Three top seeds win in billiards

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32967, 13 July 1972, Page 14

Three top seeds win in billiards

The top three seeds, K. O’Callaghan, E. Simons and B. Kirkness, last evening comfortably won their way to the semi-finals of the Canterbury senior billiards championship; with them in the last four is G. Foster.

In the semi-finals, which will begin tomorrow night, Kirkness plays O’Callaghan and Simons meets Foster, and on form a Kirkness-Simons final is extremely likely.

Last evening, both scored more than 700 points in the twohour period, Simons very nearly reaching 800. Their totals put them a class above anyone else in the tournament.

It was thought that Kirkness might be given a keen tight by his Spreydon club-mate, L. Saunders, but after gaining an early lead, was never in danger and he won, 732-279. At the beginning, Kirkness concentrated on the losinghazard game, but later he varied his play with the momentum of his scoring being unaffected. His potting was especially crisp, and he compiled some useful breaks at the top of the table where his ball control at times was superb.

Kirkness’s best breaks were 53, 55, 57, 65 and 71. Saunders had a 59 early, but then his play slipped, and with good opportunities being left, Kirkness was able to maintain a high scoring average.

Simons took a little time to settle against M. Maffey and his potting, in particular, let him down frequently. However, when he came to grips with the pace of the table the quality of his losing-hazard play took him ahead, and then breaks of 72 and 73 on successive visits to the table put him well clear. Simons eventually won, 793-281. His other high breaks were 43, 44, 54 and 53.

Although outclossed. Maffey never relaxed his efforts, and he played some very neat shots. An early break of 81 gave O’Callaghan the upper hand on E. Martin, and the situation never appeared likely to change. O'Callaghan had another break of 43 and he won, 530-247.

The closest struggle of the evening was in the match between Foster and V. Choat. Foster secured an early lead of 70, but Choat fought back to trail by only 10. Foster rallied to again lead by 70. but again Choat recovered and narrowed the gap to 13 points. However, again Foster showed his ability under pressure and, playing his best billiards of the night, his long jennies being especially attrac-

five, he regained a lead of about 50 and held it to the finish. The final score was 410-353.