The round of 16 in the Canadian Cue Sports Championship Snooker Division began on Wednesday, with group winners being placed respectively on the chart and the second place finishers and wildcards being randomly drawn as opponents. The favourites all advanced, virtually uncontested in the best of 9 matches. The marquee matchup of the first round however featured two former champions, Tom Finstad from Alberta and Cliff Thorburn from Ontario, in a rematch of the 2001 final. As in 2001, the match went right down to the final frame, and the outcome was the same too with Thorburn advancing 5-4. Cliff Thorburn will now face another former champion in the quarterfinal matches, Daryl Wouters of Saskatchewan. Other quarter final matches will feature Alan Robidoux of Quebec vs Jeff Kennedy of New Brunswick, Floyd Zeigler vs Jason Williams, both from Ontario, and also hailing from Ontario Alex Pagulayan vs last year's champ Kirk Stevens. Play will continue to Thursday night, capped by a final match best of 11. Thursday will also bring results in the women's and senior's snooker divisions. Men's and women's 9-ball will begin Friday morning. The opening draw will be available on Friday.
In the Junior 9-ball event, New Brunswick's Jason Thomas was able to successfully defend his title, but not without being thoroughly tested first. Thomas had been sent to the B-side the previous day by Manitoba's Jason Klatt. On the B-side, he began Wednesday with a convincing 7-2 win over Nova Scotia's Jody Swim. In his next match, Thomas had to battle from behind to bring the match level at 6 apiece versus Ontario's Tom Morel. In the final game, Thomas got too straight on the 7-ball, needing to bring the cue ball to the far end of the table for the 8. Thomas muscled the shot and rattled the 7, but the ball came across the bottom rail and into the opposite corner while the cue travelled for perfect shape of the 8. After that Thomas kicked it into high gear, dispatching Chris McKenzie of Nova Scotia 9-5 and earning another shot at Klatt in the final. The previous day's match had been all Klatt, but the final was a different story. Thomas roared out to 6-2 and 8-4 leads in the race to 11. Klatt, however, fought back to tie the match at 8's. Thomas took the next 2 racks to get to the hill first. Klatt salvaged another rack to make it 10-9, but broke and came up empty in rack 20. Thomas ran out to seal his second straight Canadian Junior Championship.
Full Junior Results:
1st Jason Thomas (NB) $1700 + ring + expenses to world's
2nd Jason Klatt (MB) $1100
3rd Chris McKenzie (NS) $800
4th Tom Morel (ON) $600
5-6th Jody Swim (NS), Billy Peters (ON) $300
7-8th Tyson Raines (AB), Moses Cappo (SK) $100
9-12th John Wiebe (BC), Clinton Gamble (SK), Tyler McMahon (NS), Jessica MacInnis (NS)
13-16th Mike Henderson (NB), Desmond Csyani (ON), Stefane Godinho (ON), Michael Collins (AB)
17-20th John Morra (ON), Brett Little (NS), TJ Gulliver (NF), Spencer Auigbelle (AB)
Tuesday's late results from Round Robin Snooker
Group A
Mike Vanbuskirk (NB) def Gary Austin (AB) 4-2
Kirk Stevens (ON) def Kristal McLeod (NS) 4-3
Mike Vanbuskirk (NB) def Wayne Araki (BC) 4-1
Group B
Floyd Zeigler (ON) def Cliff Thorburn (ON) 4-3
Cliff Thorburn (ON) def Dave Strachan (MB) 4-0
Group C
Alan Robidoux (PQ) def Bill Martin (NS) 4-0
Group D
Tom Finstad (AB) def Charlie Brown (BC) 4-2
Group E
Daryl Wouters (SK) def Odie Willet (ON) 4-0
Group F
Fern Loyer (ON) def Jeff Kennedy (NB) 4-2
Group G
Jason Williams (ON) def Mark Johnston (ON) 4-1
Ray Saunders (NS) def Jason Williams (ON) 4-2
