12 players arrived at Aylesbury for the 2019 W.A.A.M.A.D (formally GNO) Players Championship. We had a few regulars missing, including chairman Tony Southern due to injury, and Press Officer Matt Lester due to another engagement.
This event saw the first running of our new triple elimination format, which guarantees all players at least 3 matches for their entry fee, and also to play for a guaranteed prize pot of £700.
The early stages through up some great clashes. A dramatic encounter between Craig Welsh and Frankie ‘Hot-wheels’, which saw Welsh take a 7-5 victory.
Other first round action saw Darren Taylor beat Ifakhar Hussain 7-2, Dan Luton beat Adam Pearson by the same score, and Gary Swift beat the spokesman Keith Hance 7-3.
Among the heavyweights “the Sandman” Roy Kimberley survived an early scare against Welsh, Kimberley coming through 7-6. Daniel Lee started the season with a 7-2 win over Swift, while No 1 ranked, Dinsmore beat South Yorkshire’s Taylor 7-4.
In the winners qualification round Dinsmore beat Dave Beaumont 7-2,and Kimberley whitewashed Lee 7-0.
In the losers side, later stages, Luton beat Gillen 6-2, but lost 6-1 to Lee, Welsh beat Swift 6-4, but was then whitewashed 6-0 by Beaumont.
In the 5th/6th playoff, Luton beat Welsh 6-4 in a close game.
In the 3rd loss side (Challenger event) semi finals, Gillen has a walkover v Adam Pearson and Swift, swiftly despatched Taylor 5-1, and then won the final 5-2 against his old pal Gillen.
The semi-final draw for the main event took place early the next morning, and we were back underway. Lee inflicted a heavy 7-3 defeat on Dinsmore and Kimberley won a close encounter with Beaumont 7-5.
It was to be Lee and Kimberley who would again meet in the final, with Lee desperate to avenge his earlier whitewash.
The match turned out to be almost a reverse of the earlier game, with Lee dominating to win 7-2.
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 would like to thank all of our sponsors:
We are all making a difference (formally Gentlemen’s Night Out), World Pool Series, Simonis cloth, Aramith billiard balls, Kamui, Predator Cues, Cuescore, Escape Pool Bar in Barnsley, Tiger Cues of Warrington and Fred Dinsmore Billiards
We would also like to thank long time BWPPA supporter Big Dave Knight from www.pro9.co.uk for his great support including providing our event posters.
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.
Roy Kimberley, Tony Southern and Fred Dinsmore will be representing BWPPA at the upcoming European Championships in Italy. You can follow their progress here from Monday 29th April.
See you all at the 2nd event of the year ‘Simonis 9-Ball Grand Prix’ at the Escape Pool Bar in Barnsley from 18-19 May 2019.