Glen Wilkinson Adds to Tally

Glen Wilkinson has recorded a comfortable 5-1 victory over a gallant Terry Emmett in the Final of the 2013 Australian Masters Snooker Championship. Victory in the all-NSW Final now gives Wilkinson his 4th National Masters title in the 8 year history of the event. Full results can be accessed on the Australian Billiards & Snooker Council website at www.absc.com.au

Wilkinson is now eagerly looking forward to the opportunity of representing Australia at the 2013 IBSF World Masters Snooker Championship which will be staged in Latvia later this year. In his current form he must be rated a strong chance to avenge last year’s 6-2 runnerup effort in Bulgaria to 3 time World Champion Darren Morgan and we wish him well. 

The 2013 Australian Masters Snooker was held from 19-21 April at Mingara Recreation Club and marked the 6th consecutive year this event has been staged at the popular NSW Central Coast venue. A strong field of 40 players took part which included good representation from WA and Victoria as well as NSW. The consistent level of entries in past years is a great show of support by the players for both the event and the venue. ABSC President Barrie Jones referred to Mingara as “the home of the Masters” in his presentation speech and all associated look forward to this tradition continuing into the future. 

A good crowd of spectators were treated to some very entertaining snooker throughout the three days of competition which was once again an overall success. 

Highlights included defending Champion Joe Minici being the only player not to drop a frame through the group round robin and emerging as the No.1 seed into the knock-out stage. Robby Foldvari, Steve Balzer and Fred Borg were also undefeated in their groups and lost just one, two and three frames respectively. Foldvari was very solid throughout and recorded the Championship’s highest break (117) while Joe Minici had no answer to some fabulous snooker played by Terry Emmett in a 4-0 semi-final win which included breaks of 75 and 112 clearance. 

But Wilkinson was the undisputed stand-out and progressed through the knock-out stage with emphatic victories over some form players (Greg Schalk 3-0; Steve Balzer 4-0; Robby Foldvari 4-0) to set up an enthralling Final against a free-flowing Emmett. The Final was a hard fought affair with Emmett narrowly losing the first frame before getting on the board with a win in the 3rd. However, trailing 2-1 was as close as he was to get with Wilkinson playing some great match play snooker over the next 3 frames to close out a grinding and determined victory. 

Victorian Robby Foldvari is well known for “time” spent at the table and he asked for the records to reflect that his quarter-final was actually the first game to be completed on Sunday morning. Although Robby’s tongue was planted firmly in his cheek, this comment clearly demonstrates the excellent spirit and goodwill in which the Championship was played and was a contributing factor throughout a very enjoyable and entertaining 3 day event. Congratulations to all involved. 

Fore more results and the full draw, please go to http://absc.com.au/result-detail.aspx/2013/australian-masters-snooker-championship-2013

Gary Knight
Tournament Organiser