12/10/2026
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐
It's been a big few weeks for the Billiard Cafรฉ players. Four events, four very different stories, and our members produced in all of them.
๐๐๐จ๐ญ๐๐ก ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ซ๐ซ๐๐ค๐๐๐ก
Inderasen "Inder" Devraj and Alvin Naidoo flew the South African flag at the IEPF World 8 Ball Championships in Marrakech, Morocco, and came home runners-up in the Over 50s Scotch Doubles.
The road to the final was not an easy one. They opened with a 5-2 win over England's Peter Mullaney and Graham Taylor, then beat France's Bruno Heise and Marc Stubley by the same score. After that it got tight. The quarter-final against Belgium's Michel Ieraci and David Verey went 6-5. So did the semi against Ireland's Ber Hennessy and Phillip Murphy. Two deciders back-to-back at a world championship is draining, to say the least.
In the final they met England's Pat Ward and Adey Young and went down 7-5 over a best of 13. Close enough to sting, and Inder told us they definitely could have bagged it. It's still a world silver medal, and we couldn't be prouder of the two of them.
๐๐ฅ๐๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ง'๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ
This past weekend we hosted the 2026/27 BSA Gauteng Men's Singles Championship, a big field of more than 130 players. Llewellyn Sedgwick was the star of the show and reminded us whose house this is. Llew is proudly sponsored by Dominator Cues.
He worked through Brian Mokoena (5-1), Deanray Tyers (5-3) and Girish "Mr G" Sookmungal (5-3) to reach the last 16. From there he barely gave anyone a sniff. Ketan Nydoo went 5-1, AJ Engelbrecht went 5-1 in the quarters and Kirsten Nelson went 5-2 in the semis. The final against Kimesh Nagiah was the opposite. Race to 6, all square at 5-5, one rack for the title, and Llew took it.
There was a bit of a rematch earlier in the day too. Rick and Shane met again in round four, a week after the Seniors final, and this time Shane got his own back 5-4. JK reached round four before Livahn Moodley stopped him 5-3, and Alvin made round four as well.
In the Plate, Zia Botha took the title and Alonso Munsamy finished runner-up.
๐๐ข๐๐ค ๐ญ๐๐ค๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ข๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ
The 2026/27 BSA Gauteng Seniors Singles Championship pulled 75 players to Billiard Cafรฉ on Saturday 3 October, and Rick Schoenlank got through the whole draw unbeaten. Six matches, six wins, 31 frames to 11.
His run went through JK Pillay, Julius Chingore and Neeshan Ramdin (5-2), then Wayne Davids 5-1 in the quarters and Basil Munsamy 5-1 in the semis. The final was a race to 6 against Shane Pillay, Rick's own pick to win the thing, and it finished 6-4. Shane was running on empty by the end, and so was everyone else. These two have been playing pool together since 1994, along with Brandon, Basil, Llew, JK and a few others from that era, which made it a pretty special final to watch.
JK didn't go home empty-handed either. He won the Plate AND the 8 Player comp, which is a solid response to losing to Rick in round two. Alvin Naidoo, barely back from Marrakech, also made the last 16 of the main draw.
๐๐ข๐๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐๐ค๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฉ-๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ซ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐
Michelle Rabie represented South Africa in the women's snooker at the Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships in Ahmedabad, India, last week. She made it all the way to the quarter-finals, where she drew England's Rebecca Kenna, a top-10 professional on the women's tour. It went down to the wire and Kenna only got through in the deciding frame. Taking a world-ranked pro that close on that stage is a serious result, and we're proud of you, Michelle.
๐๐๐๐ข๐ค ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐
๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐
Over on the snooker side, our resident cuesport coach Rafik won the 2026 FJ Classic Snooker Championship, hosted by the Gauteng Snooker & Billiards Association. If you've been meaning to book a coaching session, you now know who to ask.
๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ค ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ
Two Saturdays in a row, both long, loud and a lot of fun to host. We owe it to Laura-Lee Govender, who ran both days the way only she can, and to Debie, who does the recons and player lists with Laura-Lee behind the scenes and works harder than most people realise. Extended thanks to the Gauteng Blackball Exec. Thanks to Machau for reffing, Deemo for the photos. And to every player, family member and friend who spent those days with us, thank you. See you at the next one.
๐
๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฌ
IEPF World Championships 2026 (select O50s Scotch Doubles): https://allscoreslive.com/iepf/livescoring/?org=4
BSA Gauteng Men's Singles: https://cuescore.com/tournament/2026%252F27+BSA+GP+MENS+SINGLES+CHAMPIONSHIP/91123942
Men's Singles Plate: https://challonge.com/8j6u6onm
BSA Gauteng Seniors Singles: https://cuescore.com/tournament/2026%252F27+BSA+GP+SENIORS+SINGLES+CHAMPIONSHIP/90382951
FJ Classic Snooker (GSBA): https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CDWTLvobt/
