New legends pool champion crowned in Centurion
Pretoria’s two biggest pool clubs has produced all the players who made it through to the quarter-finals at the recent quarterly 8-ball pool Legends Invitational tournament.
The third edition of the Play More Pool quarterly 8-ball pool Legends Invitational turned into a battle between the two biggest pool clubs in Gauteng North, when Old Boys Pool Club in Centurion hosted eight of the best grassroots players from Cue Masters Pool Club in Gezina in a 16-player invitational tournament.
The draw was made up of players who qualified through the monthly invitationals held at each of the two clubs. Only grassroots players are allowed to participate, with the top provincial league players and other accomplished players now barred from entry in the interest of development.
The two clubs were coincidentally equally represented in terms of numbers, and it just so happened that four from each club made it to the quarter-finals.
The home ground advantage only started showing in the quarter-finals, with three Old Boys players and only one Cue Masters player emerging to the semi-finals.
In the first of the semi-finals, Rishalan Reddy from Cue Masters turned the tables on Chris van der Walt, whom he lost to earlier in the group stages, booking his spot in the final with a quick 2-0 victory.
The other semi-final was between two Old Boys teammates in Morne Jacobs and Jannie Potgieter. Between them they sported a perfectly even head-to-head record. But this time the spoils belonged to Jacobs, who prevailed with a 2-0 victory.
This meant that both clubs would be represented in the final. Both players had topped their individual clubs’ rankings at some point during the months preceding the Legends, so it was tough to predict a winner.
But as has happened so many times before, the player with the more experience was able to absorb the pressure slightly better than the other. For Reddy, this was his first Legends, while Jacobs finished the previous one in sixth place overall – and that was against some tougher opposition, before the top provincial league players were barred from entry.
Jacobs put the experience to good use, and had answers for all the strategies Reddy employed, mustering a 3-0 win in the final. Losing his first match in the group stages proved to be enough of a wake-up call, and Jacobs didn’t concede a frame for the rest of the tournament – an amazing run of eleven frames in a row.
The qualification process has now restarted for the next Legends Invitational at the end of August. For more info or to get involved with grassroots 8-ball pool, please visit www.playmorepool.co.za.
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