S.A.S BILLIARDS CHARITY CHALLENGE

Pinewood Park, Upper Sherringham, Norfolk
(24th March 2001)

Mike Russell retained his S.A.S title in fine form by defeating Chris
Shutt in the final. Russell saved his best of the day for the final
when at his 2nd visit to the table he produced a break of 233, he
followed this with a 203 and 267 on the 3rd and 4th visits respectively.
After a contribution of 10, the World Champion added another excellent
break of 267 (6th visit) to take his lead at the time to 1013-24. To his
credit Shutt who had been given few chances, came back with an excellent
cavalier break of 307 (scored in 17 minutes) to reclaim a little dignity,
and also make the highest break of the day.

Earlier, during the round robin stages, there had been some surprises,
most notably when 2000 English Amateur Champion, Phillip Welham,
defeated Mike Russell. David Nichols gained a good scalp when

defeating Paul Bennett, while Matthew Sutton played very well all day
and was unlucky not to qualify for the semi-finals.

Russell collected £125 as winner, and Shutt £75 as runner-up. Nichols
and Welham took £25 as losing semi-finalists. The Eastern Counties
Billiards Association promoted the event which was again sponsored
by Sands Agricultural Services of Pinewood Park. Next year it is planned
to increase the field to 12 or 16 players, with an even greater prize pool,
while the event itself will be played over two days (Friday/Saturday).
Norfolk based charity “Break”‘ benefited by £466 from the proceeds of
the event.

Round Robin (All games 75 minutes)