Billiards/Snooker
2026 ARIBA BILLIARDS AND SNOOKER COMPETITION
28th February to 6th March 2026 Hampton Victoria
NSW – Third place 2026
After 12 months of waiting for the opportunity to win back the title, the billiards and snooker team had a great week away at Hampton for the 2026 ANZRI Billiards and Snooker tournament. With our team settled in now, we hoped for a strong showing in the competition.
The week started with the individual billiards tournament, which saw our team put in their best effort and try to get used to the tables. We had a few players make the last 16, but that is where our challenge ended. The billiards were won by Robbie Chilcott from Queensland. Congratulations to him.
On the second day, the individual snooker tournament began, which saw Lucas Dobosz and Russell Johnson making the quarter finals. It was won by the Queenslander Robbie Chilcott completing the double.
To the main event, which is the team’s competition for which our players were:
Len Wicks, Jim Hull, Adam Banos, Dennis Sharpe, Russell Johnson, Graeme Saunders, Nathan White, Marko Cajna, Bob Ritchie and Lucas Dobosz.
Our first match was against Victoria, and we knew it was going to be a hard match as they had recruited three new players for this year’s competition. In a very tense battle, we unfortunately went down 9-7, which proved the Victorian team had stepped up the standard this year.
The following day, we played the Australian National team who also had recruited some new players and looked stronger than previous years. The team played very well and secured a strong 12-4 victory, which would help us if other results went our way.
Unfortunately, Victoria and Queensland played out an 8-all draw that night, which saw Victoria obtain an unassailable lead and ensured they were the 2026 Dunkling Bowl winners.
The final match was against Queensland, where a win would see us be runners-up. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be, as a combination of a bad draw and Queensland playing very well, meant we lost 13-3. It was a great team effort and everyone tried hard, but it wasn’t happening on the night. Our team player for the week was awarded to Russell Johnson, who excelled in the individual and teams competition.
High Breaks for the week: Snooker – John Cianter(VIC) 54. Billiards – J Wicks(QLD) 87.
McKain/McLoughlin Award – Brian Esnouf (VIC)
A big thank you to Bob Ritchie for his assistance with everything, Jimmy and Adam for ferrying us around all week and to the rest of the team, including our visitor Leila, for their help in ensuring our week went smoothly.
Thank you to the loyal sponsors, Australian Mutual Bank, for supporting the sporting clubs in the Institute.
Congratulations to the team for a great week and we look forward to trying to win back the Dunkling Bowl in Redcliffe 2027.
Lucas Dobosz – Captain NSWRI Billiards and Snooker team
