2010 NSW STATE MINOR
SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP
June 19th & 20th

Congratulations Michael Sharp: 2010 NSW Minor Snooker Champion.

Michael beat Luke Hough 4-0 in the final last night at Kingsgrove RSL, having a narrow semi-final win over Andrew Samarjia 3-1, and Newcastle’s Rob Elsley 3-2 in the quarter final.

The tournament highest break (79) was achieved by a new player to the NSW scene, Sebastian Zhang. I think everyone would agree that Sebastian’s performance throughout the event was a cut above the average – as was Patrick Leung’s (semi-finalist), Andrew Samarjia’s (semi-finalist) and, of course, the runner-up Luke Hough, who played his usual aggressive game, making some great memorable long pots.

Well done too all the other players making it through to the quarters : Sebastian (above), Ron Tulloch, Rob Elsley and Ali Ganji.

For the benefit of those players not familiar with the history of this event, it was initiated in 1947 as a major Snooker Championship open only to players who have not yet won a Championship in NSW or Australia. A player can only win it once and it has been won by some of Australia’s most outstanding players:

1948 Eddie Charlton Australian Professional Snooker Champion for many years, Runner up World Professional Champion – 1968, 1973, 1975
1951 Warren Simpson Australian Snooker Champion – 1953, 1954, 1957, Runner up World Professional Champion – 1971
1954 Frank Harris Australian Snooker Champion – 1958, 1963
1959 Geoff Miller Australian Snooker Champion – 1986
1963 Rex King Australian Snooker Runner-Up – 1967
1974 Warren King Australian Snooker Champion – 1980, 1981 – played the professional circuit for many years
1979 Gary Lakenby Australian Snooker Champion – 1983
1982 Wally Potaznyk (Paul Asher) played the professional circuit for many years
1983 Terry Emmett Australian Masters Snooker Runner-Up – 2009
1987 Roger Farebrother NSW Snooker Champion – 1992, 2006
1990 Joe Minic Australian Billairds Champion – 1998,2002, Oceania Billiards Champion 2010
1991 Shawn Budd Australian Snooker Champion – 1999, 2004, 2009
1997 Paul Balzer NSW Snooker Champion – 2009
2001 Tyson Crinis Australian Under 21 Snooker Champion, 2009 Winner South Pacific Pro Am
2004 Vinnie Calabrese NSW Snooker Champion – 2008
  

These are just some of the winners with records at hand – others that went on to play and achieve for many years include Don Spence (famous Illawarra player), Gary Mares, Ray Launder, Sam Frangie, Mick Girdler, Darren Martin (top 4 Illawarra player), Danny Love, Daniel Giminez; more recently and still regularly playing in major events: Chris Calabrese, Stuart Duncan, Frank Karaberas, Alex Render (ranked 16 in Australia), Shannon Dixon, Michael Lupton, Hassan Kerde (ranked 22 in Australia) and Dallas Hershall.

It is a historically important event carrying some significance. We had 47 runners, however counting players who contacted us late the number would have been well over 50.

A good weekend was had by all players and spectators. Thanks go to Kingsgrove RSL for their generous sponsorship and Ramsgate RSL for allowing us to use their tables for the excess games on Saturday. Special thanks to Bill Hart for managing the event and our referees: Stuart Tait, Richard James, Alex Anson, Steve Brenan and Bill Springett.

Sincerely yours

Ron Baikie
Secretary/Treasurer,
Billiards & Snooker Association of NSW Inc