Ross Fafeita of the Masterton Cosmopolitan Club has won the New Zealand Chartered Club's national snooker singles title for the second successive year.
And no one was more surprised at his victory at the Petone tournament than Fafeita himself.
"My form had been poor and I thought I'd be doing well to qualify," he said. "Winning it didn't seem an option."
Fafeita believes a tough draw helped him regain his touch. He needed three wins out of four in qualifying matches to progress to post-section play and after losing the first of them by 3-2 he won the next three to make it to the last 16.
"None of the qualifying games were easy and I was pretty focused by the end of them," he said. "They did me the world of good."
A 3-0 win over Paul Alderson of Lower Hutt took Fafeita into the quarter-finals where he beat the tournament favourite Jack Efaramo of Petone by 3-1.
Then it was onto the semi-finals where he beat Mark Hannah of Otaki 3-0 and the grand final where his opponent was Andy Heaphy of Waipukerau. Fafeita was always in charge there, winning 4-1.
Fafeita said he was "stoked" at winning the national title for the second year in a row and paid special tribute to his wife Pam and his children for their support, as well as that of the Masterton Cosmopolitan Club, especially Jim Parkin who travelled south to watch him play.
"It always makes it easier if you have a good support network behind you and I was fortunate enough to have that," he said.
Two in a row for snooker player
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