Congratulations to the following people who will represent WA at the Nationals in Adelaide:

Open Team
Alan Brown (Captain)
Steve Saxon (Vice Captain)
Ron Kelly
Sonny Lister
Paul Dickinson
Justin Sajich
Thomas Warren
Adrian Lancaster
Wayne Brindley
Dave Collingridge
Chris Rusk (Manager)

Ladies Team
Sue Bussanich (Captain)
Tania Briggs (Vice Captain)
Dee Tibbles
Ros Johnson
Lynne Larsen
Haylie Bryant
Joelene Grabbi
Rebecca Eves (Manager)

Masters Team
Shan Baker (Captain)
Aveline de Freitas
Dick Clark

To assist the State Teams with their expenses this year, the committee will be conducting a raffle.  Good prizes - only 10 tickets to a book and affordable ticket costs should assure good funds are raised to assist the players. The committee hopes all members will support the players and books will be circulated to clubs for your help.

Good luck to everyone !

The Committee of the West Australian Eight Ball Federation met on Thurs 5th August and selected the Open and Women's Captains of the State Teams who will travel to Adelaide to contest the Australian Championships from October 18th to 29th.

Women's State Team
Sue Bussanich (captain)
Tania Briggs (vice captain)

Open State Team
Alan Brown (captain)
Steve Saxon (vice captain)

A good field of hopefuls entered the "C" Listed Singles Championship held on Sat  31st July at Limited Editions.  Favourites for the final were Junior Keenan Cigler and "B" Listed Finalist Keith Nazareth.  Keenan was an earlier casualty in the second round and Keith advanced to the quarter finals where he met son Keith Nazareth Jr.  Most would have predicted Keith Snr to win comfortably, but Keith Jnr had other ideas and advanced to the semi's where he played well to defeat Justin Kallenberg and secure a spot tin the final.

The other half of the draw saw Harley Tait and Bronte Duncan battle for a finals berth with Bronte getting the bickies on this occasion.  It will be the first time father and son play on adjoining tables in at the Finals Weekend in September.

With the new Divisional Doubles concept put to test on Sat 24th July at Limited Editions, a good field of 44 players presented themselves to compete in the handicapped event, where participants had to have a combined total of 160 grading points or less to compete.

It was a mixture of State players to 3rd Division players battling it out with opponents of a state player trying to leave them little and attacking the weaker link.  Former State player Peter Higgins and Keith Nazareth made their way to the Semi Finals, as did Shakeel Latimer and Sonny Lister.  The other half of the draw found Lee Thayre and Keenan Cigler opposed to Tristan Massang and Yang Tran.

After tightly fought Semi Finals, Shakeel and Sonny advanced to the final along with Lee and Keenan.

The "Whose Who" of women players turned up to contest the 2010 State Women's Singles Championship at Limited Editions on Sat 7th August.  The top seeds of Sue Bussanich and Tania Briggs were likely to be the ones to watch after successful campaigns in the state trials.

Sue started her assault in the second round and won a hard fought match against Lynne Larsen 4 - 3. Tania on the other hand lost in the second round to Selena Cigler who had woken in the morning with a migraine headache that she couldn't shake off. This didn't deter her and she played some of her best ever pool to win her way to the final against Sue Bussanich who had accounted for Joelene Grabbi in the Semi Final.
 
Selena was hoping to take her Semi Final form of a 4 - 0 win over Haylie Bryant into the final and upset the odds on favourite, Sue and win a place in the State Team.

The final commenced with Selena continuing her good form and took the first frame and when she repeated the performance in the second frame and led 2 - 0 in the best of seven contest, it appeared an upset was in the making. However, Sue being a fighter from way back levelled the score at 2 all and won the next to lead 3 - 2. Selena played very well and looked certain to win the 6th frame when her shot on the eightball missed narrowly and left Sue with an easy out.

A pleasure to watch a great final and congratulations are in order to both players.

Sue's win saw Lynne Larsen graduate to the State Team and everyone shunted up a spot putting Vanessa Doll into the play-offs.

• Sue Bussanich
• Tania Briggs
• Dee Tibbles
• Ros Johnson
• Lynne Larsen

Joelene Grabbi, Selena Cigler, Haylie Bryant and Vanessa Doll are likely to compete in the Country vs City play-offs for the final spots.

