Dan Champion
THE annual Berri Open Eight-Ball Singles Championship was held over the weekend of July 16 to 18 at the Berri Hotel in the Riverland.
Around 250 players, which was well down from the 350 average of the last dozen years or so, played in the round-robin qualifying stage of the tournament on the Saturday which included groups at other local venues including Lyrup Club and Cobdogla Club, of which 128 qualified for the knock-out stage of the main event on the Sunday.
Eventual champion and now three-time winner – only the third player to accomplish the feat behind Adelaide’s Phil Reilly and Melbourne’s Jake McCartney – Adelaide’s Alec Evreniadis defeated Victoria’s Nicholas Hore 4-0 in the grand final.
Evreniadis defeated fellow Adelaide and SA state player and former Berri Open champ Michael Cacciola 4-2 in the quarter-final, then Anthony Grantham 4-1 in the semi-final.
Evreniadis won the Berri Open back in 1989 and then again in 1997 so it has been a while between drinks, with him having to take another 24 attempts to get the trifecta.
Hore did well to get to the final after knocking out top-tier SA players Nathan Nemes and David Rothall in the quarter and semi-finals respectively.
Hore had his chances against Evreniadis in the final but just could not capitalise when it counted and missed a few easier pots when the pressure was on that he generally would have nailed.
Of the South East/Limestone Coast contingent, Bordertown’s Steven Richardson was the stand-out in the main event, making the last 16 and going down to eventual winner Evreniadis.
Mount Gambier’s John Simpson got as far as the last 64 along with Bordertown’s Ian Scown, who also won the “Could Have Been Champions” Knock-out (consolation round) which was played on the Sunday afternoon.
Mount Gambier’s Kaye Simpson did well in the women’s knock-out on the Saturday night, reaching the semi-final.
