Half Moon Pub came through last week’s Chiang Mai Pool
League fixtures with their 100 percent record still intact, but Chiangers
and Bangers, Rock Hard Bistro and Out Back all stayed close to the
leader’s tail, one point behind in joint second place. In the meantime,
Blue Sky Bar, La Villa and No. 1 Bar made progress up the league ladder,
while The Local and Wall fell off the pace, and Happy Bar are still looking
for their first ever win.
The
Brickley brothers cue up for Blue Sky Bar’s win at The Wall.
At Half Moon Pub, the top of the table team were rarely
in trouble from a spirited performance by Friend’s Corner, and while the
away side won the first of the doubles, reducing the deficit to 3-4, Half
Moon polished off the last two games.
Behind them, the battle royal for outright second spot
continued with Chiangers and Bangers, Rock Hard Bistro, and Out Back all
winning 6-3 against December Bar, Enjoy Place and Blue Sky Garden,
respectively. And Blue Sky Bar made a significant move up two places with a
good win away at The Wall.
The surprise of the evening came at The Local, where
lowly No. 1 Bar pulled off their second successive win 5-4 against last
season’s Champs. Although No.1 led 4-2 after the singles, every game in
the first session had gone to a lone black ball finish. The Local hit back
in the first doubles, but No. 1 made sure by winning the next frame in a
marathon match that lasted nearly three hours overall.
Happy Bar must have raised their hopes of achieving a
first ever win when Ning and her husband Ken fought back to make it 3-3 at
home against La Villa. However, it wasn’t to be this time, when the
“Pizza Boys” from Rachadamnern Road reeled off all the doubles to go out
6-3 winners.
Pool is often thought of as an American sport with
American champions, but over the years the game’s popularity has spread
globally and produced multinational world class players, especially from
countries like Germany and Finland.
In Asia last July, Taiwanese Wu Chia-ching went into the
history books by becoming the youngest World Pool Champion ever, aged 16
years. After making his professional debut just two years ago, the
“Taishan Kid” took his place against 128 big names from 43 countries
that included Canada’s Alex Pagulayan, America’s Earl Strickland and
Germany’s Thorsten Hohmann, all competing over four days for a purse of
US$350,000.
The social stigma attached to pool in Taiwan has been
largely removed due to rising international stars like “Cool Hand” Chao
Fong-pang and female cueists Jennifer Chen and Liu Shin-mei, and now young
Wu Chia-ching joins a national hall of fame of which any country would be
proud.
The Chiang Mai Pool League is also rearing its
youngsters, with Blue Sky Bar’s Brickley brothers, Billy aged 14 and Willy
only 12 have already made their mark in local competition and it is hoped
that they receive encouragement and get time from studies to develop their
talent further.
And who’s the oldest player in the league? Well,
someone I know is almost 60 and still able to win a frame or two. Can anyone
top that?
Email bobby.k0@ lycos. com.
David
Curtz, man on a bike with a mission, during the first ‘Biking for
Education’ in 2004.
