GPA at Islands Blackball Tournament
Last month the GPA attended the Inaugural Islands Blackball Association tournament held in Rosyth, Scotland from the 2nd to the 4th November for what proved to be an intense but thoroughly enjoyable weekend of pool against the Isle of Man and Shetland. The Gibraltar squad consisted of 2 men's teams and 1 woman's team of 7 players each.
| Gib Men's A | Gib Men's B | Ladies |
| Charlie Bear (c) Kevin Dalli Jonathan Victory Paul Cartright Francis Becerra Liam Golt Albert Perez | Karl Jones (c) Chris O'Connor Francis Flores Charles Santos Owen Torres Dalton Martinez Sean Rumbado | Karina Flood (c) Val Trotter Sarah Taundry Vicky Heggie Debbie Cunningham Harriet Seed Nicky Corre |
Ladies Tournament
This year's Gibraltar Ladies squad consisted solely of experienced players, with a new edition to the team, Nicky Correa.
The first match against Shetlands was the first great win. All the Gibraltar Ladies played extremely well with the final score being 14-7 to Gibraltar. Val played a great first match as she went on to win all 3 of her frames.
The second match was against Isle of Man A and the Gibraltar ladies went on to beat them 16-5, keeping the Gibraltar Team in first place. Harriet, Nicky and Karina went on to win all of their frames, assisting the Team in this fantastic win.
The Ladies then went on to play an exciting game against Isle of Man B with the match being an extremely close call going to 10-10 but with Isle of Man B clinching the final frame. Again, Nicky came through for the team and won all 3 of her games.
After the round-robin event, The Gibraltar Ladies had played extremely well and finished in 1st place in group stage.
The semi-final between Gibraltar Ladies and Isle of Man B was another fantastic match with Gibraltar winning 11-5 taking them to the Team Final event. Making it all the way to the Final, the Gibraltar Ladies met up against the Shetland Ladies. Unfortunately, in the Final, the Gibraltar Ladies were unlucky to lose 11-7, finishing 2nd place in the IBA Championships.
When it came to the Ladies Individuals event, the Gibraltar Ladies did extremely well with several of the girls getting passed the second round. Sarah played brilliantly throughout the Individual event making it all the way to the Semi-Final where she lost to Val Caley of the Isle of Man.
Another great achievement for the Team was Karina, who played extremely well meeting Amanda Cutt of the Shetlands in the semi-finals. This was an exciting game with Karina playing her best match of the tournament and going on to win it 4-1 taking her to the final to play against Val Caley. Unfortunately, Karina didn't manage to maintain her form and went on to lose 5-2 in the Final. Congratulations on getting all the way to the Final Karina!!!
A big congratulations to the entire Ladies Squad for making it such a fantastic weekend and for doing so well, both in the Team event as well as in the Ladies Individuals event.
Thank you to all the companies and individuals that sponsored the Ladies and helping them achieve this fantastic result.
On behalf of all the Gibraltar Ladies, we would like to congratulate and thank Paul Cartwright for all his hard work and perseverance in regards assisting in organising this amazing competition. Job Well Done Paul!!! We all look forward to next year!!!
Good Luck with the next one girls!!!
Men's Tournament
The tournament got under way on the Friday evening with the opening ceremony and the start of the individual event. Unfortunately a number of the Gib players were paired together in the early rounds and this meant that there were few left in the latter rounds, although special mention must go to Charlie Santos who made it through to the Quarter finals on his International debut, where he was joined by fellow ‘llanito' Jonathan Victory.
The Saturday morning saw the start of the team event with both Gib teams going head to head. The A team stormed ahead to win the first session 6 to 1 and although the B team won the other two sessions, the deficit was just to big to make up and Gib A ran out winners by 12 to 9.
The Gib A team's next match was against Isle of Man B, this was an even affair all the way, going down to the last frame where Gib A lost 11 to 10. Meanwhile the Gib B team took on Shetland B. They played a great game to take a 10 to 7 lead but unfortunately they couldn't get over the finishing line and inexperience perhaps told in the end as Shetland took the last 4 frames to win 11 to 10.
The A teams next match was against Shetland B again this was an even affair with our boys going down in the first session 4 to 3 but then fatigue and the 3rd straight game of the day showed it's presence in the second session where the boys we're outplayed 6 -1 only to wake up and pick it up in the 3rd session 5 -2 by which time it was too late and Gib A had lost 12 to 9. It was now the turn of the B team to play against the Isle of Man A and a bad start again put paid to their chances. After the first session it was 6 to 1 to the Isle of Man and with the final two sessions shared 7 to 7, the final score was 13 to 8 to the Isle of Man A.
The last two matches of the evening saw Gibraltar A play Shetland A, and Gibraltar B play Isle of Man B. This was a win or die situation for Gib A and the players drew from their previous international experience and came of age to win by 14 frames to 7 in what was to be there best performance of the tournament. Kevin Dalli a player to note was showing his magical form and touch of class, he won 12 of his 15 frames played, a great feat. In what was also a must win game for the B team, they made a great start in taking the first two sessions and an 8 to 4 lead, unfortunately they couldn't hold on and the Isle of Man B took the last 9 frames for a final score of 13 to 8 and thus eliminating the B team.
Sunday brought the last round of men's matches with the Isle of Man A team already qualified with a 100 % record and the Gibraltar B team already eliminated. The other four teams were all on the same amount of points and frame difference was going to decide who made it to the semi final. The Gib B team had their worst match of the tournament and went down 14 to 7 to the Shetland A team. The Gib A team fared little better against Isle of Man A just by one frame going down 13 to 8 again loosing concentration on the third session, where Jonathan Victory's win in this session was crucial for a tense wait to see if they had qualified in fourth place. They had, just, by frame difference.
Semi Finals
Gibraltar A were paired with the all conquering Isle of Man A team and for two sessions they held their own with the scores being level at 7 to 7. Unfortunately it was not to be as Isle of Man A won 4 out of the next 5 frames to win 11 to 8. Again another heartache for the Gib A squad that was so close on all games but could not get past the finishing line.
Men's Final
The Isle of Man A team went on to beat Shetland A quite comfortably in the men's final and with the Individual men's event final being an all Isle of Man affair, this meant that they had taken 3 of the 4 titles on offer. With the pool finished all that was left was to hand out all the prizes and carry on the party back at the Gib hotel. What a weekend!
The results as well as some photos have been posted on the website for the Islands Blackball Association: www.iba-pool.com.
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