The reigning United States National Snooker Champion, Ahmed El Sayed, has recorded the first- ever century break to be compiled in a United States Snooker Association (USSA) Tour event, but it was Omar Balsara who won a high-quality Event 4 at the prestigious New York Athletic Club (NYAC).

A new format was adopted for this first-ever Tour Event to be contested at the NYAC, as the winner and runner-up of the four first round groups would advance into two quarterfinal groups of four players.

[Group play results may be viewed at www.snookerusa.com]

Raymond Fung, already a winner on this year’s Tour, topped Group A ahead of  Isa Ismaili, who is the manager of the NYAC’s beautiful billiard room which has four full-sized snooker tables which he keeps in immaculate condition.  The billiard room boasts a magnificent view overlooking Central Park.

Drawn in the same first round Group B, El Sayed and Balsara safely negotiated their appearance in the quarterfinal Groups as they finished first and second respectively, with the five-time United States National Snooker Champion, Tom Kollins, who made the trip from Chicago to compete in the event, finishing third, and Naoyuri Kaneko of Charleston, South Carolina, finishing in fourth spot.

Henry Wong, a quarterfinalist in last year’s United States National Snooker Championship, won first round Group C, and he was joined in the quarterfinal groups with second placed Laszlo Kovacs. The quarterfinal groups were completed by Irishman Paul Carbin, who won first round Group D as the only player in this group round not to lose a single frame, and Amro Aburehab who captured the second qualifying place. The winner and runner-up of the two quarterfinal groups then progressed to play in a four-player semifinal Group G.

Fung and Balsara were again drawn in the same group as they contested the quarterfinal Group E alongside Wong and Aburehab. The 2004 United States National Snooker Championship runner-up Fung, who gained that achievement when it was played at the NYAC, gained his second victory of the Tour Event over Balsara which helped him win the group, however the Washington DC resident also booked his spot in the semifinal group with victories over Wong and Aburehab.  Carbin continued his fine form as he went on to win quarterfinal Group F, with El Sayed sealing his progression by pocketing successes over Kovacs and Ismaili.

The winner and runner-up of semifinal Group G would go onto contest the final, and as this group featured four very capable players there surely would prove to be some high quality play. Testament to the quality of the players was the fact that El Sayed, who will get the chance to defend his United States National Snooker Championship title in July at the Embassy Billiards Club in San Gabriel, California, lost all three of his matches, but he did compile a run of 102 during this event for the honor of recording the first- ever century break made in a USSA Tour Event.

It was Balsara, however, who this time won the semifinal Group G by a one frame margin, as he defeated Fung 2-0 but lost to Carbin 2-1. Fung and Carbin finished with identical records, though it was Fung who advanced into the final by virtue of defeating Carbin 2-0 in their heads-up match.

In the best-of-five-frames final, Omar Balsara defeated Raymond Fung 3-1 to claim his first USSA Tour title.

The USSA would like to thank the NYAC and the billiard room manager, Isa Ismaili, for their support in hosting a 2010 USSA Tour Event. The USSA National Snooker Tour is sponsored by Aramith Billiard Balls and Strachan West Of  England snooker cloth, and the 2010 Tour will feature its fifth stop (of the six-stop Tour) at Top 147 Snooker Club in Brooklyn, NY during the dates of April 10-11 (contact Sam Mui at myy8517@hotmail.com or Club 147 at 718-415-2335).  Full Tour schedule and entry details are available at www.snookerusa.com.

Final Results:

• 1^st Omar Balsara (Washington, DC)     [HR - 60,58]
• 2^nd Raymond Fung (Brooklyn, NY)        [HR - 73]
• 3^rd Paul Carbin(Queens,NY)
• 4th    Ahmed El Sayed (Brooklyn, NY)       [HR - 102]

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