The BWPPA raised the curtain on the 2014 season on the 15th/16th March 2014 with the GNO Southern 9-ball Open held at the newly opened BWPPA/BWCSA Wheelchair Cue Sport Academy at Stoke Mandeville, this event is named after the main tour sponsor the Gentleman’s Night Out charity.

 

We had a great turn out with 19 players entering the event, including Aleksandr Prokopiev who again made the long trip from Russia.  We welcomed four new players to the tour, Keith Hance, Jimmy Major, Daniel Lee and Gary Nicholson, and it would be Nicholson who had the best showing at his first event.

 

Major, Hance, and Nicholson had competed in other wheelchair cue sports events in the past, but Lee was in his first event and he recorded a fine 7-3 debut win over BWPPA stalwart John Robinson in the Main event first round.   Many thanks to them all for coming over and we hope to see them all at future events.

 

We also had the pleasure of the company of Big Dave Knight and his travelling Pro9 shop, many thanks to Dave for attending and also for his generous donation.  See www.pro9.co.uk for further information.

 

We also had in attendance Mike Murphy who made the 7 hour round trip on the Sunday to demonstrate his easy cue range, see www.easycue.info for more information.

 

The tour got off to a great start with some excellent pool on show as usual at these events.  Aslam Abubaker was keen to add to his 3 successive victories at the end of the 2013 season, which enabled him to take a clear lead at the top of the rankings.  In the players meeting before play commenced Abubaker was awarded the honour of being the 2013 player of the season, which is voted for by his peers.  Also at the meeting, each player was presented with a gift pack from our generous sponsors at Kamui, comprising on 4 tips, 2 chalks and chalk holders, many many thanks to all at Kamui.

 

As the final 9-ball of the weekend was potted it was Southern who took home the spoils with victory in the Main Event and maintained the no 2 spot above Roy Kimberley.  This year the players battle for a superb prize of a top range cue from one of our main sponsors Predator, which will be awarded to the no.1 ranked player at the end of the season. (TBC)

 

Following his bye into round 2 as no.2 seed, Southern started off with a hard fought 7-2 win over Lee, who as an ex-snooker player who was a star junior, will challenge the top players once he has learned the game.  Southern then followed this up with a more comfortable 7-2 win over Phil Hendrickson.   This sent Southern into the quarter-final, where he won a hill-hill match against Danny Luton 7-6.

 

Kimberley had convincing wins in his first 2 matches, 7-2 v Hance, and 7-1 v Frankie ‘Hot-Wheels’ Gillen, to also reach the knockout phase.

 

The other half of the draw was loaded with talent, Abubaker hammered Danny Luton 7-3, then dispatched Pete Dawson by the same scorer to reach the quarter-final, where he beat Hendrickson 7-3.

 

Other notable results including Nicholson beating 4th seed Craig Welsh and Nicky Oliver 7-2 to reach the quarter finals, and in the best event of his career to date, Oliver came through the losers side to qualify for the prize money stages before running into Kimberley who was in devastating form and won 7-1.

 

In the first semi-final Abubaker beat Nicholson 7-4, but it was a lot closer than the score suggests, and Nicholson can reflect on what was an excellent first event for him. 

 

In the other semi-final it was Southern against old rival Kimberley, both players played solid pool, but it was Southern who was the more clinical taking his place in the final with a 7-4 win.

 

The Main event final between Southern and Abubaker was a fast paced match, with some excellent clearances mixed with some good safety and kicking.  In the end it was Southern who took the title with a 7-4 victory, punching the air with delight.

 

After the final Southern said of his win “I am delighted to retain my title and win the first event of the season.   I played solid all weekend, at least in the tournament, but I was determined not to let myself down, especially after poor performance at the first GB9 event of the year.

 

I would like to thank my main sponsors Riley’s, HASSRA, CSSC and Predator Cues, and of course all the BWPPA tour sponsors, especially Gentlemen’s Night Out, and Kamui whose Black medium tip has really made a difference to my game.  

 

Southern is now 50 points behind Abubaker at the top of the rankings, with Kimberley close behind, but with the best 4 of the last 5 events counting, the next event should be a great one at the ‘Escape Pool Bar’ in Barnsley in May.

 

In the Challenge Cup Final Craig Welsh beat Gary Swift 5-1.

 

A full video of the main event final is available here; pictures of the event are here in the BWPPA gallery.

 

The BWPPA team head to Northern Cyprus in April for the European Championships, the team captained by Southern also consists of Kimberley, Abubaker, Luton, Welsh, and Matt Duffy and we must also mention BWPPA member Fred Dinsmore from Ireland, who will be defending his 8 & 9 ball titles. See here for more details of that event.

