Benji Batten claims first FISTF event in Australia in two years.

Benji Batten claimed the first FISTF event staged in Australia for two years when he edged out  Tony Credentino in a tight Sydney Internatonal Open final 2-0 on shots after a scoreless draw.

Benji Batten receives his winners medal

Benji Batten receives his winners medal

COVID has played havoc with the Australian scene over the last two years, and though a range of local WASPA events have kept activity alive, the ultimate aim was to get FISTF action happening again.
At one stage there were 28 entries in the Open, but COVID struck that down to 24, and then 21 on the day due to some late COVID withdrawals. Six players contested the U16 event and 3 women, with four in the teams event.

ALL
It also meant interstate contestants were limited to 2, with Melbourne’s Benji Batten and Nathan Urbaniak making the trek north.

Adrian Elmer (left) with Melbourne's Nathan Urbaniak

Adrian Elmer (left) with Melbourne’s Nathan Urbaniak

All four Sydney clubs were involved in the organising, with the venue being the home of the Northern Falcons – the Willoughby Park Bowling Club.
272291440_4846780895398935_7409954325567234974_n 272317677_4846780185399006_3622444011981277867_n 272392093_4846781028732255_7895142058875649335_n IMG_8364

Having a great area, and more importantly not having to move the boards anywhere, was great boost. It was all hands on deck on Friday for the set-up, and the Sydney club provided all the sanitising options, and Western Sydney Subbuteo’s Adrian Elmer lending his peerless design skills to enhance the presentation.

271682018_3060570724211035_3896150975077031946_n table sign club name
272372427_4846779965399028_2029480330782829552_n
A welcome dinner on Friday and dinners on Saturday and Sunday kept the community feel strong.

272385415_4846780525398972_5005897363203704374_n 272302561_4846777208732637_4318510054604897146_n 272436113_10160124038419747_1407256813891785261_n 272409236_4846780358732322_865205881934031415_n
A major surprise was the No.1 ranking of Torben Pfister, the result of inactivity in Australia, but he topped his group. Groups 2 and 3 featured the biggest struggles to qualify, with Adrian Grunbach having the wood over Adrian Elmer in Group 2 and Tony Credentino beating Paul Magee.
ad 2 ad3 ad4
Steve Dettre and Steve Diasinos (Big Steve and Little Steve) continued their rivalry, with Steve Di pushing hard in the first half, before Steve De found his rhythm to run out winner.
In the Junior event, Daniel Sirmai and Gabriel Lombardi stamped their authority on the group early, but Catherine Palamara kept in touch, ahead of Taylor Lombardi and Dimitri Barbaris. In a delightful surprise, debutante Katelyn Grunbach made the semis, and scored against Daniel Sirmai before losing 4-1. Daniel beat Gabriel 2-1 in the final.
271879037_926376831399033_8983639018954878998_n (1) 272600492_4846795985397426_8461512970275287758_n
In the women’s event, Catherine Palamara beat Imojjen 1-0, with all three women players offering each other fantastic support and encouragement.
272042735_4237793309655637_1909870208668063963_n 272109579_653556782435990_6823715552427154351_n (1) 272225202_2428968627239282_4202680955358164234_n (1) 272301191_4846795908730767_4640658386414286715_n (1) IMG_3170 IMG_8383
In the knockout phase of the Open, the barrages provided a couple of surprises. After playing so well in the group, Steve Dettre’s form deserted him against Tony Credentino who snatched a 1-0 win with a shot from an incredible angle. Then Johnny Ball – an infrequent visitor to Falcons’ nights – outperformed Geoff Sirmai, setting himself up for the match of the tournament, the quarterfinal against Benji.

Johnny Ball (Northern Falcions) and Geoff Sirmai (Hipfingerz)

Johnny Ball (Northern Falcions) and Geoff Sirmai (Hipfingerz)

Adrian Grunbach caused a boilover by beating clubmate Torben 2-1, while Tony Credentino ousted Eliot Kennedy 3-0 on shots after a 2-2 draw in their quarterfinal. And while Daniele Lombardi stormed to a 4-0 in his match against clubmate Kostas Barbaris, in the last qf, it went down to the wire.

Card and measuring kits produced by Canada Flicks

Card and measuring kits produced by Canada Flicks

Johnny Ball shocked Benji with an opening goal, and while he pegged that back, Johnny again took the lead before it was all square at the break. In the second period, Benji steadied himself and with 5 minutes to go led 5-2, before Johnny launched an impressive comeback, replete with his own ‘crowd noise’. First he made it 5-3, then incredibly it was 5-4 with a minute to go, when Benji decided to employ the table football version of “taking the ball to the corner flag”. He saw out the clock, and afterwards Johnny proclaimed Benji’s tactics as “the greatest honour that anyone’s given me in Subbo — the fact that he was so concerned I might get an equaliser!”

