2011 ACTEBA Open Doubles Champions
Bob Sifri & Edmund Chen
Congratulations to Bob and Edmund on achieving their first State Title in emphatic fashion, winning the Final 5-0 over Steve Thomas & Michael Masal. Whilst Bob is an old hand at this eight ball thing we all love, Edmund has only been in ACTEBA for a few years but is starting to leave his mark, making the State Team last year and now with a State Title to his name.With 77 pairs competing this year, making the final 12 was never going to be easy, but consistent and at times outstanding play saw the 24 players qualify. With Brent Hampton & Jason Tanaskovic unavailable, the field was reduced to 11 pairs, exactly half the players having been involved in last year’s top 12, including defending Champion Dean Welsh with a new partner in Matt Power. Mick Norton & Mongrel, Peter (Chippa) Penfold & Peter Madden and Semisi Naupoto & Nicole Welsh carried on their partnerships from last year’s Top 12, while Anthony Chia & Colin Gamble, the 2008 Champions, renewed their pairing after Colin’s unavailability last year. Anthony’s 2010 partner Stephen Thomas teamed up with Michael Masal, while last year’s runner up Rony Sood replaced Hazza with John Gribben. The last player backing up from 2010’s Top 12 was Kenny Nicol, who was paired with Phil Bryan.
New players to this year’s Top 12 included Bob & Edmund, although they have made the Top 8 previously, as well as Jason Scott & Joe Stephens and Phil Bailey & Andrew Bailey.
With Brent & Jason’s withdrawal, it gave us the opportunity to lengthen the Saturday’s play to fit all three rounds in, with the result being the ability to play a full round robin for the Top 4 the following day. Round 1 kicked off with an uncanny preview to the end result, Edmund & Bob belting out 9 wins out of 10 frames to head the pack with Anthony & Colin (8), Steve & Michael (7) and Misi & Nicole (6) in hot pursuit.
A poor second round of 2 wins from Misi & Nicole saw them slip down the leaderboard, allowing Chippa & Pete (12), Phil & Andrew (10) and Matt & Dean (10) to join the battle for 4th with the top 3 consolidating their 1st round efforts. Matt & Dean recovered from a horrible 3 frame 1st round to smash 7 this round and jump back into contention. Edmund & Bob were now sitting 2 frames clear on 16 wins, with 2nd & 3rd on 14.
Anthony & Colin only dropped one frame in the last round to blitz the group, and Mick & Mongrel made a late but unfruitful charge with 7 wins, but behind them the other 9 pairs held the closest round in recent memory, not allowing anyone to make any headway up the ladder as four pairs hit 5 wins, another four hit 4 wins, and one had 3 wins.
Jason & Joe had left themselves way too much work to do, but shot their best round to hit 4 wins in round 3 to finish on 7 wins and 11th place, a huge effort for two Division 2 players taking on the top guns. As the leaderboard congested above them, Misi & Nicole were unable to make up for their 2nd round as they finished 10th on 12 wins, while Matt & Dean were the pair with 3 wins to slip from contention and share 7th place with Kenny & Phil and Rony & John, ironically both remaining players from last year’s final finishing equal, a mere 3 frames off the pace.
Bob & Edmund must have been tired of beating everyone and slid down to second with their 4 frame effort in round 2, allowing Anthony & Colin to overcome a 2 frame deficit to finish clear first by 3 frames. Steve & Michael had similarly done enough that their 50% 3rd round kept them well ahead of the chasing pack and 3rd overall. As I said before, Mongrel & Mick made a spirited charge for the top 4 in the last round, but were coming from too far back and finished 6th on 14 frames. The battle for 4th was close between Chippa & Pete and Phil & Andrew as neither pair were able to produce a strong round, but despite Phil & Andrew taking the frame against their rivals, it was Chippa & Pete who snuck into 4th by one frame on 16 wins.
The bummer about that battle was that neither pair were able to compete in the Top 4 the next day, leaving us with the dodgy situation of a Top 3. But well done to Chippa & Pete for finishing 4th in the championship, and I wish we could have seen your efforts in the top 4.