 

The 2014 BWPPA tour is scheduled to continue in May in Barnsley. If you would like to be a part of Europe’s largest wheelchair pool tour, and second largest in the world please keep checking http://www.bwppa.com, and www.pro9.co.uk.

 

If you need any more encouragement to join the BWPPA you could represent Great Britain in international tournaments, plus all new BWPPA players enter their first event for free!

 

All of the BWPPA would like to extend our gratitude to all of our sponsors The Gentlemen’s Night Out, Simonis Cloths, Predator/Poison Cues, Talisman Billiards, Kamui tips, Magic Racks, Escape Pool Bar, AB Wallace Trophies, and Riley’s snooker & pool clubs.

Escape Pool Bar in Barnsley was the venue for the 2nd BWPPA event of the season on 18/19 May 2013. 

 

Roy “The Sandman” Kimberley regained the top spot on the tour from Tony Southern, as he wins his third event out of four on the BWPPA tour.  Kimberley went into the event knowing that only a higher finish than Southern could get him back to the no 1 spot.

 

This was the biggest field in a number of years as 17 players entered, with Alexander Prokopiev again making the 7,000 mile trip from Yakutsk, Sakha, Russia, (just north of Japan), and Poland’s Leszek Blumczynski also entering, although he now lives in the UK.

 

It could have been an even better turn out as several tour regulars such as Matt Duffy, Shaun Madin and Danny Luton were absent.

 

Kimberley got his campaign off to great start with a 7-3 win over old rival Aslam Abubaker, who was the one to avoid in the first round, as his recent absences meant he was way down the rankings, and a dangerous player to meet at such an early stage.

 

Roy’s next win was just as convincing with a 7-2 win over John Robinson. It was a more difficult match for Kimberley in the next round as this time he faced high ranked Phil Hendrickson.  This was a great match that Kimberley took with a 7-5 win and advance to the semi-final. 

 

This took Kimberley through to a semi-final with Gary Swift.  This was a high quality match with both players playing some good pool, however it was Kimberley who advanced into the final with a 7-4 score line.  

 

In the other half of the draw, Southern won his first two matches to advance to the quarter finals, where he would meet the player he most wanted to avoid, Abubaker had come through 3 matches on the losers side, in a very scrappy match Abubaker beat Southern 7-5 to advance to a semi-final against the much improved Craig Welsh who was enjoying a great event and had three good wins, but it was one game too far for Welsh and Abubaker won 7-2 to book a spot in the final with Kimberley.

 

In a classic match which saw some high quality pool, with the match swinging one way and then the other, it went all the way to a hill-hill finish, but it was Kimberley who blinked first, missing a makeable 7-ball in the last rack with 8 and 9 in the open, Abubaker took the 7 leaving him straight in on the 8 ball, with 9 ball just past the middle pocket, a stun shot would have left it slightly difficult on the 9, so he decided to screw the cue back a few inches for perfect position.  This proved to be a fatal error as he rushed the shot and missed the 8 ball, and as it rolled over the bottom pocket, Abubaker conceded frame and match to Kimberley.

 

After the final Kimberley said of his win “I would like to thank all the staff at the Escape Pool Bar, we are always made welcome, and we are delighted to be coming back in July. On a personal note obviously I'm really pleased to be back to no.1 and playing some good pool again. In addition to thanking The Escape Pool Bar, I would like to also thank all the other sponsors of the tour, Gentlemen’s Night Out, Simonis Cloths, Riley’s Pool Clubs, Talisman Cases, Magic Rack, AB Wallace Trophies, Kamui Tips and Predator Cues.

 

The Challenge Cup final was won by Frankie Gillen who beat Adam Pearson 5-3, both had career best wins over Hendrickson and Southern respectively in the semi finals, in this handicapped event.  After the event Gillen had this to say:

 

“I am really pleased to have won my first Challenge event this season and hopefully there will be many more wins for me this year.

 

When I won I shouted out so loud 'C'MON…!', raised my arms up'n'down so fast & punched in the air with my hand.  

 

Here is a video clip of me with…… eerrmmm…. I won't say it, just watch & you will like it. Make sure you got the volume on up loud. “

 

 

A video of the main event final is available here. Pictures of the event will be here in the BWPPA gallery soon.

 

Bonus pictures courtesy of GB’s Lee Rigby are available here. 

 

The next event is the Kamui 9 Ball Shootout, which will be held at the ‘Escape Pool Bar’ Barnsley, on the weekend of 20th/21st July 2013.  

 

The BWPPA are always looking for new members no matter what disability you have, or your level of ability in the sport. To become part of Europe’s largest wheelchair American pool tour please visit www.bwppa.com, and if you are reading this and know of any players who may be interested please pass this onto them.

 

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 

 

http://bwppa.com/Contact.html