VICTORIAN Country Cup Carnival organisers have lauded the quality of play at the tournament in Horsham at the weekend.
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More than 300 people attended the event at Horsham Showground, which featured some country Victoria’s best eight-ball players.
Victorian Country Cup Carnival committee vice-president and Stawell team member Scott Blachford said he was impressed by the quality on offer.
‘‘Some of the associations such as Ballarat and Geelong can have up to 800 registered players, so they have a lot of depth to choose from,’’ he said.
Horsham Eight Ball Association secretary Chris Harrison said the event brought a lot of attention to the sport in the Wimmera.
‘‘The division one competition is a very high standard of pool, and all the teams are trying to go into that division and show they are the best,’’ he said.
‘‘There are plenty of opportunities to play pool across the Wimmera, and we’re seeing a really high quality of play here at the tournament.
‘‘It is nice to see eight ball back on the radar as far as other sports go.’’
Ararat finished on top of division three at the end of its eight games, only dropping one.
Ararat team captain Bray McDonald said his team always enjoyed going to the carnival, particularly when it was in the Wimmera.
‘‘We did pretty well on Saturday – we won all five of our games and hopefully we’ll go well in the finals,’’ he said.
‘‘Finals will be a different story, but we’re aiming to win and move up from division three to division two.
‘‘The showground is a good place to have it, and I’ve found all the games have been played in good spirits.’’
The Dimboola team made the division four finals with four wins and four losses.
Captain Mick Fitzgerald said the team would take advantage of the opportunity to move up a division.
‘‘We love competing at the carnival and having a good time playing eight ball,’’ he said.
‘‘We needed a few results to go our way and we got lucky and made the finals.’’
Mr Harrison said the other Wimmera teams did not fare as well.
Stawell finished sixth with three wins and five losses in division two, while Horsham had the same win-loss ratio, finishing seventh.
The result means Horsham will drop back to division three next year.
Mr Harrison said St Arnaud finished seventh in division three with three wins and five losses, while Horsham’s division four team was fifth with four wins and four losses.