Back to the Future!
December 10, 2106
Western Flickers goes home!
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| Flick On! |
For the last WASPA tournament of 2016, Western Flickers returned to the suburb where it all began – Altona.
Despite a number of flickers being busy with holiday season activities, there was still a relatively good turnout of 7 flickers, including a new flicker Arjuna playing table football for the very first time. With our junior flickers mixing it up with the seniors to gather invaluable playing experience against strong adult opponents, there was only a single Open category for the day.
An exciting finish and a star is born
The round-robin tournament matches went pretty much according to WASPA rankings, though there were some close contests and last gasp winners.
With top seed Kevin Grant on fire, it was not surprising that he was undefeated for the day and clinched the title comfortably. Special mention should be given to Chris Hirst, who played well to finish second despite still recovering from illness during the week.
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| Kevin Grant and Chris Hirst facing off for championship honours |
With Kevin cruising to the title, the tussle for third spot turned out to be the most exciting contest. Harrison Briffa was ahead by a single point going into the final round of matches, which meant that junior rival Benjamin needed at least a draw against the in-form Kevin. In a thrilling match, young Benjamin held out for a goalless draw to snatch third position on goal difference – by a single goal!
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| Rivals on the pitch, good mates off it. Well done boys! |
Another highlight for the day was the debut of first time flicker Arjuna Hanafi. A naturally talented
flicker, he surprised everyone with his accurate flicking, soft touch and thoughtful play. He’s definitely a player to watch out for and with a bit more playing experience, Arjuna will no doubt be challenging for WASPA tournament titles in the near future!
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| First time flicker Arjuna Hanafi (right) in a tight tussle with Fauzi Rahmen |
A day of firsts
While this was a small tournament, it turned out to be an event of many historic firsts:
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Congrats to the ever-improving Kevin for winning his first WASPA tournament!
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Alex finally enjoyed his first victory over older brother Harrison in the Briffa Boys derby.
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Arjuna playing table football for the first time and even won a match. Naturally, this was his first WASPA tournament as well.
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The first event held at our new western-region venue – Altona City Soccer Club.
Thanks to all who attended for helping to make it another extremely successful Western Flickers WASPA event. A big shout-out to the Altona City Soccer Club for their support and allowing us to use their facilities. It was definitely another great day of table football fun!
GO WEST!
The final tournament standings are:
1.
Kevin Grant
2.
Chris Hirst
3.
Benjamin Ng
4.
Harrison Briffa
5.
Arjuna Hanafi
6.
Alex Briffa
7.
Fauzi Rahmen
P.S. If anyone is interested in taking part in future Western Flickers events or just popping by for chat and look-see, please visit the Western Flickers Facebook page (
https://www.facebook.com/WesternFlickers/) and send us a message.
It was a real Boxing Day this Monday in Pireas where the local club "Pireas Lions" was holding a Christmas Cup with a very nice field of 16 players divided in four groups. Among the competitors, some "big names" were making a WASPA debut, including Markos Kapsabelis (Foggia CT). The group stage saw many close games and in three groups, two players tied in second place with 4 points. Dimosthenis Kalatzis, who was the surprising winner of group 1, defeated organizer Leonidas Koutromanos in the quarter-final round to reach the top 4 but couldn't create another sensation in the semi as he lost to Vassilis Koutsompinas. Koutsompinas later won the final against Markos Kapsabelis in sudden death. Congratulations to the Pireas Lions for another successful tournament! Please note there will be another WASPA event in Greece on December 1, this time organized by the club of Proteas Athens.
