The National Pool League (NPL) 9 Ball competition came to an end last Thursday evening with the Debe-based United Stars winning their second major league title.
After a gruelling 22-week stretch, the Stars shone brightly at the Boardroom Lounge, defeating United (formerly Spar United) five games to nil to formalise what was already a forgone conclusion after round 21 in the NPL hosted by the Billiard Sports Organisation of T&T (BSOTT).
Following their NPL 8 Ball success back in 2019, the Aaron Raghoonanan led Stars finished with an impressive record of 18 wins and four losses.
South Side Crew, who were breathing down the necks of the leaders for most of the second half of the season, finished second with 17 wins and 5 losses after a 3-2 victory against Central Stars (14-8), in their final match. Pool Sharks BC, who also had their eyes on the title, finished with a 17-5 record as well but placed third by virtue of South Side’s superior match differential. The Sharks defeated Spar Amigos 4-1 in the Boardroom Lounge doubleheader.
Occupying fourth spot on the Standings were the Playhouse Predators (16-6), who closed off their NPL 9 Ball campaign with a 4-1 win against Check Side. Central Stars placed fifth and Spar Amigos (13-9) finished in sixth.
United (9-12), Dekko (8-14), Check Side (7-15), Kenny’s (6-16), Poolhulics Krew (5-17) and Jerry Junction (2-20) rounded off the final six places on the table.
The teams are now looking forward to 9 ball knockout action, which takes place later this month.
BSOTT, who extended congratulations to all winners and thanked all participants for making the tournaments a success, advised all snooker players to look out for the National Snooker Championships which starts on November 12.
IN OTHER CUE SPORTS NEWS:
BSOTT completed a series of ranking tournaments recently and crowned four champions through different levels of play.
Division 1 (A) and Division 2 (B): After the initial Round Robin competitions, which took place at four venues across T&T, two separate Double Elimination tournaments were held with the top 16 from the (A) fighting for top honours and the top 24 from the B doing the same.
The A class players who did not advance from the group stages took part in a combination tournament pitting them against the top players from the (B) tournament in a further assessment and closing off the process, was a Best of the Rest, BOTR, which saw those B class players who did not get past the round robin phase battling to be Best of the Rest. There was also a warm up tournament prior to the ranking process.
Winners’ List from the respective stages:
Warm up - 1 Desmond Nicholls; 2 Clint Bachan; 3 Vishaal Singh
A Class - 1 Lyndon Ramkissoon; 2 Amar Ramlal; 3 Vishaal Singh
B Class – 1 Lyndon Sahibram; 2 Akash Poon; 3 Nandlal Ramlakhan
A/B – 1 Ravy Joseph; 2 Wayne Rattansingh; 3 Dilip Deo
BOTR – 1 Christopher Lee Ganese; 2 Vishal Ramlogan; 3 Fareed Abrahan