Penny has sent in the following report from the weekend’s Top 4:
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Hello!
Well, Saturday saw the long awaited finals of the 2012 Open State Championship, and what an exciting end to the tournament it was! I would promise video footage of the grand final but I managed to lose half of it due to a common condition known as “brain farting”. But alas, I will edit what I’ve got and upload it to the website/facebook when I get the chance.
It was a cold start at the Kaleen Bar and Bistro for the top 4. Unfortunately, Michael Masal was scratched, so that left us with a top 3 to play off for the grand final. First match was Anthony Chia and Edmund Chen. Edmund won a near perfect lag for the first break and the match commenced. It was neck and neck the whole way and both players were proving their worth of the title. Even after Edmund’s three master breaks in a row Anthony was still nipping at his heels. But it was the ninth frame that saw an unfortunate missed double on the black by Anthony, which gave Edmund the chance to take the win. The final score: 5-4.
The second match was Edmund verse Matt Harmon. Another near perfect lag gave Edmund the first break, but that was not enough to scare Matt. His confidence throughout the match was sky high with every shot and every run out well planned and perfectly executed. Demonstrated no better than in the 3rd frame where Edmund sunk the white off the break and Matt just cleaned up. But it seems a match is no match without Edmund getting a sneaky master break in there, which he managed to do in the 5th frame. However, it was not enough to keep Matt at bay, who won the match, 5-1.
That only left Matt and Anthony to play. Matt won the lag and the battle began. They were neck and neck until Matt pulled off two master breaks in a row, which left Anthony behind. The final score: 5-3.
Congratulations to Anthony on a well played tournament. Commiserations for not making the final, but hey, I can only dream of coming 3rd in the Territory!
Edmund kicked off the race to 9 grand final with one of his famous master breaks, but Matt wasn’t fooled. Matt then went on to win the next 4 frames in a row and threw in a master break of his own. Edmund got one back and his confidence started to shine through. From being down 6-2 he managed to crawl his way back to 6 all. From here on each player won one frame each for the rest of the match until the final frame, where Edmund took it home. The final score: 9-8.
Congratulations to Edmund Chen on his first ACT State Title and runner up Matt Harmon. Such a high standard of play and great to watch.
Cheers,
Penny
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