The Bil­liards Sports Or­gan­i­sa­tion’s Na­tion­al Pool League (NPL) Ten Ball team tour­na­ment is well un­der­way and the fol­low­ing is a re­cap of the match­es lead­ing up to the hol­i­days.

The Pre­mier Di­vi­sion

This time around there is a se­ri­ous re­duc­tion in the num­ber of teams tak­ing part in the Na­tion­al Pool League. The Ten Ball Pre­mier Di­vi­sion sees just five teams down for eight in the pre­vi­ous Eight Ball league.

Af­ter the first of three rounds, there is a new name on top of the stand­ings. Ri­valz, cap­tained by Rea­gan Low Chew Tung, boast three wins and one loss. Ri­valz de­feat­ed D Un­der­dawgs 3-2 in the first round; they were then swept by the Liq­uida­torz 5-nil; They were 3-2 win­ners against Cen­tral Stars in Round 3 be­fore suf­fer­ing their first loss, a 1-4 re­sult at the hands of sta­ble­mates Gold­en Arch­es Ti­tans. That loss would have been an ex­tra bit­ter pill to swal­low as eight play­ers from the Ri­valz team played with the Ti­tans in the pre­vi­ous Eight Ball league.

The Gold­en Arch­es Ti­tans are sec­ond on the Pre­mier­ship Stand­ings with two wins and two loss­es. Cen­tral Stars and D Un­der­dawgs are third and fourth re­spec­tive­ly, al­so with 2-2 records, while Liq­uida­torz are fifth with one win and three loss­es. Pre­mier di­vi­sion match­es re­sume on Jan­u­ary 3.

First Di­vi­sion

While there is a re­duc­tion in the amount of Pre­mier Di­vi­sion teams in the NPL, there is a record 17 teams in­volved in the First Di­vi­sion com­pe­ti­tion eighth and ninth spots on the ta­ble, up from twelve in the pre­vi­ous Eight Ball League. They are di­vid­ed in­to two groups, A and B.

Group A

NPL new­bies, Epic Pan­thers hold sway at the top of Group A af­ter six rounds of com­pe­ti­tion. ‘Pan­thers’, who are be­ing led by for­mer Scotchie’s play­er Shamir Ny­sus, have five wins and one loss. The Pan­thers, play­ing out of Epyc Bar and Lounge in St. He­le­na, opened their Ten Ball cam­paign with three wins on the trot, all 3-2 re­sults against Pool­hulics B, JJ Shoot­ers and Dem Boys re­spec­tive­ly. Their on­ly loss came in Round 4 when they went down 2-3 to the Out­casts. That fourth round loss would be their on­ly blip be­fore the new year as they bounced back to de­feat Scothchie’s Nu­bian Kings in week five and Pock­et Preda­tors on Tues­day last, al­so by 3-2 score lines.

Crazy 8’s, who are based at Spe­cial Brew in McBean Cou­va, cur­rent­ly oc­cu­py sec­ond spot on the stand­ings with three wins and two loss­es; Pock­et Preda­tors, play­ing out of Echo Bar in En­ter­prise, are third with a record of 3-3; Dem Boys (Club Fete), Unit­ed Stars (Board­room Lounge) and the Out­casts (Thomas Bar) are fourth, fifth and sixth with three wins and two loss­es apiece. JJ Shoot­ers out of Jer­ry Junc­tion are in sev­enth spot with two wins and three loss­es while two teams which play out of Bil­liard’s Place in Aranguez, fill eighth and ninth spots on the ta­ble. They are Scotchie’s Nu­bian Kings 1-5 and Pool­hulics Krew B 1-4. (There are nine teams in Group A)

Group B

The An­ni­hi­la­tors jumped to the top of the stand­ings in Group B af­ter the fi­nal match be­fore the Christ­mas Break. Through five rounds of com­pe­ti­tion, Sicar­ios, the re­cent cham­pi­ons in the NPL First Di­vi­sion Eight Ball league, were un­de­feat­ed ap­proach­ing the break but on De­cem­ber 19, the Bar­ry Ash­meed-Syne cap­tained An­ni­hi­la­tors de­fend­ed their home ad­van­tage in Gas­par­il­lo with a hard-fought 3-2 win over the Sicar­ios. With the win, An­ni­hi­la­tors have now won five match­es in a row. An­ni­hi­la­tors start­ed off with a 2-3 loss to the Ex­pend­ables. They bounced back in em­phat­ic fash­ion with a 5-nil win over Rox­bury Shot Callers. They de­feat­ed City Girls Sports 4-1 be­fore hand­ing Dekko All Stars an­oth­er 5-nil shut out. They closed off their pre-Christ­mas sched­ule with 3-2 wins against Ken­ny’s Break­ing Point and Sicar­ios.

Sicar­ios, who al­so make Bil­liards Place their home, are sec­ond with five wins and one loss; The Ex­pend­ables, one of the most ex­pe­ri­enced teams in the league, are third with a record of four wins, two loss­es; ‘Shot Callers’ (Rox­bury Bar), Top Guns (Echo Bar) and Dekko All Stars (Dekko Pub) are fourth, fifth and sixth with an iden­ti­cal record of three wins and three loss­es. Ken­ny’s Break­ing Point reg­is­tered their first win of the Ten Ball sea­son on De­cem­ber 19th against the Rox­bury team, while City Girls Sports are win­less through the first six rounds. (There are eight teams in Group B)

First Di­vi­sion match­es re­sume on Jan­u­ary 2.