IPA World Series at TimeOut!!
Brace yourself South Africa, something big is lurking in the shadows. It will be the first weekend of spring in the City of Gold and the people will still be hung over or rather recovering from the recent local government elections and the Olympics, most notably the 400m World record has been broken by a local guy. TimeOut Sports Bar is well renowned for hosting the best and well attended pool competitions over the years but this one will be the biggest yet…it is the IPA World Series ladies and gentleman!
The buzzing club in Kyalami will be the central hive of activity from the 2nd all the way to the 4th of September. The IPA (International Professional Pool Association) www.ipapool.com will for the first time hit the shores of South Africa for their Singles Semi-finals, finals and a team event against South Africa’s BPL (Billiard Premier League) Top 5, as if that’s not enough, the IPA guys will also be thrown in the mix with the rest of South Africa in an open pool competition but this won’t before a select team of TimeOut players have a piece of the pie too. The IPA is basically an international version of our BPL and it boasts some of the best pool talents in Blackball history.
Craig Marsh (European Champion), Marc Farnsworth (British Open Champ, Euro open Champ, Scottish Open Champion), Jack Whelan (IPA World Champion 2015), Harry Irwin (2009 English National U21 Champion) and Amateur qualifier Chris Borown (not Brown) will be in the country for what will be a spectacular showpiece and a real litmus test for the local lads when they get to rub shoulders with the best out there. Many people, pool players and fans all over the world have always believed that the best talent is nurtured in Europe but I have a strong feeling that after this event a lot of perceptions will be revised. Local pool players will come from across and the reasons are two-fold, first to have an eyewitness account of the IPA last man standing finale and to get a chance to play against the guests.
On Friday the 2nd of September at 16H00, Marc Farnsworth will do battle with Jack Whelan in the one Semi whilst Craig Marsh will take on Harry Irwin in the other one and the final will be on the same day at 19H00 all at TimeOut Sports Bar in Kyalami. Of course there will be live streaming and commentary on the day (details to follow), no prizes for guessing who will be marshalling the commentary.
The BPL will be represented by the cream of the crop, Charl ‘The Assassin’ Jonck, Kyle ‘Viper’ Akaloo, Yazeed ‘Ace’ Salie, Paul ‘The Gentleman’ Bennett, and Yulan ‘Hawkeye’ Govender and these superstars will go toe to toe with the 5 IPA representatives and I can safely say that there will be fireworks and if the recently crowned SA 9ball Champ is on song then we are in for a humdinger of an event. Hawkeye has a reputation of excelling against overseas opposition and we will be banking on that, Paul Bennett has played in the IPA on more than one occasion and his experience will come in very handy. Kyle and Ace are no strangers to big matches, and Ace is the BPL last man standing for a reason.
It would be interesting to see how the rest of the local guys fare in the open 64 Man competition on Sunday, starting at 10am, the likes of Aden Joseph, Thami Jabavu, Sandile Madlala, Sbu Gumede, Nsovo Mathonsi, Wetsi Morake to mention but a few will be itching to prove a point or two and of course there will be serious money at stake waiting for whoever hits the finish line first.
THE BPL NEVER DISAPPOINTS!!!
