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| President of the CBSA Randall Morrison with winner Jason Klatt |
By: Erik Hjorleifson
Another year has gone by and we find ourselves again at the Canadian Championships. This year there has been a big change as the event is being held outside of Ontario for the first time in probably ten years. Last September Tapis-Vert out of Quebec City along with help from Martin Daigle and Toiture Royale made an impressive offer of $9000 total in added money over the 5 events that are taking place over the 6 day tournament.
As the largest base of competitive players is generally thought to be out of Quebec it was expected that fields would once again reach respectable levels of full at 64 players or close to that. Turns out that is exactly what happened as 55 players entered that 8 ball event and as of tonight there are 62 in the 9 ball, lets give Canada a pass on being two spots short and call it a full field in the 9 ball for the first time since the very early 2000's! The strong turnout also goes hand in hand with the entry fees being dropped to a reasonable $175 for 8 ball ,9 &10 ball fee's also went down to $225. This of course was made possible by the added money that was put up by the host.
This year has also seen the return of simple things that have been overlooked in the past like having a players meeting! Might seem like a small deal but imagine going to a national championship and having no address to the participants, fact is this was a reality for at least the last 3 years of CBSA operation. CBSA secretary Candace Campbell was in charge of the players meeting and did an excellent job, presenting well and clearly explaining the format.
This is my first time meeting her and I must say that she is very approachable,organized and for her first time running the national championships she is very calm and on the ball at every turn. Hopefully she will stay with the CBSA in future years. The president Randall Morrison is also on hand helping with all the logistics and working diligently to resolve issues with the internet streaming capabilities with the host and believe me if there's anyone that can do it its him, he has not been able to find a solution, however the venue has its own lower quality stream which is available at http://www.cbsa.ca/ as are all the results and draw sheets.
The venue has 12 Black Crown tables which have been newly re clothed and the highest quality a
Aramith balls are in use. I would say the conditions are near perfect with the exception that the pockets are quite big to say the least, there is no such thing as straight in on theses tables. However it is the same for both players and the speed and ball reaction is very consistent. As you can guess, though the break is extremely important and don't be surprised to see some upsets along the way.
Day 1 of the 8 ball was fairly interesting as play started at 10:00am and the last ball was struck at around 3:00am. This was by no fault of the directors it is just a fact of running so many players through in a two day period. Big names in the field included Alex Pagulayan, John Morra, Jason Klatt, myself, Dany Hewitt, Alain Martel, Francis Crevier the west is also strongly represented by Shannon Ducharme, Simon Pickering and Paul Potier among many other champions. Day one highlights included John Morra with a hill hill victory over Shannon Ducharme and Jason Klatt with a hill hill victory over Sylvain Gingras in a match in which Gingras missed a very makeable 8 in the hill game.
Notable players who failed to make it to day 2
Myself
Alain Martel
Sylvain Grenier
Jeff Blais
Mario Morra
This should give you an idea of the overall strength of the field
On Sunday after making it to the final 8 on the winners side Dany Hewitt, Luc Salvas and Paul Potier both went two and out. Randy Bagot a long time top player from Manitoba who was making his first appearance at the Canadians made it all the way to the winners side semi finals before finishing fifth. Jason Klatt one of the strongest 8 ball players I have ever met defeated John Morra, Alex Pagulayan and Francis Crevier in succession to take the hot seat. After his loss to Klatt, Pagulayan came back strong with wins over Guillaume Mcnicoll, John Morra and Crevier to set up a rematch with Klatt in the final.
In the final Klatt came away with a thrilling 11-10 win against one idles doing up Alex Pagulayan. After his vicotory Klatt went to Facebook to share his thoughts on the final.
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| President of CBSA Randall Morrison with runner up Alex Pagulayan |
prize money
1st $1800 plus World expenses
2nd $1500
3rd Francis Crevier $950
4th John Morra $750
5th Randy Bagot $500
Gullaume Mcnicoll
7th Shannon Ducharme $375
Andy Aupin
9th Simon Pickering $250
Dany Hewitt
Paul Potier
Luc Salvas
http://cuesportnation.com/ will be on site beginning saturday stay tuned to our facebook page for all of the latest updates videos and scores.
Special thanks to my sponsors for the event
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www.cbsa.ca
Find us on Facebook CBSA Information. The CBSA has joined with the World Confederation of Billiard Sports to support the World Anti-Doping Agency's Say No!
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