Titans of pool make mark
Awanui Titans outclass Awanui Raiders at Herekino Tavern in Far North showdown
At the Far North Pool Association finals on Sunday at Herekino Tavern the Awanui Titans defeated the Awanui Raiders 7-3 (5-3) singles. The Titans are now many times the Premier champions of this event. The win wasn’t unexpected but like any final, the job is not done and dusted until the games have been played.
The Titans took a solid four-game lead in the singles before the Raiders registered a point after Pane Haremate miscued on the 8 Ball and fouled.
Leroy Nicholls defeated Peter Pitchford before Kitchy (Kerry Kitchen) snookered Noon Matiu in the next game when Noon was on the 8 Ball. Noon potted the white, handing the win to the Raiders. In the last singles, Dave (Raiders) registered the win v Moss Hotere by sinking the 8 Ball, to claim the win.
The doubles, only two games played, saw the Titans wrap up the title after some cagey play and odd shots by one or two players (fouls) to see the trophy securely locked up for another year at the Awanui Sports Complex.
The winning team on the day was Raymond Jujnovich, Travis Tahana, Ringo Brown, Shorty Murray, Pane Haremate, Leroy Nicholls, Noon Matiu, Moss Hotere.
The Division Two final preceded the Grand final and was a closely contested match all day. The match and title for 2022 belongs to the Kauri Arms Rack Em Up team who beat the Herekino Razorbacks team 7-5 (4-4) singles.
The Razorbacks started well enough with the first two games won by Kura and Bernie before Tawhia Nicholls (Rack Em Up) opened their account.
Ria Ngatokorua (Herekino) played some fantastic shots in her game and won. Shannon, Shirley, and Quinton winning for Rack Em and Ina for the Razors.
The first doubles was a close game with the Arama and Jenny beating Kura and Bernie. Mark and Ria won for the Razors before the Rack Em Up won the last two to claim the title.
The winning team was Arama Nicholls, Jenny Samson, Tawhia Nicholls, Donna Harris, Shannon, Antonia, Shirley Tanenui, Quinton Samson.
Shots of the day would have to be Ria Ngatokorua’s two shots on the 8 Ball in both her games, with Ringo Browns (Titans) cleanup of the table in defeating Mike Rider in their singles game the best finish of the day.
Even before all this Sunday action last Tuesday the finalists had to found with the Titans defeating the K A 8 Ball 7-5 (3-5).
The other match saw The Raiders eliminate the Hunters 7-3 at Awanui (5-3) singles. In the final elimination match played on Thursday at Kauri Arms, the Raiders beat the K A 8 Ball team 7-5.
The Division two games from last Tuesday
saw the Awanui 8 Ball eliminate the Tigers 7-5 (5-3) singles. And the Rack Em Up team win 7-5 (4-4) singles.
The Thursday elimination match saw the Razorbacks beat Awanui 8 Ball 7-4 (4-4) singles.
That’s another FNPA pool season over. There is still a couple of pool events coming up though. The first of these is the Cock of the North at Awanui Sports this Saturday (entries closed) and the Greg Veza Memorial Pool Tournament, a men’s and women’s singles event at Herekino Tavern on November 12.