Gould earns Championship triumph

Martin Gould sealed victory yesterday in the 2013 Championship League at Crondon Park, a win that should give him a place in next seasons Premier League (although that is not confirmed).

Gould came into the second day of the winners group with only 1 win from 3 games, with matches against in-form Ding Junhui, second placed Ali Carter and John Higgins to play. However, Gould pulled off a 3-0 victory over Carter, and a 3-1 victory against Ding. That was enough for him to seal third place in the group despite a 3-0 loss to John Higgins.

Elsewhere, Ding Junhui only won 1 of his remaining 2 matches, giving him a second place finish and a semi-final meeting with Gould. Carter won 2 of his 3 matches on the final day, against Marco Fu and Barry Hawkins, to seal the top spot.

He had a semi-final meeting with Marco Fu after Fu beat Mark Allen, which turned out to be enough to finish above Allen on frames won. Meanwhile, poor results for John Higgins and Barry Hawkins meant that they finished in the bottom 2 with only 2 wins each.

Semi-Finals

Martin Gould reached the final of the Championship with a second victory on the day against Ding Junhui, this time whitewashing him 3-0. A break of 84 was enough to win him the first frame. They both had chances to win the next 2 frames, but Gould won them both to keep his great run on the day going, leading into the final.

Ali Carter also got through to the final with a 3-0 whitewash of Marco Fu. Carter took the opener with a break of 50, as he dominated the early stages. Carter took the next, and 64 break got him over the line as Fu only scored 33 points in the match.

Final Hurdle of Crondon Marathon

The final between Martin Gould and Ali Carter brought the curtain down on the whole Championship League series that started on January 7th after the sixth european tour event in Germany, and now in Mid-March, 25 players had been cut down to 2.

Carter started brightest in the first frame with a break of 58, but he found himself 1-0 behind. He took the next to level a tight match that could still go either way. The reigning short formats champion put himself back ahead as he looked for another short format win, a break of 55 proving enough as Carter failed to score.

Carter hit back in the next and levelled once more, with a 68 break eventually forcing the Championship League into a decider. Ali Carter had an early chance, but could only make 22 from it and Gould soon waded in with a century, a deserving way for the classy break builder to win the £10,000 winners cheque, a probable Premier League place and more importantly the title of 2013 Championship league winner.

Congratulations then to Martin Gould, and roll on Beijing with my China Open preview coming in the next few days.