John Morra (Photo courtesy of thepoolscene.com)
The 2015 CBSA Canadian Professional Pool Championships ran from March 30 to April 4 at the Hilton in Mississauga, Ontario. This event was held in conjunction with the Amateur CCS Nationals. This is the second year that the CBSA and CCS have joined forces to put together this combined Canadian Championships. Players from across the country entered these events with the hopes of being titled the next Canadian Champion.
VenueThe venue was equipped with 8 Diamond tables which allowed for the timely scheduling of matches. The entire event was streamed live via Randall Morrison from Calgary, Alberta. There were always plenty of spectators throughout the week which created a fitting environment for a national event.
In the Women’s events, Naomi Williams reached the 10-ball finals with victories over Hanna Kwon (7-3), Joanne Ashton (7-2) and Brittany Bryant (7-5). In the B-side finals Brittany Bryant earned a rematch with Naomi after she eliminated Joanne Ashton. In the finals, Brittany managed to stay ahead for most of the match. With a chance to go up 9-7, Bryant missed a difficult cut shot on the 10-Ball. Naomi seized the opportunity and tied the match at 8. They traded the next two racks before Naomi sealed the deal in the case game with a 10-9 win. This is Naomi’s fourth 10-Ball title in 5 years.
In the Women’s 9-Ball event, Brittany Bryant was eager to defend her title once again. In the finals, Brittney trailed Kayla Jones early in the match (4-1). As the match went on, it looked like Canada would have a new champion. However, a few opportunities slipped away from Kayla and experience prevailed. A reputable second place finish for Kayla and another feather in the hat for Brittany with her 11-8 win.
In the Men’s Open events, some fresh faces decided to test their skills competing in this national event. Dan Lewis proved that he was more than “just a hack”. Dan finished in the top 8 of the 8-ball division and looked very sharp doing so. Unfortunately, there were no prizes for the best dressed player. Another player getting a lot of attention was Sumon Sarker. The part time singer has recently been playing plenty of challenge matches all throughout southern Ontario. He is known as a fierce competitor with a strong desire to improve. Sumon finished in the top 6 of the 9-ball division with wins over some of the top players in the country.
“I learnt a lot from this tournament, I will be playing better as soon as I employ them and get my errors minimized”, said Sumon.
It was John Morra who certainly stole the show this week. John became the first player in Canadian history to capture all three titles (8-Ball, 9-Ball, and 10-Ball). John’s only loss happened in the 8-Ball event against Erik Hjorleifson. John came back strong to avenge his loss, winning 11-4 in the finals. Erik also had a great week finishing second in two events
In the 10-Ball event, John dominated Adrian Fragoso and Jesse Piercy by the same score (10-2). John’s next encounter was against his father Mario Morra. This thrilling match went right down to the wire. In the last game, Mario executed a perfect break only to witness the cue ball getting kicked into the pocket. John promptly ran the table and went on to beat Tom Theriault (10-5) and Erik Hjorleifson (13-8) for the title.
The last event was the 9-Ball event which drew the highest number of entries at 33. Shannon Ducharme, the 28 year old from Winnipeg, Manitoba added plenty of excitement to this event with his aggressive style. Shannon was sent to the B-Side after a heartbreaking 11-10 loss to Jason Klatt in the fourth round. Shannon held his composure and played great to recover as he had wins over Jason Kisheyinew (11-10), Tom Theriault (11-2), Sumon Sarkar (11-5), Andy Aupin (11-4) and Mario Morra (11-8). The finals were now set against John Morra.
The contrasting styles between Morra and Ducharme set the stage for an electrifying match. After a week of competition, both players were well adjusted to the conditions as they were making plenty of balls off the break. John held the lead for most of the match while Shannon kept it close with his banking skills and fine cut shots. In the end, a break and run in the 27th rack for John Morra ended Shannon`s run. It was truly a great performance by both players.
Steve Cooper, president of the CBSA, added the following, “I understand that there are some hurdles to improve on for future years, such as lighting and low entries, especially in the 10-ball, but I feel that the positives of these championships did out way the negatives. Our stream was very well received by most. CBSA Vice President, Kyle Richard has put a lot of effort into the sponsorship committee this year, & his work is starting to show results. A very special thanks to our major sponsors for the event, CCS, Diamond Billiards Products, Simonis Cloth & Tiger Cues.”
See you all again next year.
