NZBSA_AGM_2018.pdf

O’Kane to Compete on World Seniors Tour29th May 2018

New Zealand’s Dene O’Kane has announced he will be dusting off his cue and entering the World Seniors Tour qualifiers in Hong Kong this September.

The former world number 18 and two-time World Championship quarter-finalist will be returning to the country where he reached his only professional ranking final at the 1989 Hong Kong Open, narrowly losing out 9-8 to Mike Hallett.

Dene O’Kane said: “I am delighted to be a part of the new World Seniors Snooker Tour. I must say it is long overdue and will be the perfect platform for many ex-professional players to compete again together with new opportunities for amateur players in participating countries.”

Jason Francis, Chairman of World Seniors Snooker said: “The tour we are building is the perfect vehicle for former professionals of the game like Dene who were household names in the 1980s and still enjoy competing, It would be great to see more players of his era giving this tour a go.”

The UK Seniors Championship qualifiers take place on 21-23 September 2018 at the i20 club in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is open to any player over 40 years of age who is a member of their national federation. The winner in Hong Kong will take their place alongside legends including Jimmy White in Hull this October, with the winner to earn their place at the professional 2019 

For everyone who intends to enter the NZBSA billiards and Snooker Champs. Please remember to send your entries through YOUR LOCAL ASSOCIATION otherwise you run the risk of your entries being lost and you not being entered in the tournaments.By doing this would mean that you are a financial member of an association.

DO NOT SEND ENTRIES DIRECT TO AUCKLAND ASSOCIATION.

Hamilton Billiards Open & Champion of Champions Report   Saturday the 3rd of March saw the longest day on the New Zealand billiards calendar with six hours of section play in the Hamilton Billiards Open and then after a meal break the Champion of Champions tournament.   The Hamilton Billiards Open saw an increase in field numbers this year after its initial running twelve months ago. Combatants included four New Zealand champions (23 out of the last 25 years), two NZ B-Grade champions and the current North Island champion.  The field was split into two sections of seven playing hour long games to determine the top four who would progress past group play in a straight cross over draw. After 42 hours of play there were a few upsets that meant that Sunday’s play was still anyone’s. In the quarter-finals Gary Oliver beat Mike Harris, Mark Taylor recorded his first ever victory over Paul Stocker, Wayne Carey outplayed Darren Taylor and Adesh Shekatkar beat Derek Gibb. One semi-final pitted the two players who have dominated NZ billiards since the turn of the millennium and Oliver proved too strong for Carey. In the second semi-final Shekatkar’s experience in match play at the pointy end of a tournament proved the difference in seeing him through to the final outscoring Mark Taylor. The semi-final stage in the main draw saw the plate final being decided between Andrew Draper and Russ Delahunty. Draper copped the section of death in pool play and was unlucky to miss out on qualifying through to the championship draw, but recovered on the Sunday to overcome Delahunty’s challenge. Draper also made the plate high break with a well compiled 70 break. In the main final Oliver got out to an early lead over Shekatkar and the latter couldn’t find the form that got him to the final to stage any form of comeback against the current New Zealand champion. Oliver also made two centuries during the weekend with the best being the tournament best of 124 unfinished.   In the Champion of Champions, which is set under Speed Billiards rules saw some decent billiards being played at the end of what was already a big day. In the blind drawer Derek Gibb beat Paul Stocker, Russ Delahunty beat last year’s champion Wayne Carey, Adesh Shekatkar beat Darren Taylor and Gary Oliver beat Mark Taylor. The winner’s names were put back into the hat to find the semi-final draw and Gary Oliver met Adesh Shekatkar and Derek Gibb met Russ Delahunty. Oliver crushed Shekatkar 211-83 in the 30 minute game. The second semi was a little closer and saw Gibb defeat Delahunty 116-86. In the final Oliver proved too consistent and ran out the victor over Gibb 154-64.   Therefore Oliver had picked up the double for the weekend emulating the feats of Wayne Carey one year ago.    

 Cheers   Darren Taylor Tournament Convenor

We can now say " WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS"

Congratulations to Mario Hildred and Adam Lilley for making the the final of the Oceania U21s.

An all NZ Final which saw 11 frames being played including a rerack in the final frame.

Mario Hildred ended up coming out on top to win 6/5 over Adam Lilley.

Also the NZ Team took out the Trans Tasman Test Series 9/1 result for the Gary Hale trophy.

Included in the NZ Team photos are ...Adam Lilley (Captain) Ryan King, Dnaiel Cole, Mario Hildred, and Cody Turner

Team Managers, Dave Judd and Dan O'sullivan.

