The penultimate event of the 2008/9 PIOS season has now been completed and what a result as the 2008 IBSF World Champion Thepchaiya Un-Nooh has taken victory in just his second PIOS event…
Having had tough matches in rounds 2 and 3, Thepchaiya never looked back as he raced past Brett Miller, Ben Woollaston and Alfie Burden to reach the final, before recording a comfortable 6-3 victory over Lee Page to win his first event at Pontin’s.
Though the victory does not matter to him in terms of his ranking because he is already assured of a main tour place for next season, I think it is really impressive that he has come over from Thailand in the way he has to get used to the conditions at Pontin’s and managed to win an event at just his second atempt. Although the main tour is a much harder proposition altogether, it will certainly be interesting to see how he gets on next season.
On another note however, thanks to David Carnall who by commenting on my previous article about Thepchaiya has raised an interesting point on the potential unfairness caused by his late entrance to series despite already having a tour place in his pocket. It does seem unfortunate that he could win the last two events and move into the top eight, denying someone else a main tour place as a result, but if the rules allow it then it is not his fault. I am not sure whether this has ever happened before but if anyone else has any more information, feel free to leave a comment.
To view the drawsheet, please click here.