Canty’s dominance in billiards continues

Press, 12 September 1988, Page 17

Canty’s dominance in billiards continues

When Christchurch’s Ken Giles won the Lion Brown national billiards final at the Richmond Working Men’s Club on Saturday afternoon he also added weight to the claim that Canterbury is the undisputed home of New Zealand billiards.

Since the great Canterbury player, Tom Yesberg, won the title in 1975 the championship trophy has only twice left the region, with the Wellingtonians Herb Robinson winning in 1976 and Roy Adams in 1979. Giles, while not winning any big tournaments, has been a very consistent performer since returning to competition in 1975 after a 28-year break with his best efforts usually reserved for the national

championship in which he has finished runner-up twice, the first time to Dave Meredith in 1980 and three years later when he was beaten by another Cantabrian, Brian Kirkness.

At one stage in Saturday’s final it looked as though Giles might have to settle for second again as his opponent and Richmond club-mate, Peter de Groot, produced some magnificent form while Giles for a 30-minute period could hardly score.

With an opening break of 67 de Groot held the lead but Giles quickly rallied with breaks of 44, 51 and 68 to open an 82-point gap at the end of the first hour.

It was at this stage that Giles hit a flat patch that allowed de Groot to take control once more with a superb break of 93 followed up by a 40 at his next visit. The last half hour of the first session saw both players in great touch with Giles scoring a 52 break and de Groot replying immediately with a 44 to hold a handy 480-399 lead at the interval.

With de Groot capable of turning on a big break at any time the pressure was still on Giles; however, he responded magnificently with breaks of 45 and 41 to effectively end de Groot’s challenge with the final scoreline reading 1002-841 in favour of Giles.