Chis Totten becomes the third Scot to clinch the amateur crown after Graham Horne and current pro Scott Donaldson by beating Estonian Andres Petrov 7-3, after winning five frames on the trot from 2-3 down in the EBSA Men’s Championship. It was Petrov who was the break-builder thought since three of his breaks was clinched by 50+ breaks. According to the EBSA’s report of the final:
“Both Chris and Andres have played some fantastic snooker this week and beaten some highly talented players, so it was a great shame that one had to lose.”
Honestly, they would be right. Out of the large calibre of players in Jamie Clarke, Kacper Filipiak, ex-pro Brendan O’Donoghe, winner and two-finalist Kristjan Helguson and finally Andrew Pagett, who made an appearance at the Crucible in 2011, these two players managed to beat through this competition.
I do not know much about Chris Totten so I did some digging. He won the National Championship in 2016 and was one of four Scottish players in the Home International event for the first time in thirteen years. He is one of the wildcard warriors in the Scottish Open, being impressive despite losing to Dominic Dale 4-2. Even in the U-21 European event, he got knocked out by Amir Nardeia in the Last 32 in the event, despite topping his group.
Weirdly, 18 year-old Totten and 20 year-old Petrov (the young guns are really relishing the amateur scene) already played each other, having drawn in the same group, with Petrov winning 4-3. Since they split into their respective halves, they really did the business. The fact that Totten beat Indian Open quarter-finalist Lilly, Maltese Cini, Filipiak and the Welsh Whirlwind Clark shows he’s got something. The Estonian recovered from his whitewash against Alex Ursenbacher in the U-21 semi-finals to defeat O’Donoghue and took advantage of the mistakes against Pagett to reach the semi-finals.
Both players will feature in the qualifications of the World Championship. Because Chris Totten already qualifies via Scottish Open wildcard, Petrov will receive his nomination as a Men’s Championship finalist – similar to when Amir Nardeia received his place due to Jackson winning the U18 title against him, but is already covered due to his Welsh Open wildcard. Will be excited to see them both, especially the Estonian fellow, a new snooker country known for being the home of Skype, Hotmail, world Wife-Carrying Champions, folk songs and good vodka.
Maybe I should go there.
