Omar Balsara and Raymond Fung
It was roles reversed at Event 5 of the 2010 United States Snooker Association (USSA) Tour, as Raymond Fung turned the tables around from the previous Tour Event result with victory in the final over Omar Balsara at the Top 147 Snooker Club in Brooklyn, New York. It was Fung's second victory in three finals on this season's Tour, making him the most consistent player on the Tour, but he had a great fight in this race-to-four-frames final to eventually wrestle victory out of the hands of Balsara who had defeated him in the final of the previous Tour Event.
Balsara's run of 38 in a closely contested first frame of the final was sufficient to help him take a 1-0 advantage, but Fung was soon back on level terms as he won frame two assisted with a break of 40. Balsara again edged ahead by taking the third frame on the final colored balls, though the 2004 United States National Snooker Championship runner-up again comprehensively struck back to square the final at 2-2, helped by a fourth frame run of 35. The pattern continued with Balsara taking frame five on the colored balls to get him on-the-hill of this final, but he just could not shake Fung off his tail as he took the final into a last frame shoot-out by claiming the sixth frame, aided by a break of 36.
In a tense final frame that went down to the colored balls, Fung's run of 30 gave him the advantage to help him push on to claim the frame and a narrow 4-3 success.
Fung and Balsara also had to do battle in the initial Group phase of this Tour Event when they were both drawn in Group B, and it was Fung who came out top in that match too with a 2-1 victory. However both players came through the Group occupying the top two places respectively.
Fung then advanced into a quarterfinal match-up against Group D runner-up Raimond Cheung, and experienced a huge scare as Cheung took a 2-0 lead. Fung then came back in a steely fashion with three successive frames and a 3-2 score line to book his semifinal spot.
Balsara had a commanding 3-0 quarterfinal win over Group D winner Nelson Chan to secure his semifinal berth, posting a high-run of 65 along the way.
In the semifinals Fung came up against the Group A winner Kevin Wong, who had earlier had a 3-2 quarterfinal win over Group C runner-up Tom Cen, but Fung proved to be far too strong for his opponent as he hit the Tour Event's top run of 73, in addition to a further break of 52, for a comprehensive 3-0 victory.
Balsara joined Fung in the final with a 3-0 semifinal success over the Group A runner-up Tim Lee, who made it through to the last-4 with an excellent quarterfinal 3-2 win over Group C winner, Henry Wong.
Lee defeated Wong 3-0 to win the third/fourth place playoff.
The USSA would like to thank the management of the Top 147 Snooker Club in Brooklyn, for their support in hosting a very successful 2010 USSA Tour Event.
The USSA would like to thank the Top 147 Snooker Club for their support in hosting a 2010 USSA Tour Event. The USSA National Snooker Tour is sponsored by Aramith Billiard Balls and Strachan West Of England snooker cloth, and the 2010 Tour will feature its sixth and final stop of the Tour season at Shoreline Billiards in Mountain View, CA during the dates of May 8-9 (contact Ajeya Prabhakar at 408-203-6721).
Final Results:
1st Raymond Fung (Brooklyn, NY) [HR – 73,52]
2nd Omar Balsara (Washington, DC) [HR – 65,57]
3rd Tim Lee (Manhattan, NY)
4th Kevin Wong (Brooklyn, NY)
The USAA National Snooker Tour is sanctioned and produced by the United States Snooker Association (USSA) [established in 1991], which is recognized as the USA governing body for snooker by the world-governing body – the International Billiard & Snooker Federation (IBSF) – and which produces the annual USA National Snooker Championships to determine the representatives from the USA to the annual IBSF World Snooker Championships. For full Tour details, as well as entry information for entering the 2010 USSA Nationals at the Embassy Club in San Gabriel, CA, July 2-4, go to www.snookerusa.com .
