Gleaves Triumphant in Birmingham

Matthew ‘The Mole’ Gleaves from Darlington had a spectacular weekend in winning the 2006 British Wheelchair Pool Players Association (BWPPA) Birmingham Open at Riley’s American Pool and Snooker Club.

This was Gleaves’s first BWPPA tournament success and although being currently ranked No.2 on the largest wheelchair tour in Europe he has come close at several events in the past. On this occasion he beat current European 9 Ball Champion and British No.1 Roy Kimberley in a thrilling 9-6 final.

With the largest field to date Gleaves was in naturally jubilant mood following his success and for a special reason. He has never before beaten Kimberley who has dominated the wheelchair division during the last two years and on the road to the final he beat two of his fellow European Championship participants, defeating Danny Luton 7-4 in the quarter-final and then Karl Read 9-8 in the semi-final. To add to his achievement, Gleaves has never beaten either Luton or Read before.

Kimberley, who remains at number 1 in the rankings, defeated Tony Southern 7-4, Norwegian Kenneth Bendiksen 7-1, Darren Taylor 7-2 and reached the final by defeating Gary Swift 9-5.

This was a also a special weekend for all the players as Main Tour top 10 player Jonathan Mathers was present to give challenge matches to the participants in between games.

Following his success, Gleaves discussed his victory and paid tribute to his recently acquired custom made Wayne Holmes cue: “this is the first time I have played with this cue in a tournament and it’s outstanding playability made all the difference for me. I’m absolutely delighted with it and sure this was the contributing factor that helped me win”.

This event concludes the BWPPA 2005-2006 season and the first event of the new season is on 10-11 December in Manchester.

- BPPPA Press Office