Pool wizard Mark Gray has booked himself a coveted place in the Mosconi Cup after bagging a big European Tour win over the weekend.
Gray, a regular performer in the Spalding and District Snooker League for Bourne SC A in Division Two, was victorious at the fifth Euro Tour event of the season at Leende in Holland.
That banked the Bourne potter €3,500 in prize money – but more importantly guaranteed him a place on the European team for the Mosconi Cup against USA, which takes place at Blackpool this December.
Some 160 players travelled to Holland for the Euro Tour event, with the race for a Mosconi Cup spot incredibly tight.
Matchroom Sports, who run the Mosconi, offered the players a coveted spot on the team via the Euro Tour on a points system. And, after the first four events, Gray was third in the race on 36 points.
That put him behind Denis Grabe (40pts) and Nick Vanden Berg (38pts), while Nikos Ekonomopoulos was fourth on 34 points.
The event didn’t start too well for Gray, who lost World Cup of Pool winner Karl Boyes (England) 9-3 in his opener. That meant “Granite” would have to progress on the ‘losers’ side’ just to qualify for the last 32.
But progess he did, with 9-1 wins over Dave Sel (Belgium) and Kevin Becker (Germany) settling any nerves he may have had. A battling 9-7 success over Tobias Bongers (Germany) was next for Gray, before a brilliant 9-4 victory over Lithuania’s number one Henrikas Strolis.
Gray then laid down a real marker by beating Estonia number one and Mosconi Cup race leader Grabe 9-4. It was a huge triumph against a player that had won each of the last two tour events.
A 9-3 success over Englishman Imran Majid saw him cruise into the last 16, before Dutchman Marco Teutscher was dispatched 9-4 to seal the Lincolnshire ace a place in the quarter finals. There was a further boost for Gray in the last 16, with Mosconi rival Vanden Berg eliminated.
It was 9-4 to Gray again in the last eight as Poland’s Wojciech Szewczyk was put to the sword, with Greek number two Alexander Kazakis then vanquished 9-6 in a tight semi final.
That set-up a ‘winner-takes-all’ clash with Greece’s finest Ekonomopoulos, with the victor sure to bank the prize money and secure a Mosconi Cup place. The pressure was on, but Gray held his nerve to prevail 9-6 and clinch his fourth Euro Tour title after previous successes in Switzerland (2007), Spain (2009) and Italy (2011).
A delighted Gray told The Voice: “I’m absolutely chuffed to bits in all honesty.
“You never know when you’re going to get in the Mosconi Cup side as it’s only a five-man team – so it’s very difficult. But this season on the Euro Tour I have gone third, ninth, fifth, fifth again and then first. It was funny how it panned out in the Holland final, really.
“The fact that it was between me and Nikos – and that the winner would get into the Mosconi Cup as well as winning a major title like a Euro Tour – was amazing.”
Gray, who has played in the Mosconi Cup once before in 2008 when Europe won 11-4, is now ranked as the UK’s number one and moves up to number two in Europe.
