A record for recent years, 61 players turned up at Chatham Pool and Snooker Club for the annual Medway Open Pool Competition run by Medway 8 Ball Pool League Secretary Lee Crowhurst.

Players came from all over the county and included the current World Masters Champion Ian Kettel, England International Ian Hubbard, twice former World Junior Champion Jordan Church, Sussex professional Moray Dolan and a whole host of League players from across Kent.

The draw was made and straight away it was obvious that the bottom half was the place to be as Kettel, Hubbard, Church and club owner Chris Hearnden had all been drawn in the top half. The only big names in the bottom half were Dolan and tour player Dean Cole.

The tournament kicked off at midday and produced a shock result almost straight away when Kent A team player, Dicky Conn, was ousted by Matt ‘The Wizard’ Allen from Rochester. This was just the start the tournament needed and it gave hope to some of the lesser players who had been unfortunate enough to draw a big name in the first round. However, as the tournament progressed it was even easier to see that these big names had come to play and were determined to live up to their reputation.

Dolan breezed through the bottom half of the draw, dropping only three frames before he met Carl Disney from Dover in the semi-final. Many predicted that Dolan would continue to steamroller his way to the final but Disney produced some exquisite safety play to slow the Sussex player down. Dolan continued to try to pot his way to victory and eventually his undoubted class told and Disney succumbed to a seven four defeat.

In the top half of the draw, Church found his path slightly harder to navigate, but made short work of the current Medway Singles champion, Mike Boddy and then breezed past Medway B Interleague Captain, Drew Hibben and Medway A player Ben Savage, before meeting Kettel in the semi-final. Kettel had earlier taken care of Hubbard and seen the likes of Hearnden and Crowhurst fail to make any headway in the competition.

After a titanic battle, which went all the way to the final frame, Church emerged a 7-6 winner and set up a final encounter with fellow professional Dolan. Time was getting on now and, with the clock ticking past eleven pm, Dolan raced into an early lead and looked set to pick up the trophy and the winners cheque. However, Church dug deep and forced his way back into the match with the help, it has to be said, of some surprising mistakes from Dolan. With the match poised at six frames each and the winner needing eight frames for victory, Church won a scrappy frame to take a one frame lead.

Onto the next and Dolan smashed the balls wide open and went for broke but, after missing a relatively easy chance to close out the frame, he sunk the white ball and conceded the frame and match to his twenty year old opponent. A long day made worthwhile for the former Junior World Champion and another trophy to add to his already impressive collection.

© Medway 8 Ball Pool League 2006

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