"I am a Norfolk man and Glory in being so." Horatio Nelson

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Norfolk's Jack Pye and Simon Willies compete in Swedish Masters

Wymondham’s Jack Pye put together a run of eight consecutive wins in the Swedish Masters held at Stromsted in Sweden before being beaten by Irish ace P.J Gallagher who went on to lift the Swedish Masters title. Jack Pye, drawn in group 11, won all his group games beginning with a 13-12 win against Northern Ireland’s Andrew Cockcroft followed by a convincing 15-7 win against fellow Englishman Dan Baller. After racing to a 14-5 win against Sweden’s Jorgen Karlsson he emerged with an 11-10 win against Norway’s John Ingar Larsen. In his last group game he did not concede a shot as he beat another Norwegian, Werner Engel, 12-0. Jack Pye's opening knockout game gave him a hat-trick of wins against Norwegians as he beat Kai-Aslak Holte 19-4. Sweden’s Marcus Almen proved stiffer opposition in the second knock-out round but Pye triumphed again with a 12-11 result. Ireland’s P.J Gallagher was his opponent in the quarter-finals and Jack’s great run finally came to an end as the Irishman won 14-10 on his way to claiming the Swedish Masters title. Jack Pye’s achievements on the day moved him up to number six in the SMPT World Rankings, now the top ranked English player after overtaking Dom Reed of Essex who is now ranked seven. The new number one is Dimitri Payne of Belgium with Ireland’s Mark Beattie at number two. Jonathan Payne of Belgium is now ranked three with Sweden’s Joel Hager and Dick Almen at four and five respectively. Simon Willies of East Tuddenham was the only other Norfolk bowler to enter the Swedish Masters and he finished third in Group 14 so had to be content with qualifying for the Plate knock-out competition in his maiden appearance in the event. He started well with a 10-8 win against Norway’s Leif Ramstad and a 15-4 win against Norway’s Ole Berg but lost to Norway’s Tony Boe 11-8 in his third game. A 12-9 defeat against former ESMBA Chairman Chris Hopkins of Northants, whom Simon Willies served with as Vice-Chairman, proved fatal to his title hopes. He made certain of third place in his group beating Robert Kristiansen of Norway 11-5. Simon came through his first Plate knock-out game beating Bente Dahlgren of Sweden 9-8 but then lost 17-7 against Birgit Dahlgren also of Sweden. In the final of the Swedish Masters P.J Gallagher beat Belgium’s Jonathan Payne 10-5 with James Trott of England taking the third place spot beating Paul Seaman 14-7. Nigel Nicholls won the Plate Competition while the Shield winner was Morten Andre Coll of Norway.      

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