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO ALL PLAYERS

Dear Players

The entries to the Oceania Championships to date have not been as expected and the OBSF Executive have had to take the decision to reduce the prize monies relative to the entries for each of the events. This was a very hard decision, but one necessary to ensure that the Championship can go ahead as a number of regional players have already booked their flights to attend the events. However, if the numbers do increase then the proposed prize pools will be honoured in full.

There will be Test Matches between Australia and New Zealand in the U21 and Women’s which is important for the region.

The introduction of the Masters to replace the 6 Red Championship has not been as well supported as we expected and the fact may be that to have the Masters followed directly by the Oceania Championship is too long for players to be away from work or other commitments they may have and with this in mind we have decided to not run the Masters, all Master entry fees paid to date will be fully refunded. We are hopeful that anybody that had entered only the Masters will now switch their entry to the Oceania event. We apologise for this but we need to be mindful of the responsibility to the financial viability of the OBSF for the future.

In the future Championships it might well be that the events are to be split and there be more than one Championships to accommodate the categories without requiring too long a period for the events.

The Billiards has also not been supported to date, even with the resurgence in recent times for the discipline, and again it has been decided that unless there is a drastic change in the entries in the next few days it might well have to be cancelled. It is all very disappointing for everybody and especially after the OBSF managed to find a replacement to host the Championships after New Zealand had some difficulties and had to withdraw from hosting the Championship.

Mounties, as always have been fantastic in taking on the Championships at such short notice and I think we need to get behind them and support all the events wherever possible. They have been a stalwart of the Billiards and Snooker fraternity for many years and to see the lack of support at this time is a travesty. All the tables have being reclothed and new balls are provided for the events so we have the best conditions we can provide.

There are some with personal agendas that are actively urging players to not enter and that is such a destructive approach for our sport, so I urge you to not listen to the protestation of some that are not aware of; or in some instances choose to ignore, all the efforts that people are going to in both the preparation for these Championships, but also the future of our sport worldwide. It is to be hoped that in the near future we can see some conciliation between all major parties that will benefit all the players.

Therefore finally, we would strongly urge you all to support both the OBSF and Mounties and to enter the Championships as soon as possible to ensure they are a success.

The OBSF Executive

BOP_BILLIARDS_Scoreboard_2017.xls

A solid field of 24 contested the 2017 North Island Snooker championships held at Petone Workingmen’s Club 3-5 June.

Day one saw all competitors play 3 section games each and at that point all for sections results were in order of seedings.

The tables were playing fast and there was a steady procession of Breaks with 10 players contributing breaks over 40.

After Rain set in on Sat evening Sun was a different matter, the tables slowed and made playing a little more difficult. There were

a few surprises with Matt Scarborough beating Chris Maltby 3-0, Mario Hildred beating Harry Haenga 3-1 and Mark Hannah (the only

player not to drop a frame on day one getting rolled by both Peter Lesslie (respotted black in decider) and Rob Redgrove (3-1) to finish 3^rd in section 4. Only two players went

through to the last 16 unbeaten Bayden Jackson HB top Qualifying and Defending Champion Matt Scarborough qualifying in 2^nd spot.

The Last 16 was played on Sun afternoon with some very good matches. New comer Ian McDonald from CC taking Bayden Jackson HB to a decider in

what was a cliff hanger with Jackson eventually falling over the line.

Another mention was 15 year old Cody Turner who after dropping only one match in section play looked in good form against Mark Hannah before the tip

came off his cue and he was given 15 mins to re tip but it wasn’t the same and he was force to finish the match with a rack cue. To his credit he maintained his

composure but it wasn’t enough going down 3-1 in a match that was closer than the score indicated. (one to watch in the future)

Peter Lesslie and Craven Teua were also going to be hard to pick with Peter stealing his third match of the tournament on a final frame black ball. Its was

certainly his weekend for black to wins.

Bayden Jackson bt I McDonald 3-2

Mark Hannah bt Cody Turner 3-1

Rob Redgrove bt John Lancaster 3-1

Chris Maltby bt John Starkey 3-0

Harry Haenga bt Darryl Jensen 3-1

Peter Lesslie bt Craven Teua 3-2

Mario Hildred bt Ron Wilkie 3-0

Matt Scarborough bt Sunil Durga 3-0

In the quarterfinals looked a strong line up on the final day.

Bayden Jackson dominated the table against Mark Hannah and was on a 147 in his first visit in frame one when he had a chance to take his 10^th black but opted for an easier pink to

ensure the frame was safe only to realise that Mark had fouled off the break so snookers were already required and as a result broke down on 75.

Peter Lesslie after leading Harry 2-1 let Harry in for a very good 76 in frame four to set up yet another decider. You guessed it another Black ball game and yes Peter stole his 4^th match in what was a thriller.

Mario Hildred was another who was impressive as he disposed of defending champion Matt Scarborough.

