From national Under-17 cricketer to Pool tournament organiser, Ricardo Devers, took a giant leap to stage the Hustler eight-ball, best-of-three knockout Pool competition at the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMRSC) on Sunday last.
The tournament climaxed in the early hours of Monday with Anthony Xavier producing a dominating display of Pool against Deenashwar Rampersaud in the final, winning the first two games to take championship honours.
Xavier captured the first prize of $100,000 from Nauth’s Motor Spares and the Trophy Stall trophy in a tournament which attracted over 43 players.
Rampersaud, for his second place effort, received a five-stop trip on the Essequibo River, inclusive of lunch and a trophy, sponsored by V-Net Communications.
Earlier, Rampersaud got a free draw to the final since there were three players left in the competition, leaving Xavier to battle Chrisnah Rambarran for a place in the final.
Xavier took the first game, while Rambarran won the second before Xavier won the decider leaving Rambarran to settle for the third place prize of a trophy and a bottle of Absolut Vodka, sponsored by Nicky’s Natural Fruit Juice.
Solomon Jones won the raffle of a Pool Cue and Case sponsored by West Indies Sports Complex, while advertising and promotion were sponsored by G-bay Deals and Cell Point.
Speaking at the presentation, Devers, a talented Pool player himself, said this was the first time that he held such an event which he described as a success.
He said that holding such a tournament was because he wanted to have all of Guyana’s top Pool players competing in one place since there is no Pool association in Guyana to stage such tournaments.
Devers said unlike the USA and Canada where professional Pool is played and players can making a living from the sport this is not the case here.
“I opened the competition to both males and females and while I know of females who are good Pool players, no female entered and in my plans for future tournaments I hope to hold a female Pool competition,” Devers concluded.
