Gurel Earns Tri-State Billiards Gold
Tri-State Tour / New York City, NY

by InsidePOOL Staff

Neslihan Gurel took home the lion’s share of the $1,500-added prize purse at the Tri-State Tour’s June 12-13 stop, besting Basdeo Sookhai in the final match for the title. The event attracted 40 players to Master Billiards in New York City, NY.

Gurel went the undefeated route through to the finals, defeating Alan Chan in the winners’ side final four 6-2. Meeting her in the hot seat match was Sookhai, who had just sent Dave Shlemperis to the one-loss side of the chart 7-5. The hot seat match was a hill-hill nail-biter that saw Gurel advance while Sookhai went west.

Once on the left side of the chart, Shlemperis met up with Scott Simonetti, who won the previous tour stop. Simonetti sent Shlemperis home in fifth place with a 7-5 win, while tying with him was Ramilo Tanglao, who was defeated by Chan 6-5. Chan triumphed over Simonetti in the quarterfinal match 9-4 but was himself eliminated at third place by Sookhai, who won the semifinals 7-5. In the finals between Gurel and Sookhai, it was Sookhai who took an early lead, but soon the players were tied at 5-all. Sookhai missed the 9 ball to reach the hill, and Gurel pocketed that 9 ball and won the next rack to take the title.

Results:
1st Neslihan Gurel $1,000
2nd Basdeo Sookhai $660
3rd Alan Chan $410
4th Scott Simonetti $250
5th Dave Shlemperis $165
Ramilo Tanglao
7th Tony Eglesias $125
Antonio Navarro

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