The SMPT British Open was held at Leicester IBC this year and culminated in an excellent final that saw Chris Coates beat Matty Worden 10-8 in the final. George Hume of Harling was in excellent form as he produced seven wins, one draw and just one defeat over the two day event. He topped Group 12 finishing three points clear of second placed Luke Gardner to qualify for the knock-out stages of the main British Open tournament. A 13-9 win against Karl Hudson was followed by another 13-9 win against Carin Carlsson and an impressive 12-4 win against the talented Peter Roberts. This took George into the quarter-finals stage where he finally exited losing 12-5 to Glenn Harvey. Thetford’s Jason Martin also made it into the main knock-out stage finishing second in Group 16 but lost his first knock-out round game by 13-7 against Belgium’s Jonathan Payne. Mio Kontic finished third in Group 26 with 9 points which put him into the Plate knock-out section. He lost his opening round game by just one shot against Stuart Pierce and was eliminated. The secondary Plate competition was won by Stephen Williams who beat Paul Doherty in the final and the Shield competition was won by John Lax who beat Anthony Tennyson in the final.
Chris Coates - SMPT British Open Champion
photo courtesy of SMPT
George Hume of Harling was in excellent form