In period of 01.07.2014-04.07.2014 Darren Appleton visited the Romania and hold a training session with 20 Romanian players. Even on the first day of training, impressed by Romanian hospitality and player’s dedication, Darren proposed to organize a new tournament that bear his name – The Dynamite Open. This contest will be held every year in Brasov, Romania, it will be organized by Darren Appleton in collaboration with Club Arta from Brasov,. Next year the tournament should become an international one, and in couple years maybe one of the biggest Open tournaments in the European pool circuit.
The inaugural edition of the Dynamite Open was held Friday on the 4th July 2014 in Club Arta, pool hall from Brasov, Romania. Because the idea of the contest came spontaneously, the event had only a limited number of 32 players and single elimination format. The participation of the world champion Darren Appleton, was a serious reason from players around the country to come to Brasov.
There were 4 seeded players at the draw: Darren Appleton, Ciprian Gandac, Cristian Surdea, Babken Melkonian qualified automatically in round 2.The game was 10 ball, alternate break, race to 6 until the quarter-final, race to 7 until the final, and the final race to 9.
The first matches were not easy for the favorites, surprisingly Babken lost his first game, and Darren Appleton struggled to win against Andrei Vulpe a player from Brasov who was leading 5-3, and at 5-5 he missed the 9 ball. In this match the Romanian player made the shot of the championship, he pocketed the 4 ball with a 3 rails kick. This close victory motivated Darren which in the quarter finals won against Dan Moraru, 7-3 and in the semifinal won against Raul Maican 7-2. The other finalist, Ciprian Gandac, in semifinal had an easy win against Cristian Surdea 7-1. Cristian couldn’t find his game, a part of the “blame” was on the shimmed Dynamic III table which he couldn’t accommodate.
The final against Darren and Ciprian Gandac promised to be an exciting one, even though the approaching of the match was different, Darren relaxed and Ciprian very motivated to win. The spectators watched the confrontation with big interest and applauded every time the players made an exceptional shot. After a powerful start from the British player, the Romanian tied it up 3-3, but after that he committed a few errors which cost him the game. The final score of the match was 9-3 for Appleton.
For the losers in first 2 rounds, Darren came up with the idea of organizing a secondary tournament, with no entry fee, giving from his own money ,100 Euro to the winner. The final of this event was won by Babken Melkonian against Andrei Vulpe.
At the end Darren said that he was happy to win, especially because this was the first edition of the ‘Dynamite Open”. Also after the final the players and spectators could take pictures with Darren and received autographs and tips from the world champion.
Here is the video of final:
http://youtu.be/bP4ZUymCU3w
This is the best shot of tournament, Andrei made it against Darren, masse the cueball, go 3 rails and pocket the 4 ball, call it!