Bayden Jackson bt Mark Hannah 3-0

Chris Maltby bt Rob Redgrove 3-0

Peter Lesslie bt Harry Haenga 3-2

Mario Hildred bt Matt Scarborough 3-1

The semi finals were looking tantilising.  Mario Hildred was impressive against Peter Lesslie who while playing well didn’t have an answer to great tactical play and when Mario compiled an lovely break

Of 78 in the 3^rd frame it was all over.

The other semi which promised to be a cracker failed to deliver with both players struggling. Messy ball layout combined with a lot of unforce errors saw a match that was hard to predict. At 2-2 however we always

knew that one player would have to step up at take control and on this occasion it was Chris who suddenly found some form and got home 3-2

The final was all Taranaki, Chris Maltby and Mario Hildred. Good tactical play by Chris meant he was in control early on winning the first 2 frames. Mario playing good consistent snooker pulled back the 3^rd and looked good at 2-1 however the fairy tale wasn’t to be and Chris piled on the pressure laying some good snookers in the next two frames to run out the winner 4-1. This was great effort for Mario who is soon to head to China to represent NZ at this years world U21s. He can move forward with confidence after his Finals Effort at this years Oceania U21s and now North Islands.

 Plate Final

John Hapimana bt Wayne Naysmith 3-0

High Breaks

Harry Haenga: 89 76 61 60 56 55 50

Mario Hildred: 78 48 46 44

Bayden Jackson: 75 61 57 49 48 43

Craven Teua: 74 55 41

Mark Hannah: 73 55 50 46 40

Peter Lesslie: 69 44 44 43 41

Chris Maltby: 58 56 55 47 46 42 40 40

Matt Scarborough: 56 56 49 48

Cody Turner: 54 41 40

John Starkey: 49

Ron Wilkie: 47 43

Hi all,

Results and report on 2017 South Island Billiard Championship

The South Island Billiards Championship was played on the weekend of 27^th-28^th May at Woolston Club, Christchurch

Ten entries was divided into 2 sections of 5 with a couple of players who had not played for a number of years participating for the 1^st time for many years… we welcomed back John Fitzgerald and Rob Evans… both who have been playing interclub in Christchurch but not tournament play. Rob played with distinction over the weekend… Section play was over 1.5 hours

Section 1 saw Gary Oliver win all his games and Rob Evans play very well winning the remainder of his. A good win over Geoff Lilly ensured progression to post section play for him. Should be noted here also a good win for Peter Gormley who also beat Geoff Lilly for the 1^st time in tournament play.

Section 2 had Peter de Groot winning all his matches… Lyndon Bradford and Peri Lilii getting through to a last section play match decider for the 2^nd qualifier. Bradford proving to be the more consistent player and coming out on top. In this section also was Dennis McCaughan from Dunedin who travelled up to play, a member of the CBSA because there is no association in Dunedin, Dennis has travelled up and played in quite a few tournaments in Christchurch and always a pleasure to see him.

So the draw for post section saw Semi-finals of Oliver v Bradford and de Groot v Evans.

Plate quarters ( 1 hour matches) were Lilly prevailing over McCaughan 310-69 and Gormley beating Lancaster 150-137

Plate semi’s (1 hour) the evergreen Peri Lilii played Geoff Lilly with the Lilly (with a Y) getting up by 270-146 and Gormley beating Fitzgerald 142-111

Plate final (2 hours) was a classic encounter with the lead switching many times between Gormley and Lilly. A 45 break right towards the finish gave the victory to Lilly but it could have gone either way right up to then.

Main semi’s saw Oliver with the aid of breaks of 50, 51, 59, 57 in the 1^st hour build a good advantage over Bradford, not to be outdone Bradford outscored Oliver in the 2^nd hour of the semi but the differential was too much and the final score of 602-404 probably flattered Oliver.

2nd semi  saw de Groot playing Evans. Unfortunately for de Groot early on in this match he broke the ferrule on his cue and lost his touch… a change of cue did not help and Evans was able to play comfortably throughout the match knowing that de Groot could not hold the table and break build as he normally does. Evans winning 577-228

The final looked to be like being a good one, Evans having beaten Oliver in Interclub this year and playing well. Oliver just starting to hit his straps a few weeks out from the nationals. Oliver got in 1st with a break of 79 and several breaks around 30-40 mark. Halfway mark was reached with Oliver leading by 250 points. Oliver then made a 40 break followed by a 116 break and proceeded to double baulk Evans. Oliver made another break of 70 later on and cruised to the bell with the final score of 701-261

The high break of the weekend was 140 by Oliver and this was his 18^th South Island Billiards title equalling the record set by Dave Meredith.

