Jas Makhani, Payne McBride and Niko Konkel
Runner-up Niko Konkel spends overnight Saturday unconscious, boards plane for PR on Sunday
In the flurry of activity following mid-day Saturday’s (Nov. 4) conclusion to the 2023 Junior International Championships’ third season at the International Open in Norfolk, VA, a report on the 18U Boys division final slipped through the proverbial cracks. We were able to post a report on the finals of the 18U Girls division, because Sofia Mast had defeated Savanna Easton in the finals of that championship event ahead of 1 p.m. on Saturday. In a desire to post time-sensitive information about the Open 9-Ball main event, ahead of the scheduled semifinals and finals, we posted that report prior to the conclusion of the final match in the 18U Boys division. That ‘miss’ was compounded the following morning in the preparation of a lengthy report on the Open 9-Ball event’s semifinals and finals.
In the time between yesterday’s report on the 9-Ball Open and now, we discovered that shortly after the conclusion of the 18U Boys final in which Payne McBride went undefeated to claim the title, runner-up Niko Konkel and his mother, Shannon Artis headed for their home in Winston-Salem, NC. At around 11 p.m., they sat down to a late-night meal that had been prepared for them and it almost cost Niko Konkel his life.
It did not and as we prepare this report, Niko and his Mom are safely in Puerto Rico, where Niko will compete in the Puerto Rico Open. Acting on the assumption that Niko would not wish his runner-up finish (or Payne McBride’s victory) in the JIC’s 18U Boys Championship event to be overshadowed by his medical emergency, we’ll turn to the ‘missing’ JIC report on the 18U Boys Championship, and later in the report, provide further details of the youngster’s ordeal and the ‘good news’ particulars that led to his arrival and the competition-to-come at the Puerto Rico Open, set to begin tomorrow (Tues., Nov. 7).
Coming into the JIC’s 18U Boys Championship, which brought the top 16 players in the division to the International Open to compete in a divisional championship event, the division standings had Landon Hollingsworth at the top, followed by Brent Worth, Jas Makhani, and Joey Tate. The eventual winner, Payne McBride was in fifth place, while eventual runner-up Niko Konkel finished in 8th place.
Combined, both McBride and Konkel managed to confront all of the 18U division competitors ahead of them in the standings. On his way to the hot seat of the championship final in Norfolk, VA on Saturday afternoon, McBride, who’d won the 7th stop of the 2023 JIC series, managed to down a few of the competitors below him in the standings, two of them, double-hill. In order, he got by Tanner Elliott (#13), Nathan Nunes (double hill, just below McBride, #6), and in a winners’ side semifinal, Lazaro Martinez (double hill, #10).
Konkel, who’d competed in five of the JIC series’ eight events, finishing 3rd, 5th (twice), 7th and 9th, downed #2, Joey Tate in the opening round of play, before he was sent to the loss side. Landon Hollingsworth sent him over and followed him when he lost a winners’ side semifinal to Jas Makhani, who joined McBride in the hot seat match. McBride claimed the hot seat 7-5 over Makhani and waited on what turned out to be Konkel’s return.
Following his loss to Hollingsworth, Konkel set out on a five-match winning streak that eventually put him into the finals against McBride. He began by defeating Brent Worth (#2), Eddie Vondereau (#20), and Lazaro Martinez (#10). Konkel locked up in a double-hill battle against #4, Joey Tate in the quarterfinals and advanced to defeat Makhani 7-5 in the semifinals.
Heading into the finals, Payne McBride was looking for his second victory on the JIC series. Niko Konkel was looking for his first. In an extended race-to-9, the two fought back and forth until McBride edged out in front to win 9-6 and claim the 18U Boys Championship title.
Konkel’s triumphant shot at the title is followed by a harrowing, overnight stay in a hospital
Unbeknownst to either Niko or his Mom, when they sat down to enjoy their post-event, late-night meal in Winston-Salem, the recipe for that meal had changed and it led to a harrowing 10 hours before he was out of danger and then, the hospital.
“He ate a recipe for butter chicken that he’d had a million times before, without issues,” explained Artis. “This time, someone had made the recipe differently and made it with cashew paste, which threw him into an anaphylactic shock.”
An assumption that his allergy was specific to peanuts led to the unwitting alteration of the recipe. His allergy, his mother explained, is to all nuts. Within minutes of ingesting the meal, Niko suspected something was wrong and his body started to react, his lips swelling as the reaction set in. He was transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital where he spent a great deal of the next 11 hours, unconscious, as doctors administered medications to cope with the reaction.
“He stopped breathing twice,” his mother said. “He was unconscious for most of it, thank God, but his sister and I will forever have that nightmare burned into our core memories.”
“It was not the first time that he’d been exposed (to nuts, in form or another),” she added, “but he actually ingested it this time, which made it 10 times worse than just an exposure.”
Some 10 hours later, the youngster woke up, asked what it was that had affected him, what time it was and began pulling out his IVs to get home and pack for Puerto Rico. Mama Bear was not inclined to support the effort, convinced that the incident required further care and feeding (so to speak). A “heated argument” ensued, during which time, the attending physician asked Niko to give him one more hour as his patient and if symptoms abated in that time, he would ‘green light’ his release from the hospital and, with medications, the trip to Puerto Rico.
The heated argument took some time. Some of it immediately, some of it after the doctor approved Niko’s release from everything but his mother’s ongoing concerns.
“My Mom ‘gut’ wanted to keep him home and in a bubble,” wrote Artis in Facebook post, “but my Mom heart couldn’t stand to break his spirit. For as long as he may have on this earth, we will support him and his dreams.”
They boarded their flight to Puerto Rico at 4 p.m. that day; Niko eager to get things underway, Mom still worrying a bit.
“I’m still hovering over him,” she wrote, “and I know I’m getting on his nerves.”
Mom took time to note that “thanks to the efforts of the Davidson County (NC) Paramedics and Brenner’s Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem, my son is alive today.” She also thanked a set of “amazing friends and families for the prayers, calls, messages and visits to the hospital.”
Niko Konkel will face off against South Korea’s Hojun Kwon, today at 10:30 a.m. in the San Juan Convention Center. You can watch his and other matches on “Pro Billiard TV,” the official YouTube channel of the Predator Pro Billiard series.
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