Semi-Finalists (Justin Hewitt, Craig Galliano, Sean Negrette, Ethan Cleverly)
The penultimate Youth Ranking event of the season took place this past weekend. This ranking event was to prove vital for some of the players who are trying to make it into the top 4 in the rankings list and this was the case as we saw a big shock result in the first round.
The current top 2 players in the rankings Justin Hewitt and Sean Negrette have successfully secured a place in the team for the European Cup which takes place in July. However the 4th place is still up for grabs, either Craig Galliano, Jerome Duarte or Ethan Cleverly will miss out on that final spot in the team. Although it is still not mathematically confirmed It will most likely be Craig & Jerome who make the team as Ethan Cleverly would need to win the next event and depend on other results going his way. The last ranking event which is the main event of the season the National Champion will take place next month and this event will determine who takes the final spot.
First Round Games
In the first round we saw comfortable 3-0 victories for Kaylan Franco against Dylan Duo Jnr, Ethan Cleverly against Nick Garcia & Justin Hewitt against Joseph Ward. Liam Santos defeated Joseph Borge 3-1 in the battle of the newcomers. However the big shock of the first round was Ethan Smith losing 3-1 against a much improved Jayc Alecio. This defeat for Ethan was to break his hopes of a place in the top 4 and in this year’s European Cup squad.
Quarter-Final Games
In the first two Quarter-Final games we saw easy 3-0 victories for Craig Galliano against Kaylan Franco and for Sean Negrette against Liam Santos.Sean hit a 180 on his way to victory. In the third game Ethan Cleverly got the better of Jayc Alecio 3-1 and in the last Quarter-Final game Justin Hewitt defeated the previous ranking event winner Jerome Duarte 3-1.
Semi-Final Games
In the first Semi-Final game Craig Galliano’s powerful scoring was to prove the difference in this game and quickly secured a 3-0 victory over Ethan Cleverly. The second Semi-Final game was a much tighter affair. Both players were hitting the high scores but it was Justin Hewitt with two high checkout finishes of 116 &134 who defeated Sean Negrette 3-2 in a close match.
The Final
The final was contested between Craig Galliano & Justin Hewitt. With both players having one ranking title each they both battled it out to see who could win their second title of the season and what a battle it was to be. The game had everything, high scores of 100 & 140 were being hit for fun and finishes were being checked out with ease. The game went all the way to 3 legs each, in the last leg it was anyone’s game but it was Justin who held his nerve to hit the winning double and secure the title. Without any doubt the best final we have seen all season.
Justin hit three maximum scores of 180 in the Final.
Commiserations to Craig Galliano & Congratulations to Justin Hewitt!
