Well done to Matt Knight who captured his first national title winning the AEBBA Over 50s at the Totteridge Club on Sunday 30th October. Matt beat the reigning champion Curt Driver in the final. There were a couple of early low scoring exchanges in the final but Matt settled to take about a 7,500 lead into leg 2. Curt pegged on 5k in the 2nd leg, and Matt made a in his words ‘steady’ 3k break for the title.
Matt had been in good form all day, making 2 18k breaks and more 5 figure breaks in his 4 matches to get to the final. He also now has the rare achievement for the time being of having a 100% record in an All England event as this was the first time he has entered this. This he shares with 2008 champion Maxi McDonnell who played the event once, won it, and never played in it again – but Matt has promised to defend the title next year. Another record Matt now has is the highest average in the competition – he scored 94,390 on the day so an average of 9,439 per leg.
Dave Ingram won the AEBBA Over 60s title held at the same time, also for the first time. He beat Ernie Jordan in the final. Dave was fairly untroubled to the final but Ernie gave him a tougher game but Dave hung on to win 8,010-6,860. It was actually their 2nd meeting of the day – Dave won that one too in the over 50s quarter finals.