272336739_4850878281655863_8253789484462931962_n 272662922_4850878478322510_4052199666509770095_n

Both semi finals ended 2-1, with Tony beating Adrian, and then Benji edging Daniele.
There were few real highlights in the final, with the title decided on shots, 2-0 to Benji.
IMG_8403 qfeliot
IMG_8385IMG_8387

Continuing the tradition of Australian table football, the ‘Plate’ event was held as a WASPA. Following the Group Stage of the Opens event, the 8 players who did not make it to the knockout phase and were able to stay around played a knockout WASPA tournament. The draw was open and unseeded.
Adrian Elmer (WSS) was drawn against Daniel Sirmai (HIP) and eased past him 3-0, While Paul Magee (WSS) had the same scoreline against his club mate, Imojjen Elmer (WSS). Nathan Unrbaniak (MTFC) was drawn against Franck Cozzarin (WSS) and came out victorious, 1-0. The final fixture produced the tightest game, with Greg Werner (HIP) playing out a 0-0 draw with Enzo Coco (STFC). Straight to shots and the tenseness continued, Greg finally coming out victorious 1-0 in the shootout.
The semi-final pitted Paul against Greg where the Western Sydney man dispatched his Eastern rival with ease. The other semi, though, was a completely different affair. Neither player was able to break the deadlock in a very tight match and so another shootout ensued. Adrian held his nerve to emerge a 2-0 victor, setting up a grand final showdown with team mate and friendly rival, Paul.
The final itself proved to be an entertaining and open game. Both players controlled at times until Adrian was able to take the lead midway through the first half. From here, though, Paul used every tactic in his unique Subbuteo armoury to control more and more of the game and pile the pressure on Adrian. Finally, with 40 seconds left on the clock, Paul finally got his equaliser. The game, however, didn’t go to shots. Remarkably, from the restart, Adrian broke down the left, charged into the shooting zone and chipped home a winner with just a handful of seconds to go. It was a dramatic finish to a great game worthy of a final.

Quarter Final
Adrian Elmer (WSS) 3 – 0 Daniel Sirmai (HIP)
Imojjen Elmer (WSS) 0 – 3 Paul Magee (WSS)
Nathan Unrbaniak (MTFC) 2 – 1 Franck Cozzarin (WSS)
Greg Werner (HIP) 0(1) – 0(0) Enzo Coco (STFC)

Semi Final
Adrian Elmer (WSS) 0(2) – 0(0) Nathan Urbaniak
Paul Magee (WSS) 4 – 0 Greg Werner (HIP)

Final
Paul Magee 1 – 2 Adrian Elmer

waspa fina180 waspa final 33

In the teams event, there were only three ‘official’ contestants, as neither Hipfingerz or Melbourne had a full compliment, and combined to play in the group.
The Falcons were surprised in their match against Hipfingerz/Melbourne, but recovered in the other games.
It came down to ‘points difference’ to decide the Falcons’ opponents in the final, with Sydney TFC edging out the players from the west.
In the final, the depth of the Falcons showed through, with a 3-0 win.
271820494_200696918880467_280705995540485249_n (1) 271874948_492098955672599_8459573904772625999_n 271941667_2120392104774580_8105442475972285708_n (1) IMG_3189

272394835_10160124141554747_6298731998621467537_n 272497866_10160124141774747_5467981815378204254_n
And to round out the day, an informal Doubles Event was staged, with Benji Batten and Nathan Urbaniak taking the Swiss format event.

A huge thanks to all the players and the Willoughby Park Bowling Club who delivered a fantastic venue.

2022 Open full results

SIO22 Teams Final scores

Random Pix

IMG_8400

Johnny Ball defends against Eliot Kennedy

Johnny Ball defends against Eliot Kennedy

Streaming master screen

Streaming master screen

Daniele and Enzo

Daniele and Enzo

IMG_3162

Frank and Gabriel

Frank and Gabriel

Steve v Daniele

Steve v Daniele

272839724_10158206454421116_4789241009321379184_n

Melbourne lads

Melbourne lads

Frank Corrazin (WSS)

Frank Corrazin (WSS)

Katelyn and Imojjen

Katelyn and Imojjen

Steve Diasinos

Steve Diasinos

Paul Magee

Paul Magee

Torben and Adrian

Torben and Adrian

Essential: early morning coffee cart

Essential: early morning coffee cart

Torben v Imojjen

Torben v Imojjen

Adrian Elmer, Eliot Kennedy, Neil Brener and Imojjen Elmer

Adrian Elmer, Eliot Kennedy, Neil Brener and Imojjen Elmer

Geoff Sirmai and Imojjen Elmer

Geoff Sirmai and Imojjen Elmer

Adrian Elmer and John Palamara

Adrian Elmer and John Palamara

Basic carry case!

Basic carry case!

Hipfingerz: Geoff and Greg

Hipfingerz: Geoff and Greg

272304560_4846795655397459_2116219436336262559_n 272291440_4846780895398935_7409954325567234974_n

Katelyn and Gabriel

Katelyn and Gabriel

Adrian and Benji

Adrian and Benji

272261202_4846796092064082_6184655882627058586_n

Leave a Reply