NZ National Billiard Championships 2022
National B Grade Billiards Championships 2022
Andrew Draper (Waikato) takes out his maiden tournament victory with a deserved win in the National B Grade Championships held at the Hamilton Cosmopolitan Club July 13th and 14th.
Draper proved too strong on the day for Russ Delahunty (Capital City) in the two hour final. Draper also strung together 15 30+ breaks over the two days to dominant the high break board and in doing so took out the high break of the tournament with a well compiled 62 in section play.
Both the finalists won their respective sections with tournament top seed Delahunty dropping one of his 75 minute matches to local player Chris Hick and Draper going through unbeaten.
Other notable achievements were relative newcomer to the game Graham Hills, from the host club, and Dennis McCaughan from Tauranga, finishing second in their respective groups with four wins apiece.
Hills also provided Draper a potential hurdle in his quest for victory in the semi-final keeping it within touching distance for three quarters of the match before Draper finally pulled away nearing the bell.
Post Section results:
Quarter finals: Andrew Draper 555 bt Chris Hick 172, Graham Hills 369 bt Roy Gordon 216, Jim Anderson 283 bt Dennis McCaughan 236, Russ Delahunty 414 bt Ken Goebel 229
Semi-finals: Draper 409 bt Hills 305, Delahunty 269 bt Anderson 253
Final: Draper 406 bt Delahunty 250.
Plate Section results:
Semi-finals: Mark Palmer 197 bt Corien Simpson 191, Paul Phillips 314 bt Jerry Pusmucans 209
Final: Phillips 283 bt Palmer 245
National Billiards Championships 2022
Gary Oliver (Canterbury) continues to be the dominant force in New Zealand billiards securing his 19th national title in two decades beating Wayne Carey (Auckland) in the three hour final held at the Hamilton Cosmopolitan Club between July 15th – 17th.
The two finalists were seeded first and third after section play, with another Aucklander, Grant Hayward splitting the two qualifying second overall. All three won their respective sections with each knocking in a century along the way (Oliver – tournament high 163, Carey 138 and Hayward 102)
The remaining five places in post section were all taken by players at the pointy end of the ranking list, which meant that all the quarter-finalists were ranked tenth in the country or better.
As it turned out none of the four games proved to be a dog-fight to the bell and it was now a case of the cream rising to the top in New Zealand’s oldest national championship.
At the half time break in the three hour semi-final matches, it was a different story however, with the Oliver – Shekatkar match having Oliver just 48 ahead, and in the other semi-final it was even tighter with Hayward only 29 ahead of Carey. Hayward has compiled a well-constructed break of 98 but the wrong contact on a cannon to move from 96 to 98 left a difficult shot to bring up his second century of the tournament. A shot that ultimately proved to be elusive for the Devonport destroyer.
The second half of the semi-final matches saw Oliver overcome the challenge of Shekatkar, and the Devonport destroyer was becalmed by Carey as the three time winner of this event sailed away to win by some distance.
The National final had old on-the-table rivals Oliver and Carey battling it out for the umpteenth time for the premier title in New Zealand billiards, and although not adding to his tally of tournament tons, Oliver provided several telling breaks from the end of his cue that spread the difference and this never allowed Carey to gain any rhythm and his stroke to mount a sustained counter-attack of any substance.
Congratulations to Gary Oliver on his 19th NZ National Billiards Title.
Post Section results:
Quarter-finals: Gary Oliver 603 – bt Andrew Draper 278, Adesh Shekatkar 558 bt Darren Taylor 386, Wayne Carey 326 bt Derek Gibb 188, Grant Hayward 569 bt Russ Delahunty 249
Semi-finals: Oliver 695 bt Shekatkar 572 , Carey 587 - bt Hayward 394
Final: Oliver 767 bt Carey 387
Plate Section results:
Semi-finals: Mark Taylor 348 bt Damian Wojcik 154, Jim Anderson 220 bt Kevin Crighton 158.
Final: M. Taylor 325 bt Anderson 182
