Matt Hewson
Australia’s best pool players will be in Geelong this week to compete for the 2023 Blackball Australia Pool Association National Championships.
The event runs from Saturday, March 25 to Saturday, April 1 at Slate Pool Lounge, with national titles up for grabs in singles, doubles and team events.
Slate Pool Lounge owner and former Australian snooker champion Johl Younger said he was thrilled to host such an important event on the Australian pool calendar.
“We’re super excited to have the event here in Geelong, first and foremost, and as well at Slate Pool Lounge,” Mr Younger said.
“It’s the first time I can remember Geelong hosting an Australian pool championship.
“It’s blackball, the UK game, which is really gaining popularity. It’s a much more attacking rule set that’s getting really big overseas, purely because it’s better to watch.”
Mr Younger said the pool hall had undergone an overhaul ahead of the championships, including bringing in 14 tables made for blackball specifications.
“Blackball uses a different table, a futuristic-looking table, they’re beautiful,” he said.
“It’s been a busy week. We’ve built a match arena and we’ve had to swap all the tables over. So we’ve been putting tables in storage, it’s been a pretty big job but we’re just excited.”
The event has attracted over 150 competitors across the various competitions, including current Australian singles champion Mark Cottingham.
Mr Younger will also compete, saying he was chasing the singles title himself.
“Yeah, I’m planning on winning it, but it should be lots of fun,” he said.
“It’s free entry, so we’re encouraging people to come down and watch Australia’s best players battle it out for the championships.”
Matches start daily at 9am, running till late in the evening.