A strong looking Top 3 resumed the next day, including the 2008 Doubles Champions, two former Open Singles Runners Up and four current or recent State Reps. Normally at this end of a tournament there are a few other names you expect to see (Harmon, Welsh, Hazilias, Sood, Woods…), but the pedigree of this Top 3 still ranks up there, showing that ACTEBA isn’t all about a few big names.
With only three pairs performing, the option was given to extend the final group to two round robins, effectively creating more even playing conditions, but the players chose to stick to the original plan of one round robin. Anthony & Colin won the first two frames against Bob & Edmund before running out 4-2 victors to give themselves the early advantage.
Bob & Edmund then took on Steve & Michael, knowing they had to win to stay alive. After swapping the first four frames for a 2-2 scoreline, Edmund came alive to wrap up the match 4-2 and finish with one win, one loss and a 6-6 frame count.
Anthony & Colin needed only a win to seal a finals spot, or a 3-4 loss, but Steve & Michael needed a 4-1 or 4-0 win to avoid missing out, or even worse, a 4-2 win would have forced a 3 way playoff! Steve & Michael nailed the first two frames for a 2-0 lead, and any possible outcome was on the cards, but Anthony & Colin couldn’t match them as Steve & Michael ran out 4-0 winners and set up a final with Bob & Edmund.
The four participants in this year’s Open Doubles Final had never won a State Title before, and only Steve Thomas had even made a State Final. You would have to go back to the 2001 Open Doubles Final to find the last time a State Final was contested without a previous champion involved, when Steven Woods won the first of his 5 Open Doubles Titles. His partner was Michael Wakefield and their opponents were Doug Percy & Ged Johnston. Interestingly, although Steve would go on to dominate places in ACTEBA finals for years to come, none of the other three players have made a state final since (although Mr Percy did serve a considerable time as Mr President…).
(Side note – amazingly, in the Ladies Titles you have to go right back to the very first Ladies Singles and Doubles Finals in 1990 to find a similar instance. Since that year, at least one player in every Ladies Final has previously won a State Title!!!)
I wrote a pretty glowing report about the quality of last year’s Ladies Doubles Final, as Cindy Blackmore & Nicole Welsh and Les O’Connor & Kylie Power fought out a thrilling battle. Unfortunately, Bob & Edmund took this pleasure away from me this time as they ran roughshod over Steve & Michael to finish State Champions in a 5-0 whitewash of the Final.
So once again, congratulations to Bob & Edmund on their fantastic and well deserved victory. Bob has been slugging it out in Div One for many years and has captained a few Premierships, but this is his first individual title (well, if you count doubles as individual), and is well deserved for many years of service and great play. I’ve watched Edmund play over the past few years in trials events and he is an absolute joy to watch play the game. And Punter… 17/1? Wish I had a pineapple on that one.
With five different winners over the past five years, it has proved that the Open Doubles tournament is the most competitive on the calendar. Round One is always one of the most enjoyable days for both a player and an adjudicator, and after that the tactical side of eight ball is great to watch as the top players compete. I also love the “underdog” pairs who punch above their weight (and ranking) as some of the favourites fall…
A BIG thank you to our venues this year, Kaleen Bar & Bistro, Labor Club and especially The Maram. Without your support our tournaments would not be possible and the Association greatly appreciates your generosity. To my faithful Adjudicators, Trent Billington, Bec Billington, Matt Power, Mel Kelly, Alison Murphy (who has a shiny new ring!), Bushie, Dennis Bingley, Jason Scott, Matt Kendrick and last but not least Les O’Connor, your support is always appreciated by myself and all the players who attend. Oh – and Scrol, could there be a Top 12/16 without your name on it? Finally – Matt Power for our lively email discussions on groups, ACTEBA be thankful Matt has my ear and vice versa…
Next up is the Ladies Doubles in a fortnight’s time, details will be out soon, but for now enjoy the attached results…
Full results: http://www.acteba.com.au/downloads/2011_Open_Doubles_Final_Results.xls
Regards
Chris Jones
ACTEBA Tournament Director
