Wanlop Chantarakolkit, 'Devil' Dave Ascolese and Meshak Daniel
Wanlop Chantarakolkit won six straight matches to go undefeated on the Tri-State Tour on January 20, besting Dave Ascolese in both the hot seat and finals. The $1,000-added event drew 35 entrants to BQE Billiards in Jackson Heights, NY.
Following two double hill wins over Inna Bediner, and Robert Veit, Chantarakolkit gave up only a single rack in a match versus Dennis Kennedy, which moved him among the final four winners and a match against Jamiyl Adams. Ascolese, in the meantime, met up with Yomaylin "Smiley" Feliz. Chantarakolkit got into the hot seat match with a 6-4 win over Adams and was joined by Ascolese, who'd sent Feliz west 7-4. Another double hill win left Chantarakolkit in the hot seat.
Adams moved to the loss side, where he met up with Meshak Daniel, who, after an early round defeat at the hands of Eddie Perez, was in the midst of an eight-match winning streak that would take him to a showdown against Ascolese in the semifinals. Daniel met up with Kennedy in the 9/12 matches, defeating him 7-3, and then downed Ado Lio 8-6 to draw Adams. Feliz picked up Mark Perel, who'd defeated Carl Yusuf Khan 7-4 and Jerry Troy 7-3 to reach her.
Feliz shut out Perel, and once Daniel had eliminated Adams 7-5, faced him in the quarterfinals. A 7-5 victory over Feliz ended Daniel's loss-side winning streak, as Ascolese took him down in a double hill, semifinal battle.
At this point in time, the two finalists assessed the hour (which was late) and opted out of a final match. They decided to split the top two prizes, and declare the undefeated Chantarakolkit as the event winner.
Tour representatives thanked the ownership and staff at BQE Billiards for their hospitality, as well as sponsors Sterling-Gaming, Ozone Billiards, Poison Cues, Ron Tarr Cues, Kamui Tips, Phil Capelle, BlueBook Publishing, and Human Kinetics. Next stop on the Tri-State Tour, a $750-added, A-D handicapped event is scheduled for Saturday, January 26 at the House of Billiards in Staten Island, NY.
