As predicted by pundits, the group B of the Joy Heyball Masters Division One Tour Qualifier ongoing in Lagos, Nigeria is living up to its ‘group of death’ tag.
At the end of Day 4, which was expected to produce a winner, the group of former Snooker champion Wale Osomo; Snooker and Pool Players Alliance’s top ranked player Christoper Abiodun; Adebayo Adekunle; and Subday Ekundayo, three of the players tied on two points, which necessitated the best of three racks round robin at Nicon Town Recreation Center, Lekki.
The player that emerges after the run off will face Shehu Bamidele, who topped group A in the final that will climax the five-day tournament.
On Friday, which was Day 4 of the tournament, action had begun in group B with Adekunle beating top seeded Abiodun 5-1 in a must-win contest for the former, who already lost his first game to Sunday Ekundayo.
After winning the first rack, Adekunle missed his shot on the 8 Black that sat at the top right pocket causing the ball to spin off the pocket right tip which forced it to move to the down side tip of the centre left pocket.
Displaying a sense of mastery, Abiodun subsequently potted the Black Ball side shot into the right side pocket with the cue ball that was seating against center diamond of the upper right cushion.
The third rack was a ding-dong tactical display on the 8 Black to determine who will set up the ball for the opponent.
Adekunle finally showed his banking skills as he potted the 8 Black into the upper right pocket with a bank shot with Black using the upper Left cushion into the upper right pocket. The match ended 5-1.
With his spirited victory against Abiodun, Adekunle was set to square it out with Osomo in his last match.
In that game Adekunle breezes to his first two rack win showing enough intent against a much more experience player in Osomo.
Unfortunately, he was panelised for deliberately and intentional contacting his opponent with an intent to displace it to a disadvantage position which saw the technical director imposed the stiffest loss of rack penalty against him.
As expected, Osomo mounted a spirited come back into the match with a golden break in the fifth rack to the applause of the spectators and went further to win the sixth rack to level the match 3-3.
Adekunle went unassailable to win the seventh and eighth rack winning the match by 5-3.
A fatigued Osomo finally conceded his final game against Ekundayo after losing his first two games and having no point.
