Canadian 10 Ball Update:The Two Morra's Undefeated Through Day 1

By: Markus Noé

Wednesday marked the beginning of the Men's and Women's Open 10 Ball divisions. There is 19 players registered in the Men's and 6 in the Women's, a disappointment for all involved but that is a discussion for another day. Despite the low turn out all the best touring professionals were in attendance along with a few part time pro's with a legitimate chance to win.

Photo of the 8 Ball winners side final

Cue Sport Nations own Erik "Big Red" Hjorleifson, fresh off his second place finish in the 8 ball got off to a good start. He played Shannon Ducharme who has looked like a threat all week, however Big Red played solid and secured a 10-6 win. Next up was Mario Morra who just beat Jason Klatt 10-6. This was a fairly tight match until Big Red pulled away 8-5, then Morra was able to turn the tide and come through 10-8 winner.

This sets up an interested match-up between father Mario Morra and son John Morra who also went undefeated today, with wins over Adrian Fragoso (ON)10-2 and Jesse Piercy (ON)10-2. In the top side of the winners bracket Tom Theriault who has been playing at a very high level,  will be up against Andy Aupin. Make sure to check out the stream at 11:00 am as both final four matches should be a treat to watch.

  Martin "The Grinder" Daigle was the sole representative from Québec in this event. Unfortunately he did not like the lighting conditions, as there is no direct lighting overhead and he could not adjust. He is the first player I heard be vocal of this. However if there were lights over the table as per the norm for any professional event, this would not be an issue. Here is a picture outlining the complaint. .

Photo courtesy Martin Daigle

As you can see there are various light reflections on the object ball that reasonably could affect ones aiming. For someone who is known to demand perfection in his game I could see how this could be a frustrating thing to have to deal with. Daigle lost 9-3 to Thom Theriault and 10-0 to Jason Klatt to end his run. He will be playing in the 9 Ball and keep an eye out for him as I do expect him to adjust to the conditions and hold true to his name "The Grinder."

Women's 10 Ball:

As per the norm in recent Women's Canadian Championship events, Naomi Williams and Brittany dominated the day. They both won their two matches with ease and find themselves in the hot-seat match tomorrow. Nathalie Chabot, Hanna Kwon , Maureen Seto and Joanne Ashton will all battle it out to see if they can end either Williams or Bryant's run of Canadian Championship final appearances.

Go to www.cbsa.ca for full brackets of the Canadian Championships. Also there is a link to the free live stream as well.