Golpu One edge Kuima to win Lae Eight Ball title

SHARP shooting Nico Bokame held his nerve to help Golpu One claim the 2021 Mt Golpu Lae Corporate Eight Ball Challenge title after defeating defending champions Kuima Security 4-1 at Aviat Social and Sporting Club on Saturday.
The grand final was a battle of the two top teams which had been consistent over the competition’s three-month duration and came down to a best of five sets.
Golpu 1 lost to Kuima earlier in the playoffs but bounced back to trump the defending champs in the game that mattered.
Golpu’s Dang Monmai knocked off Golpu 2 in the preliminary final to set his teammate Bokame for the final.
In the final, Golpu’s Dr Joseph Garap and Kuima’s Gilbert Tan faced off in the men’s singles contest with the good doctor having the right remedy for the situation winning the best-of-five frames 3-1 to give his team a 1-0 lead.
The women’s singles contest saw Nicole Monmai up against Kuima’s Evelyn Bazo with both women going shot for shot to the final frame of the best-of-five on table two that saw Monmai leaving Bazo with six balls on the table in the fifth frame to advance Golpu (2) 2-0 ahead.
Joey Santos continued Golpu’s momentum in the third game, a men’s single stoush against Kuima’s Francis Mortel.
Again Golpu had the luck with Santos bumping off Mortel to give Golpu an overall 3-0 lead.
Kuima, to their credit, managed to hit back to finally get on the board 1-3 and this sent Kuima’s Jojo Illustrisimo with the task of saving match point and force the match into another round but Bokame kept his nerve and iced the final with a near flawless display.
Bokame thanked Kuima for a good challenge and said he felt humbled at being able to take the game away from their opposition in the fifth contest.