Tired Lihou keeps awake to land bumper £1,000 prize

ADRIAN LIHOU is £1,000 the richer after being crowned the Captain's Challenge Firstcall 8-Ball Individual Pool League champion. Fellow island player Adrian Holley took the honours in the 9-Ball section which carried a first prize of £250.

The inaugural 8-Ball and 9-Ball individual leagues were organised by Adrian Locke and sponsored by First Call Recruitment, The Happy Landings and International Leisure.

Thirty of the island's top players competed for a prize fund of over £2,500.

Entry for the 8-Ball was split into two groups, playing each other on a best-of-11 frames round-robin basis to select the best eight players from each group.

Group A's qualifiers were Adrian Lihou , James Le Cras, Martyn Desperques, Mick Le Noury, John Skillett, Warwick Helps, Steve Moullin and Darren Hughes,

Emerging from group B were Andy Mildner, Dave Bullock, Mark Hancock, Tommy Simon, Rick de Garis, Ady Holley, Craig de Carteret and Silvi Magloire.

The last 16 then played each other to find the top eight.

In the quarter-finals Lihou defeated Simon 7-4, an on-song Hancock took out Holley 7-3, Desperques beat Mildner 7-2 and Le Noury scraped past Magloire 7-6.

The semi-finals saw Lihou and Hancock play out a long match with Lihou taking the honours 8-6.

In the other half Le Noury beat island number Desperques 8-5.

Just before the final Lihou had complained of fatigue after two long matches and requested it be played the next night.

Le Noury wanted to carry on, though, and the match went ahead as planned.

Lihou was fired up and played at a pace never seen before as he took the first five frames, three of them dishes.

Le Noury pulled one back and taking advantage of Lihou misses, he also took the next three frames to get back to 4-5.

Lihou responded with a seven-ball clearance, then in the next another dish from the break to make it 7-5.

Le Noury pulled one back with a fantastically doubled black and after the next two were shared he had a six-ball clearance, but then crucially missed the black.

A calm and composed Lihou made his own five-ball clearance to secure the £1,000 cheque.

The 9-Ball section was the first of its kind to be played in Guernsey and was played on the only officially sanctioned 9-Ball table in the island at the Happy Landings.

The quarter finals of the 9-Ball event saw Martyn Desperques, who had never been beaten, retain that record and book a place in the semi-finals by beating Mark Hancock 7-6.

An on form Mick Le Noury reserved his place in the semis by thrashing Dave Bullock a straight 7-0.

In the other half of the draw Holley beat Andy Mildner 7-6 and Brad Ogier beat Rick de Garis 7-2.

In the semis Holley looked impressive in beating Ogier 8-6, while Desperques took Le Noury out 8-5 and was a hotfavourite for the final.

At 4-0 up Desperques' three-to-one on odds looked right, but Holley wasn't following the script.

The latter levelled the match at 4-4 and from there it went frame for frame until Holley took the lead for the first time at 7-6.

He then moved 8-6 up only for Desperques to level at 8-8 and force a deciding frame in which both players missed shots before Holley came through to win.

*Anyone wishing to enter this winter's leagues should contact Adrian Locke on 727431.