This week my 147 Academy was invited back to the beautiful city of Tel Aviv in Israel to train and prepare Shachar Ruberg for the 2013 Israel Senior National Snooker Championships. The 19 year old went on to win the Israel National Senior Snooker Championship for the first time when he beat David Vaizman 6 frames to 5 in an exciting encounter to claim the title and become the youngest ever Israel Champion in style.
In the final, David Vaizman started very strong to lead 2 nil but Ruberg fought back to lead 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4 but each time Vaizman who is a qualified EBSA Coach levelled the match to force it into a final frame shootout. In the deciding frame Vaizman got in first to make 18 but risked a dangerous double, he missed to let in Shachar in to make a stunning 71 frame winning break to claim this prestigious and allusive title he wanted.
The new Israeli Champion was delighted to claim his first Senior National title to add to his National Under 21 and National Premier League titles he had already won earlier this year. This again highlights the progress Shachar is making in the game over the last few seasons with this tremendous achievement after coming 3rd in 2011, 2nd in 2012 and becoming the Champion now in 2013. The Championship was held in the G2 Arena in Ashdod which is a new state of the art venue that will be used as the new Israeli Snooker Academy.
At present the Academy contains four beautiful Shender match tables with professional lighting but the Israel Snooker Association are planning to extend the venue over the next few months with another eight tables in preparation for the 2014 EBSA Under 21 and EBSA Team Championship that are planned for Israel in March.
I was thrilled with the overall performance as Shachar had been ill with a virus all week but he is one of the most dedicated players i have in my academy and all his hard work over the last year paid off in helping him win the title.
I was also very impressed with quality of the new Israel Academy. This Academy is one of the very best I have ever seen and it will help Israel produce a number of top Israeli players over the next few seasons.
This success was a real team effort with great support from father Yair, Manager Albert and his Sports Psychologist Dr. Iris as they must also be congratulated in helping Shachar achieve this title.
Shachar is now focusing on preparing for the IBSF World Amateur Championship being held in Latvia in a few weeks.
Q-Final Results
Shachar Ruberg 5-1 Danny Bismut
Maor Shalom 5-0 Ilan Shimshi
David Vaizman 5-4 Shay Arama
Elran Gezi 5-2 Dima Drabkin
Semi Final Results
Shachar Ruberg 6-2 Maor Shalom
David Vaizman 6-4 Elran Gezi
Final
Shachar Ruberg 6-5 David Vaizman
High Break 122 Roy Fernandez
