Brighton 2000
A good start to the new millennium with a great turnout on the South Coast.
Friday Knockout (48)
This was a fantastic start to the year, 48 players in the 5-point Weekend Break knockout! In the semi-finals we had two lady players in opposite sides of the draw which gave us the chance of an all female final. Mind you only one of them made it.
In the top half of the draw Nick Check beat Corinne Sellens to go into the final to meet Helen Helm-Sagar who had beaten Simon Gasquoine in her semi-final match. Nick, usually a gentleman where women are concerned, was having nothing of it and he went on to win the competition.
Doubles (25 teams + 3 buy backs)
Almost the same number of entrants entered the doubles tournament on the Saturday night. Due to a lot of last minute changes by entrants in the Super Jackpot it was cancelled and this led to an increased field for the doubles. The last eight were, Double Trouble, Bell Hops, Incredible Ones, Baubles, Mind The Gap, Dod Willing, Beaver & Butthead, Don't Tell Gerry.
From these 8 the semi-finals where between Bell Hops and the Incredible Ones the latter going to the final. And in the other semi-final Dod Willing were beaten by Beaver & Butthead. The Incredible Ones carried on being incredible and emerged victorious.
Main (90)
This was a tough one to win, there being no easy draws for anyone. On the Sunday the final 16 were; Ed Rogers vs Jack Arama, Gerry Carolan vs Al Hogg, John Clark vs Rod Jones, Shaun Herd vs John Slattery (the top 8); Brian Busfield vs George Sulimirski, David Levi vs Mardi Ohannessian, Dave Raynsford vs Dale Taylor, and Miles Illott vs Chris Bray.
In each instance the first named going through to the last 8. There, Ed beat Gerry, Shaun beat John Clark, David beat Brian and Dave beat Miles in an 'all Brighton' fixture.
The semi-finals saw Shaun beating Ed and David beating Dave. The final between Shaun and David was full of excitement; Shaun shot to a 6-0 lead, then it went David's way for a while, 6-1, 6-2, but then Shaun shot to Crawford winning 4 points and led 10-2. David, never losing his cool, played well in the Crawford and took it to 10-2. Then, the come-back began; 10-3, 10-7, 10-9 and eventually 10-11 with David taking the title (and the £1,000 pool) after a brilliant display of fighting back when well behind. Poor Shaun looked shell-shocked as the final point was lost.
Progressive Consolation (86)
Nick Check, the winner of the Friday night knock-out was knocked out of the main first round and entered the Consolation in the first round. After winning seven consecutive seven-point matches Nick was in the final against Brian Busfield who came through from the progresses side. By this time Nick was in full flight and unstoppable. Brian didn't stand a chance and Nick took the winners prize, well done Nicky.
Last Chance (58)
In this 5-point competition we almost had a lady winner but John Thomas was not going to let the trophy elude him so easily. To get to the final John beat Neil Clarke in the semi- and his opponent Ciara Bomford had beaten Arthur Musgrove in her semi-. In the final match John came out on top taking first place.
Tidal Wave (64 open entry)
Playing just 3-point matches this tournament always causes a few upsets. The major upset of this little competition was me losing to a 12 year old girl! I have no excuse, I was outplayed by Chris Bray's young daughter, luckily, Emmanuel D Bona salvaged my pride by thrashing her in the next round! The semi-finalists were John Broomfield vs Jack Arama, from which John emerged to go into the final against my Assistant Tournament Director, Tim Mooring, who had just beaten John Quanrud in his semi-final. This exciting encounter was aided by a little fluffy toy that regularly retorted, "Oh, No!" each time a particularly bad roll came out. Tim emerged victorious, taking the trophy and the toy!
All-in-all it was a very successful tournament and I'd like to thank all the entrants for making it so. And I'd also like to say thanks for coming to Anthony Patz, the leading light of the South African BG Fed. (the MC of South Africa). I know he was in London at the time, but I still appreciated seeing him at the tournament.
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