Venue: Club Marconi
Dates: 5th and 6th November 2016
Sponsors: The Sanna family

Club Marconi Table Sponsors: Telemon Communications PL Reventon Group Hyten Group Blue Haven Pools and Spas PL Your Financial Freedom The Snooker Gym Zebra Green Cafe and Bar

Winner: Joe Minici (Trophy- Bill Hart Memorial Shield)
Runner- Up: Michael Pearson

Joe Minici who had already won 12 previous State titles went on to record "lucky' 13 by defeating Michael Pearson who himself was chasing title number 5.

The White Elephant- NSW State Billiards Championship 2016, was held at Club Marconi, The tournament had 40 entries and the 10 Group Round Robin commenced on Saturday 5th November, with large 2m high banners in the clubs foyer the scene was set for a Billiards Championship worthy of a State Title.

Steve Cowie the tournament Director provided each player with a tournament program and $10 meal voucher which was supplied by Club Marconi as additional sponsorship of the event.

I opened proceedings with a Welcome speech, outlaying the format of the tournament and notifying players of their requirement to check the displayed schedule for match times and refereeing times. We conducted a table sponsorship draw that was drawn by Vit Sacco, Steve Cowie and Vic Cravino.

Day one started out very well with Michael Pearson recording a 171 break in the opening match, only to have Joe Minici top it with a 188 in the next round. Setting the landscape for a tournament that would see Michal shine only to then have Joe take away the limelight.

A host of players recorded significant breaks as they took control of their round robin matches, recording 11 Centuries, Roger Farebrother 107, Todd Hayward 92 and Vit Sacco 90 just falling short of making centuries. In his second match Joe Minici on 187 narrowly missed a canon that 3 would have surpassed the high break of 188. The 188 eventually would take out the tournaments high break prize. Overall it was a good standard of billiards being played. And an enjoyable day.

Saturday evening saw the play off between players ranked from 13 to 20 out of the round Robin stage. Vic Cravino defeated Adwin Teh 258-158, Danny Senko lost to Ricky Lo 236-186, Brad Williams defeated Dirk Hellenbroich 280-- 154 and Vic Sacco was in complete control against Roger Carr winning 272 - 97.

Sunday morning saw the the last 16 with top seeds Michael Pearson and Joe Minici recording centuries and moving onto the last 8, there was some really close matches that went down to the last 5 minutes with Vic Cravino playing out to get over the top of George Chammas and Vit Sacco narrowly defeated Todd Hayward 247 -242.

In the last 8, Roger Farebrother made a late run on Joe Minici who had just recorded 169 and led by 90 only to see Roger go on a couple of runs that brought him back to within 31 but beaten by time.

The semi-finals were tough matches for both Grant Meadley and Vic Sacco who were both dominated by the eventual finalists Michael Pearson and Joe Minici.

The 3hr final was a bruising encounter as Michael Pearson winning the "string" went on a run of 98 only to narrowly miss a cannon for the century he lead by 0ver 188 within the first 30minutes with Joe yet to record a single score and looking unsettled. At the resumption of play after the interval Joe began to put together consecutive runs recording a century and numerous half centuries to hit the lead for the first time 603 to 597 with less than 30 minutes to go. Joe then went from strength to strength playing some great hazards, cannons, safety, double baulking and putting pressure on Michael who was returning to the table constantly finding himself put in positions that scoring and continuing were becoming very difficult. Joe went on to win the Final 780 - 686, and was crowned the NSW State Billiards Champion for a 13th time.

The BSA NSW would like to thank Club Marconi for hosting the event along with their sponsorship and a special thanks to the major sponsor the Sanna Family who have been true supporters of cue sports and we hope to continue the relationship.

We would also like to thank our 7 table sponsors with the eventual table sponsorship winner Telemon communications PL being a very happy prize pool recipient thanks to Joe Minici and his 188 break.

Bring on 2017, will it be number 14 for Joe, will Michael get number 5 or will we get a new state champion.

Jeff Farrugia
BSA NSW
Assistant Tournament Director