Kim Meyer-Gabia, Omar Alli and Rhio Anne Flores
Omar Alli faced five opponents and played six matches during his recent undefeated run through a field of 34 entrants, on hand for the August 23 stop on the Tri-State Tour. The first three were male, the last two were female - Rhio Anne Flores and Kim Meyer-Gabia; two of the tour's toughest, having finished fourth and sixth among the tour's top 36 women in the 2013-2014 season. The $1,000-added event on Saturday was hosted by the Cue Bar in Bayside (Queens), NY.
Following victories over Juan Guzman, Kapriel Delimelkonoglu, and Lidio Ramierez, Alli ran into his first lady, Flores, in a winners' side semifinal match. The other (Meyer-Gabia), in the meantime, squared off against Tony Ignomirello. Alli prevailed over Flores 7-6, and in the battle for the hot seat, faced Meyer-Gabia, who'd defeated Ignomirello 6-5. Alli sent Meyer-Gabia to a semifinal matchup against Flores, and waited in the hot seat for her to return.
Flores had moved to the loss side and for starters, drew Ed Culhane, who'd defeated Ramierez 7-5 and Chumreon Sutcharitakul 8-4 to reach her. Ignomirello picked up T.J. Aguis, who'd gotten by Christine Pross 6-4 and Bob Toomey 6-5. 'Annie' gave up only a single rack to Culhane, and moved into the quarterfinals against Aguis, who'd eliminated Ignomirello 6-3.
Two close, double hill matches followed, both of them won by the ladies. Flores downed Aguis in the quarterfinals and was defeated herself by the same score in the semifinals against Meyer-Gabia, who earned a second shot against Alli. It was a shot that wasn't fired. Alli and Meyer-Gabia opted out of a final match due to the lateness of the hour, and split the top two prizes. Alli, as the undefeated player, laid claim to the event title.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff of The Cue Bar, as well as sponsors Ozone Billiards, Sterling-Gaming, Qpod, Kamui Tips, Ron Vitello, Focus Cases by John Batron, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, Human Kinetics, and Focus Apparel. The next stop on the Tri-State Tour, scheduled for August 30-31, will be hosted by Amsterdam Billiards in Manhattan, NY.
