Eastbourne Snooker League's competitions come to a close
Highlights from our Team, Singles, and Doubles competitions this season.
The Eastbourne Town Cup final was between two Premier sides, Fish Meads A and Phoenix A. Phoenix were hoping for some more heroics they managed to produce against Angling Club A, in their semifinal win. They started the final with the same 50 point handicap start. However, it was very much a one sided event. When Mark James was finished creating a 79 point lead in the first frame against Callum Lewis, it was followed up by an hour long second frame between Gary Jones and Ryan Smart. Ryan never gave up and made back much of the lead Gary had worked on, keeping his Phoenix team somewhat in the match, 99 points behind. Phoenix captain Martin Halpin played a superb frame against Paul Denness to claw back 50 points, and reduce their opponents lead to just 40. It was Matt Bray who essentially put the match to bed though, as he beat Martin Noakes 97-25 and gave Fish Meads a 112 point lead into the final frame. Ian Nye closed out the match and kept Marcel Compton out of reach of the miracle comeback, even if Marcel won the frame 75-58. Fish Meads A claim their first Town Cup victory since it’s inception back in 2018!
The final of the President’s Cup came down to two teams who missed out on the Division Two title this season. Second placed Fishermen’s C found themselves in a convincing 2-0 lead against Dolphin F, as Scott Fever and Lee Johnson comfortably beat Paul and Neil Rogers respectively. Dolphin’s Graham Beresford pulled one back to make it 2-1, followed by his teammate Steve Pollard who levelled the game on the very last black. Then it all came down to Ben Cumber to seal the deal for Fish and end the hopes of a Dolphin comeback, as he beat Stuart Alexander 48-39. Fish C claimed their first silverware in their first season together.
Alex Hall claimed his first ever handicapped Town Cup Singles by beating Darren Cornford 4-1 in the final. He beat a whole line of top players on his way there too, such as defending champ Chris Mason, three time Open champ Tokki Yamaguchi, one of our rising juniors, Jake Thompson, and stalwart Chris Lock.The pairing of Ian Nye and Jake Richardson take the Town Cup Doubles trophy for the second time. They overcame Lewis/Smart 3-0 in the final with Jake finding fantastic form with breaks of 60 and 32, and a 52 in their semi final against the father/son Callingham pairing.
Tokki Yamaguchi successfully defended the Eastbourne Singles title this season. He didn’t drop a frame whilst getting past his five opponents, on the way to the final. He saved his best until last, as he faced the challenge of Pete Buckland in the final. Having gone 1-0 down after Pete’s fantastic 52 clearance from 40 points behind, Tokki nicked a scrappy second frame to level. The next three frames saw breaks of 108, 63, and 85 to see him sail across the winning line 4-1.
Gary Callingham and Martin Holmes are the Eastbourne Doubles winners after beating a fantastic series of pairings, such as Driver/Pickett, Mason/Moyse, and Lander/Wright. They beat former winners Goodwin/Yamaguchi 4-3 in the final, having been 1-2 and 2-3 down.
Tokki Yamaguchi secured the singles double as he claimed his first Premiership Singles title against Guy Branch in the final. It was a high scoring contest, featuring a 52 break from Guy, and breaks of 58, 51, and 47 for Tokki. It nearly wasn’t to be however, as he only just squeaked past Jake Richardson 3-2 in the semifinal, and 2-1 against Ian ‘The Nyehilator’ Nye all the way back in Round 1.
Alex Hall also claimed a singles double of his own as he was victorious in the Division One Singles for the first time, going one better than his runner-up result last season. He didn’t drop a single frame during the whole competition as he beat Kia Movaf, Chris Bearne, Peter Simmonds and Dave Proud in the final.
Wayne Boyce and Barry Harding won their maiden Division One Doubles title by beating Bray/Tasker 3-0 in the final. It’s a familiar scene for them having won the Division Two Doubles title twice in recent times.
The Division Two Singles title went to Lee Johnson, another player who failed to drop a frame throughout the competition. He overcame Jake Thompson, Graham Beresford, Casey Knight, and David Whatley on his way to beating Jack Callingham in the final.
Stuart Alexander and Pete Buckland won the Division Two Doubles title having beaten the Knight brothers 3-1 in the final. They had to get past their teammates Beresford/Pollard in the semifinal.
In the Over 60’s Singles, Martin Hudson blew away the rest of the field on his way to the title. Only Peter Moulding made life tricky for him in the semis. He made a wonderful 51 break in the first frame of his final against Kia Movaf, ultimately cruising to a 3-0 win.
Fred Elkington and Martin Hudson secured the Over 60’s Doubles title as they got past Marsden/Olive, Simmonds/Sweeney, and beat Lamb/Moulding 3-1 in the final.
Matt Bray won the Billiards trophy once more, after beating Mike Goodwin in the final.