington | 9 : 5 | Thomas Ainsworth-Smith |
Mark Gray | 9 : 1 | Jason Howard |
David Walsh | 9 : 8 | Adam Benn Smith |
Pat Holtz | 9 : 7 | Tony Drago |
Raj Hundal | 9 : 2 | Paul Edwards |
THE GB9 LONDON CLASSIC | ||
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT | ||
THE LAST 16 | ||
Imran Majid | 9 : 5 | Andy Appleton |
Andy Barnett | 9 : 7 | Neil Raybone |
Tommy Donlon | 9 : 7 | Scott Higgins |
Michael Valentine | 9 : 6 | Adam Clarke |
Darren Appleton | 9 : 3 | Damian Massey |
Jonathan Mathers | 9 : 6 | Andy Worthington |
David Walsh | 9 : 7 | Mark Gray |
Raj Hundal | 9 : 8 | Pat Holtz |
THE GB9 LONDON CLASSIC | ||
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT | ||
THE QUARTER-FINALS | ||
Imran Majid | 9 : 3 | Andy Barnett |
Michael Valentine | 9 : 4 | Tommy Donlon |
Darren Appleton | 9 : 4 | Jonathan Mathers |
Raj Hundal | 9 : 6 | David Walsh |
THE GB9 LONDON CLASSIC | ||
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT | ||
THE SEMI-FINALS | ||
Imran Majid | 9 : 4 | Michael Valentine |
Raj Hundal | 9 : 8 | Darren Appleton |
THE GB9 LONDON CLASSIC | ||
THE MAIN TOURNAMENT | ||
THE FINAL | ||
Imran Majid | 11 : 10 | Raj Hundal |
The GB9 Tour, sponsored in it's inaugural year by Rileys Pool, Snooker and Poker Clubs, has drawn talent from the length and breadth of the country, who will be putting the final touches to their practice routines in readiness for what must be the toughest national tour in Europe.
The GB9 official match cloth is sponsored by Z9Billiard Cloth by Klaus Zobrekis, a new company with a new high tech cloth, designed after three years of intensive development, and aimed at the top end of the market for professional "worsted" pool/billiard cloth for American style tables.