Whitfield wins Canadian Snooker Championships
Aug 6, 2014
After seven days of fierce competition, the 2014 CBSA Canadian Snooker Championships has concluded at Shooters Snooker and Sports Club in Toronto, Ontario.
Floyd Ziegler
Players were separated into eight groups of five playing the round-robin format. The top two players from each group moved on to the single elimination knock-out stage. Some notable results from the round-robin stages include:
John Everekian (12W, 0L)
Floyd Ziegler (12W, 1L)
Robin Petersen (12W, 1L)
Paul Potier (12W, 2L)
Terry Davidson (12W, 2L)
Alan Whitfield (12W, 2L)
Reaching the finals were two players both from Ontario, Floyd Ziegler and Alan Whitfield. On route to the finals, the defending champion Floyd Ziegler had wins over Demos Zachariou (5-0), Alex Zhang (5-0) and Phil Snache (6-1). Floyd’s opponent, Alan Whitfield had wins over Karam Namek (5-0), John Everekian (5-2) and Terry Davidson (6-3).
Despite the long awaited summer weather, the room was jammed packed with spectators to watch the Saturday afternoon finals. Floyd Ziegler was the clear favourite in the match with three national titles already under his belt. For Alan Whitfield, this was his first trip to the finals. He had nothing to lose but an opportunity at the title.
Alan Whitfield
The aggressive style and quick pace of both Alan and Floyd made for an exciting match to watch. Alan broke the ice winning the first frame (72-2). In the second frame, Floyd looked to be in control until he missed a difficult shot on the last red, leaving the table with a 35 point lead. Alan wasted no time potting the last red-black and remaining colours to tie the frame (59-59). The black was re-spotted and the referee flipped the coin. Floyd executed a perfect safety leaving the cue ball and black on opposite rails. Alan stepped up and banked the black in the corner to win the second frame.
Alan Whitfield never looked back as he pocketed nearly every shot he attempted. At the mid-session interval, Floyd Zieglar found himself trailing in the match 5-0 in the best of 11 finals. After the break, Floyd managed to win the 6th frame with a break of 76 to put him on the scoreboard (5-1). Unfortunately for Floyd, it was too little too late. In the next frame, Alan’s smooth stroke carried him through to the winners circle clinching the 2014 Canadian Snooker title in front of his hometown peers.
1st
Alan Whitfield
$1,000
2nd
Floyd Ziegler
$700
3-4th
Phil Snache
$450
3-4th
Terry Davidson
$450
5-8th
Alex Zhang
$250
5-8th
Ed Heckbert
$250
5-8th
Jacques Cote
$250
5-8th
John Everekian
$250
9-16th
Demos Zachariou
$125
9-16th
James Lee
$125
9-16th
Paul Potier
$125
9-16th
Robin Petersen
$125
9-16th
Justin Kluznik
$125
9-16th
Dean Furey
$125
9-16th
Karam Namek
$125
9-16th
Salman Arif
$125
In addition to the prize money, both finalists received an expense paid trip to the world snooker championships in Bangalore, India (valued @ $2,300 x 2). Special thanks to Randall Morrison from the Alberta Billiards & Snooker Association who provided live streaming of the entire event. Watch the finals HERE.
The Canadian Billiards & Snooker Association would also like to thank their two major sponsors for this event, OB Cues & Simonis Cloth. Their support of Canadian Cue Sports is greatly appreciated.