Open State Team
The open team came down to the wire with these gents taking the first five spots in the WA Open State Team for 2010:

• Ron Kelly
• Sonny Lister
• Paul Dickinson
• Alan Brown
• Steve Saxon

Levi Congden, Thomas Warren, Adrian Lancaster, Wayne Brindley, James Hammond and Paul Barrett are likely to battle it out for the other spots during the Country vs City play-offs.

A strong field of competitors assembled for the 2010 State Open Masters Championships at Limited Editions on Sat 3rd July.

With 2 rounds to play in the mammoth Round Robin, any one of seven players were in with a chance of winning the title or finishing in the top bracket for State Masters Team positions.
The final placings were:
Shan Baker - Champion - 145 points
Avelino De Freitas - Runner-up - 141 points
Rod Gurney - Third - 134 points
Sam Hart - Fourth - 133 points

For full details click here.

Congratulations to the top 3 who make the State Masters Team automatically.
The Committee will decide whether to send a 4th player at the next meeting.
Last year Dominic finished 4th and had the dual role as team manager for the Open Team.

Click here to follow Australia at the 2010 World Titles. But more importantly, Justin Sajich, Rebecca Evans and Luke Anglesey from WA!

The competition will be held between Friday 24th and Sunday 26th September (same long weekend as the AFL grand Final).

It is limited to 44 players only (first in, first come basis) so be quick only 18 spots left now.

The Nomination fee will be either $100, $150 or $200 depending on ability plus $20 for the Friday night knockout.

Prizemoney will be around the $8,000 with $1,500 First Prize.

Contact me (Adrian) on 0400 180 130 if you have any questions or to reserve your position.

All nominations must be paid prior to the event (I will send out bank details in due time).

To be conducted Sat 3rd July starting at 9.30am. Will be held as a round robin event with opponents playing 2 frames against other players with 5 points awarded for each win and a bonus point added for 2 - 0 results.

The top 3 players will earn a place in the State Open Masters Team to represent WA at the National Championships in Adelaide in October. This event is getting harder each year as our list of 50 year-olds increases and more former State players enter the age bracket. 2010 is not likely to be an exception to this and Shan Baker, who was very ill at last year's event is expected to be one to beat judging by his superleague form along with Defending Champion Rod Gurney and last year's team members Dick Clark, Carl Harrison and Hall of Famer Avelino DeFreitas.

"A" Graded Singles

Spectators at The Finals Carnival Weekend are going to be in for a treat in September when the final of the "A" Graded singles championship is decided.

Ron Kelly will take on Justin Sajich in what promises to be one of the toughest fought battles on the pool table with these closely matched opponents.

To make the final, Ron defeated Evan Briggs and Justin was successful against Mark Welford. It has been suggested this event should be seeded in future with many fancied players meeting in early rounds. The committee will definitely give this some serious thought in the near future.

"B" Graded Singles

A good field of 40 competitors entered the Perth Pool "B" Graded Singles event held on Sat 26th June at Limited Editions. Semi Finals were between Chris Rusk and Keith Nazareth & Darren Batchelor and Mandar Ranganekar.

Keith Nazareth (a "C" Graded player) was successful against Chris Rusk and Darren Batchelor's attacking game saw him get the bickies against the fast improving Mandar Ranganekar. So we will see a battle of patient determination Vs raw attacking pool in the final at the Finals Carnival Weekend in September.

The Final of The State Open Singles final will be another one not to miss on the Finals Carnival Weekend in September. Conducted on Sat 12th June with a very good field present, the event sees Semi Final winners the "Master" and defender Sonny Lister and State Captain Ron Kelly advancing to the final.

Ron is currently vying for "Best in Australia" status and Sonny's record speaks for itself. There are friendly wagers between the 2 as to their finishing positions in the State Team Trials and it could be described like the "Colour of Money" movie whereby we have the Master Vs the Pupil.

However, pool players will know that Ron has graduated with flying colours over the years and will no doubt start favourite. Sonny will argue that his tactical advantage will win the day for him, but whatever the outcome, it is sure to attract a great crowd.

Good Luck to both players.

The State Women's Teams Trials continue on Sun 10th July with a compacting field of hopefuls trying to earn the points available in the last 2 trials to secure an automatic place in the team or qualify for the City/Country play-offs to be held on Sunday 29th August.

Currently, dominating the Women's event is Sue Bussanich (pictured) who has secured the necessary points to once again represent the State at the National Championships in Adelaide in October. Results and current positions can be viewed on this website by clicking on the State and Events tab.