A massive thank to the Woolston Club for the hospitality, CBSA and Bill Earle for the sponsorship towards prize money and the referees (Rob Merrychurch, John Fitzgerald and Chris Anderson) who turned up and made some old players (me for one) very happy to get a break from those duties along with playing. Thank you also to the players who entered, see you guys at the Nationals in July…

cheers

Gary Oliver

played at the Otaki RSA on 27th & 28th May 2017

There were several surprises in section play.   Capital City's Mark Hannah caused the first upset of the Tournament with his confident win against Waikato's Darren Taylor. Darren Taylor failed to qualify.  Capital City's Ross McNab now has the nickname "The Giant killer" when he played very well to get a victory against Derek Gibb (CC).

Local Lad Mark Hannah has always shown promise in Billiards, his Dad- Robbie Hannah, a wonderful Billiard player himself having been the Otaki RSA Billiards Champion 39 times, has coached his son in both forms of Cue Sport, Snooker & Billiards.  Adesh Shekatkar flowed when beating Derek Gibb in their section play match.  Another very popular qualifier was Russ Delahunty who also with his computer, recorded the results and set games in motion so his performance was indeed meritorious. Mark Taylor was also in a tough section, but he did play very well and earnt his place in the last 8.

Quarter finals (2 hours) had Zac Guya (CC) getting up against "Giant Killer" Ross McNab (CC) 351-198, Mark Hannah(CC) bt Russ Delahunty(CC) 353-273, Wayne Carey (AK) bt Derek Gibb(CC) 286-150, Adesh Shekatkar(WK) bt Mark Taylor(WK) 518-337.

In the 2 hour semi's, Mark Hannah stayed with Zac Guya for some time with Guya's experience helping him to conquer Hannah 350-256. The other semi had Adesh Shekatkar always playing better than Wayne Carey and the score didn't reflect the dominance Shekatkar had while winning 400-349.

The 2-hour final had the current Waikato Champion Adesh Shekatkar taking the early lead with the popular Zac Guya, a past North Island Billiard Champion, trailing most of the time.  Guya's long losers weren't happening and these let him down badly but the reflection of the final score showed just how close the game became, Shekatkar winning 368-353 and getting his name for the first time on this time honoured "North Island Billiards Championship" Cup. Highest break went to Derek Gibb with a nicely constructed 111.

Adesh Shekatkar, originally from India, with a high tournament break in his home Country of 278, is an exciting prospect for NZ Billiards as he got his NZ Citizenship on 5th April 2017.  His results will be closely watched when he competes in this year's NZ Billiards Champs at the Woolston Club at Christchurch in July.

Also worth mentioning is that the ... whisper is out ... that a few of the Snooker players will be dabbling in Billiards after this year's NZ Snooker Champs . a wonderful thing to happen and once they get the "BB" - (Billiards Bug) they could quickly climb the ladder and some may become "dual NZ Reps" which some of our "greats" have already achieved.

2017 Barton McGill Open Billiards

played at the Papakura Club, Auckland ...  13-14th May 2017

Younger Snooker talent in the form of Cody Turner (Capital City) who played in the Clubs NZ Billiards Championship at Tauranga during the week and the 2016 NZ u21 Snooker Champion Mikey Stewart are both now `tampering' in Billiards,  this bodes well for the future of this wonderful Cue Sport game.  Also Gavin Kershaw (UK) visiting New Zealand on a working holiday added excitement with his entry into this tournament. 

NZBSA Board Member Neil Gyde was up from Wellington, evergreen 82 yr old Ron Milicich, English born Andrew Draper (WK) who is now living in and working out of Tokoroa,  Auckland's Wayne Carey,  and Darren Taylor (WK) who had recently played in the Christchurch Open Billiards `dealing' to the Southerner's and almost bought back a 'Christchurch Trophy'  to the North Island, something none of the Rugby Teams look like doing this year.

Section play was all 60 minute games with Grant Hayward (AK) going thru unbeaten.  Hayward, who has had a Billiard World Ranking #25,  only enters the odd tournament every year,  wins most,  but seems to prefer the 18 pocket game - "Glof".  He is a pleasure to watch, confident potter, a wonderful cueist with huge experience in Cue sport having excelled in Snooker, Pool and Billiards.

90minute semi's saw Hayward attracting a watchful crowd, was on fire with two century breaks .. 121 & 101 against Draper winning  573-111 . The other semi had the consistent Carey (47,54,84,69) getting past Taylor 525-195 .

2 hour Final had Carey (42,50,73) winning 517-245 over Hayward (42) who just couldn't get the flow on as he had done over the most of the weekend.

60minute Plate Final had Mikey Stewart winning over Englishman Gavin Kershaw in a close game 165-147

Breaks over 100 .. Grant Hayward 121, 101.  Wayne Carey 114,102,100

This is Carey's ...  120th recorded Provincial and NZ Championship's win !