Young Fong wins crown

DJORNE Fong won his third consecutive PNG men’s national snooker title in Port Moresby on Sunday.
The 22-year-old defeated his uncle and PNGBSA president Peter Fong 5-2 in the best of nine frames in front of a packed snooker room at the Port Moresby Country Club.
The younger Fong won the first frame 51-38 and lost the next two 26-47 and 47-54 before levelling it two-all in the fourth frame with a comfortable 64-36 win.
The fifth and sixth frames saw Djorne in some bother but his accurate potting kept the scorers busy with score lines of 48-14 and 54-29. The seventh frame was a neck-to-neck affair.
Defensive play saw Djorne snookered behind the yellow for the last red where the foul and miss rule was effected. Djorne gave away 13 points which saw Peter in the lead.
However, Djorne caught up to be three points behind when he potted the brown and took revenge on his uncle where he snookered him behind the blue.
Peter conceded 16 points when Djorne effected the foul-and-miss rule. Djorne claimed his third title when he potted the blue and pink to win 66-56.
“There were some anxious moments there when I thought I lost. I thank uncle Peter for giving me a really hard game this year,” Djorne said after the game.
Djorne defeated Willie Vaieke 3-0 in the quarter-final and veteran Ken Leo 4-1 in the semis for a spot in the final.
Peter beat Roger Ng 3-1 in the quarter-final and then his son Nathan 4-2 in the semi-final for the showdown against his nephew.
Djorne Fong also scored the highest break of 35 over the weekend.
The inaugural A Grade plate was won by Barry Tan after defeating John Makanda of Lae.
Miss PNG Rachael James Sapery presented the awards on Sunday evening.
BSP marketing assistant Chrissilla Kabi-Talis congratulated the winners on behalf of the bank.
“Congratulations to the winners and I am sure you have all had  fun and snooker-filled two weeks on the tables,” she said.
Association president Peter Fong acknowledged the bank’s sponsorship for the eighth consecutive year and all support sponsors.
“Thanks to you all and we hope to see you again next year,” Fong said.
This year’s titles attracted 88 players competing in the minor and major BSP titles played at the Car, Aviat and Port Moresby Country clubs.