Dan Lee
The BWPPA season approached the midway point as the players arrived at the Wheelchair Cuesports Academy based at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Aylesbury. It was to be an action packed weekend of pool, as in addition to the Talisman Billiards British 10-ball Championship (tour stop 3 of the regular season) there was the small matter of who would win the qualifier to be the last man onto the Great Britain Nation-Continental Cup team.
Before that could be decided the main event of the Talisman British 10-ball Championship got underway. The tour welcomed back Chris Brown who returned to the BWPPA tour for the first time since 2015. Ireland’s Fred Dinsmore also returned to the tour after missing the first 2 tour stops of 2017, as did Aslam Abubaker fresh from winning the WEPF English 8-ball pool World Championship for wheelchair players in Blackpool.
Abubaker who won the Simonis Grand Prix main event in May got off to a flyer with a 7-0 win over Birmingham’s Adam Pearson. He followed that up with a 7-4 win over Daniel Lee. That defeat sent the defending British 10-ball Champion and UK no.1 into the losers bracket. Elsewhere in the first round tie between Fred Dinsmore and Craig Welsh, Dinsmore came through in the end 7-4. Dinsmore was then involved in a tense hill-hill battle with Danny Luton, which he came through 7-6. He followed that with an impressive 7-1 win over Abubaker.
Into the one-loss side of the draw, in the top half it was Abubaker who advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-4 win over Dave Beaumont. In the bottom half Lee did it the hard way with a 6-3 win over Nick Oliver. Before a 6-2 win over Luton, and then a 6-4 win over Tony Southern to join Abubaker in the semi-finals.
As expected both semi-finals were close affairs with Lee beating Dinsmore 7-5 in a repeat of last years final. In the second semi-final Abubaker defeated old rival Roy Kimberley 7-5.
In the final, a missed 7-ball from Abubaker allowed Lee to step in and take the opening rack. In the next Abubaker returned the favour by pouncing on a missed 6-ball from Lee to level the scores. The high standard continued, and in the end it was Lee who was crowned Talisman British wheelchair 10-ball Champion with a 7-5 win over Abubaker.
In the Challenge Cup sponsored by the World Pool Series Danny Luton overhauled a 3 rack start to defeat Matt Lester 5-3.
A video of the main event final is available to watch here. Pictures of the event can be found here in the BWPPA gallery.
The latest BWPPA ranking list can be found here.
The BWPPA tour now looks forward to a double header at Escape Pool Bar, Barnsley from 15-17th September as we have the Nation-Continental Cup. A team contest styled on the famous Mosconi Cup, but this time it’s team Great Britain taking on Team EUROPE. Dave Beaumont won the qualifier for the last spot on the Great Britain team. He will join Daniel Lee, Tony Southern, Roy Kimberley and Aslam Abubaker. The Europeans are the favourites on paper with a strong team consisting of Sweden’s Henrik Larsson, Finland’s Jouni Tahti, Ireland’s Fred Dinsmore, Belguim’s Kurt Deklerck and Poland’s Emil Malanowski.
The Nation-Continental Cup will be held over the same weekend as tour stop 4 of the BWPPA tour, the Kamui 9-ball Shootout. Where we are expecting our largest field for a number of years.
The BWPPA would like to thank all of our sponsors:
World Pool Series, Gentlemen’s Night Out, Simonis cloth, Aramith billiard balls, Kamui, Predator Cues, Talisman Billiards, Escape Pool Bar in Barnsley, Tiger Cues of Warrington, Cheqio, Ultimate Team Gear, A.B Wallace Trophies, Gosport Pool Arena and Fred Dinsmore Billiards
We also are always looking to expand the sponsorship side of the tour, so if you or your company would like to become one of our sponsors, please visit our contact us page.
You too can be a part of the world’s largest wheelchair pool tour; please keep checking on http://www.bwppa.com and http://www.pro9.co.uk for further information. In addition to our national tour stops there is also the possibility of representing Great Britain in international tournaments such as the EPBF European Championship and WPA World 9-ball Championship for wheelchair players.
