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World Short Mat Championships
Our growing championships are now fully in their post Covid
phase. Sadly, the Scottish Federation did not supply any informa-
tion on the event, which is there right of course. Sadly, I was un-
able to attend the event but thankfully. Seamus Kyne attended and
was able to supply the details and photos, for which I am very
grateful.
The Countries represented included England, Ireland, Scotland,
Wales, Canada, Belgium, Germany Isle-of-Man, Sweden, Norway,
Netherlands, India and Italy. There are two Groups in each disci-
pline of Singles, Pairs, Triples and Fours. The winners of each
group play
the runners up in the other groups
SINGLES FOR ENGLAND
In Singles group A, Michael John topped the Group for Wales winning 8
of his 9 games, who’s only defeat was to Belgium’s Jorgen Karlsson 15 -
14, who finished 6th in the Group. Michael John finished on 16 points and
+99 on shots difference. England’s Alex Kley finished second, also with
16 points but with a smaller shots difference of +66 was lower than Michael
John’s , who inflicted the England players only defeat, 19 - 11.
Finishing outside the qualifying places in third was Belgium’s Pieterjan
Stevens on 12 points and +66 shots. leaving Scotland’s Robert Lenza in
fourth with the same number of points but only with +17 shots.
Group B had one less entry and was also won by Wales, with Arwel
Owain-Morgan finishing with 14 points and a plus
of 37. His only defeat was by England’s Edward
Sawbridge by a hefty 21 - 8 scoreline but this did
not really help the Englishman who finished fourth
after defeats by Ireland and Norway. The second
qualifying place was taken by Sweden’s Jonas
Singles Champion Hager, who finished on 12 points and plus 63
Alex Kley shots. Just finishing outside the qualifying places
was Ireland’s Alan Paul who scored 12 points the
same as Jonas Hager but had 9 shots less at +54 but his loss to Hager made
a huge qualifying difference.
At the semi-final stage we could have ended with an all-Wales
final but England’s Alex Kley got the better of Arwel Owain-Morgan but his
Welsh teammate Michael John fared better, ending the run of Belgium’s
Jonas Hager. Thus we ended with a classic England v Wales final and what
followed was a stunning match worthy of any final, where the loser did not Singles Finalist
deserve his fate. Michael Jon
The extremely close final went to a sudden death extra end, with England’s Alex Kley winning
the title 11 shots to 10.The losing semi-finalists played off for the 3rd and 4th playoff, with Belgium’s
Jonas Hager beating Wales Arwel Owain-Morgan by 13 shots to 11.
WALES TAKE THE PAIRS
In Pairs Group A Ireland’s Kieran & Sean Trainor topped the group with 16 points and a big plus of
94. Their only defeat was at the hands of the Welsh pairing of Jonathon Gladstone & Andrew Hudson,
who’s victory helped them finish second also with16 points but a lower shots plus of 71. Their only
loss was a shock 19 - 8 to Belgium’s Dimitri Payne & Sibe Laureys, who finished fourth with 14 points
and +54. Above them in third place were England’s Chris Willies & Gary Best, also with 14 a better
plus of 71a one shot loss to Ireland and a three shot loss to Wales was their undoing but Chris at
least had been a previous World Pairs Champion