Hat-trick heroes

Imperial College 1s came back from the brink in a pulsating final against Warwick 2s to triumph in the 2012 BUCS Snooker Team Trophy competition, becoming only the third university in recent history to win three titles on the trot.

Victory also provided the perfect ending to a glorious career for first team captain, Hari Arora, who has potted the winning ball in each of the last three seasons and is now the club’s second most decorated player behind semi-pro, Jonathan Fulcher.

After a strong showing at the Midlands Cup in February, hopes of success for the two Imperial teams at this year’s Championships were high as 36 teams from 20 universities arrived in Leeds for the season finale.

Such hopes were raised further by a string of solid performances in the Individual Trophy by the second team. Most notably, Stanley Cheng was in top form during his run to the quarter-finals while old-timer Grace Yip did well to reach the last 16.

That was in contrast to members of the first team, the majority of who were knocked out in the first round of the Individual Championship thanks to some tough draws and a somewhat contentious decision for Nitesh Mehta to have a frame docked for arriving “late” to his match. Only Lawrence Wild progressed to the second round before losing a very close deciding frame on the final black. Fortunes improved for Imperial 1s in the team event, where the format consisted of two teams of five pairing off to play 2-frame rubbers in what was effectively a best of 10 frames match.

We lost 6-4 to Warwick 1s but responded with a 5-5 draw against a very strong Southampton 1s followed by a 9-1 trouncing of Cardiff 2s.

The defeat to Warwick 1s resulted in them pipping us to second spot in the group and a Championship quarter final place, leaving us to once more contest for the Team Trophy – a tournament we had won for the previous two years.

Meanwhile Imperial 2s, carried by captain and frame-winning machine, Jonathan Hoong, progressed all the way to the semi-finals of the Team Plate, where we were unfortunately overcome by Kent 2s.

The second team’s exit meant it was down to Imperial 1s to bring home some silverware.

A comfortable 6-1 victory over Birmingham 1s in the Team Trophy quarter-finals set up a last four clash with Nottingham 1s, who took us to 5-5 and a one frame shootout to decide who would continue on to the final.

Step up former U-19 Romanian Champion, Bogdan Cozmaciuc, who played a near-flawless frame, including a ridiculous run from yellow to blue, to steer Imperial into yet another Trophy final.

And so to the final itself, where Warwick 2s stood between Imperial and snooker immortality.

Even with a different format for the final – a race to 3 rubbers in which each team member contested a best-of-3 frames rubber against an opposing team player – we were unfazed and confident of securing that historic hat-trick.

However, having lost the first two rubbers, Imperial 1s then came within a millimetre of defeat when Warwick’s Matt Ansell attempted an audacious double on the black, which ricocheted off the cushions four times and looked to be heading for the middle pocket.

Yet the snooker gods were on our side and the black stopped just short of the pocket, allowing Bogdan Cozmaciuc to reduce the deficit to 2-1.

Our fortunate escape then sparked a remarkable comeback as Elwin Carlos came from behind to beat Chee Han Tan, leaving Captain “Super” Hari-o to fight it out with his Warwick counterpart, Mike Williams, for the team gold.

Hari “Potter” easily claimed the first frame of the rubber before a tense black ball finish ensued at the end of the second.

With a combination of near misses, terrific safety shots and high drama that was reminiscent of the 1985 World Snooker Championship final, breaths were baited as Hari was eventually presented with a quarter-ball cut to the middle with the cue ball just an inch off the top cushion.

Displaying all the composure that epitomises his game, Hari coolly rolled the black in to prompt celebrations of a truly memorable hat-trick!

Ironically, with that 3-2 victory, Imperial join Warwick 2s on the all-time list of Team Trophy winners with three titles each, behind only QUB, who have eight.

Something for us to aim for, surely?!