GB9 Southern Masters - Croydon

Last weekend (28th-30th March) saw the eagerly anticipated second ranking event of the GB 9ball Tour, and what a tournament it was!

Imran Majid (double winner at Solihull) was on hand to try and emulate his feat achieved 8 weeks prior and may well have done had he not been late for his first Pro Division match.

Imran arrived 19 minutes late for his match against Adam Clarke and under the rules it meant he started from 3 racks down. The scoreline was never made up as Adam went on to win 9-6 in a tournament where he played very well.

This coupled with the fact that Mark Gray also fell early on to Alan Millership meant the Pro Division was thrown wide open. Tony Drago was on hand though to step into the gap and duly did so with an amazing performance of power potting, he defeated Phil Burford (Midlands Classic finalist) 9-1 in his semi-final in 22 minutes including the walk-ons and the lag! He is not called the Tornado for nothing.

It wasn't that Phil played poorly it was simply that Tony literally blew him away. It is his style to go at a pace that seems to put off all of his opponents who feel pressured to play at a similarly fast pace.

This left Tony Drago to play Kevin Uzzell who had quietly made his way through the field and showed an impressive display of pool across the weekend. It was a fantastic final that finished 11-8 in just over an hour. This match along with 10 more from the weekend will be shown in their entirety on CueSport TV later this month and then on-demand.

In the Challenge division 18-year-old Thomas Ainsworth-Smith again showed his talent to win again, he also won the Midlands Classic at the beginning of February. This time he came up against one of the older heads on the tour in Neil Jenkins, Neil had a very solid tournament and from a spectators point of view this event is the best I have seen him play. This will give him renewed confidence that he can perhaps get promotion to the Pro Division next season.

These matches were wrapped up at 02:45 (due to clocks going forward) and play for the main event started at around 9:30am the next day, this caused a problem for at least three players who failed to show for their matches after getting caught out by the time change. The funniest has to be Mike Rogers who managed to put his watch back an hour rather than forward meaning he arrived at 10:30am for a 09:30am start. Damian Massey would have been happy with the bye however!

Sunday is a day dedicated to the last 64 of the main tour event and usually see's the cream rise to the top, on this occasion the same was true as Imran Majid and Raj Hundal (good friends off the table) faced off in the final.

A particular mention must be given to the following players: Damian Massey, Jason Howard (both from Bournemouth) who, both from the Challenge division made it to the last 16 of the main event and then to Paul Medati, a former snooker professional who on this occasion made it to the last eight of the main event - well done to all.

Main Event Last 8

• Imran Majid 9 - 6 Andy Worthington
• Kevin Uzzell 4 - 9 Darren Appleton
• Raj Hundal 9 - 4 James Kay
• Michael Valentine 9 - 4 Paul Medati

Semi-Finals

• Imran Majid 9 - 1 Darren Appleton
• Raj Hundal 9 -5 Michael Valentine

Final

• Imran Majid 11-9 Raj Hundal

Pro Division Rankings

Challenge Division Rankings

Main Tour Rankings

Watch GB9 Southern Masters 9-ball only at CueSport TV