Singles crown had eluded him
Ian Livingstone ended years of heartache to lift his first-ever East Kilbride Pool League singles title.
The singles crown was the only title to elude ‘Livvy’ during an illustrious career in the EKPL, but Ian – who is also the league chairman – finally completed his collection last week with an 8-5 victory over Graham Borthwick in the final.
Played over the weekend of September 8-9 in the Greenhills Bar, the early rounds also saw some cracking ties.
The the pick of the results included Jim McKenna beating former champion Iain Wilson 8-5 and an impressive 8-2 win for Ross Steven against inform player Jack Stewart.
The latter stages of the tournament saw Borthwick and Graeme Wallace, who both represent the ‘Jokers’ team in the EKPL, as well as James Hanney and Lee Miller, from the Assassins, reach the quarter-finals. Oneframe champion Davie ‘Bomber’ MacKinnon and the Robertson brothers, Lindsay and Stu, representing Club 72, completed the line-up alongside Livingstone.
Stu defeated Lee Miller 8-5 and Livvy beat Graeme by the same score to set up an excellent semi final, which Livvy won 8-7.
The bottom half saw Borthwick emphatically defeat Hanney and then MacKinnon to clinch his place in the final.
But it was the experienced former Scotland International, Livvy, who prevailed. Borthwick can be proud of his run though, having quickly progressed from challenger event to superleague teams and the latter stages of big tournaments.
Club spokesman Lindsay Robertson said: “Congratulations to Ian and Graham on a great final.
“Thanks go to our sponsors Greenhills Bar for superb support as ever, and to the hard work of David Pickup and Lee Miller in running the event.”