Nav Hussain narrowly defeats Rob Mulliss to take the Gold Handicap title

Nav Hussain (-28) ran out a 3-2 winner of the Gold Handicap tournament but only just! Match report courtesy of Rob Mulliss (-14):

Frame 1

A scrappy affair with both players trying to get used to the conditions at BCI Snooker Centre. Nav seemed to have a magnet in the pockets for the cueball with loads of in-offs. No breaks of note and the frame swung both ways before some snooker action saw Nav give up a lot of points in fouls and Rob potted the blue and pink to take a 1-0 lead.

Frame 2

The second fram again went down to the colours. Rob was 40 odd in front at one point but Nav’s safety was superior and he worked his way back into the frame before going on to clean the colours up nicely and win on the pink. 1-1

Frame 3

Rob played well to get 58-1 in front with the help of a 35 break. Nav then went into iron man mode and his safety was excellent again, getting a chance then knocking in his own 35 break. Then followed a battle on the colours which the machine Nav won by sinking the black ball. Nav now leads 2-1.

Frame 4

Rob went 50 in front again with a 38 break. Nav hit back with a good run of 39 and then was looking favourite to wrap up the match when clearing the colours proficiently… until he missed the pink out of nowhere with the winning line in sight. Rob potted pink to the middle to force a decider. 2-2

Frame 5

Well you wouldn’t believe it… Rob got out in front having a 25 point lead with 8 reds left. However Nav thought otherwise and after the umpteenth bad safety from Rob, Nav made a classy 48 break with 6 reds and blacks. It went to the colours with Nav 20 in front. Rob potted yellow over the pocket but no position on green. But then all of a sudden the stars aligned. Rob potted brown, but then the mother of all twitches on the potted blue in the middle left him in no man’s land for the pink with the championship at his mercy. Multiple safeties later and some good snooker escapes and Nav potted the tightest pink down the top rail to take the tournament. Nav 3-2 Rob

Prize Money

Nav Hussain £100
Rob Mulliss £50
Paul Bean £20
Chris Winter £20

Results from Previous Rounds

Semi-Finals

Chris Winter (-28) 1-3 Nav Hussain (-28) (Feb 1)
Paul Bean (-14) 1-3 Rob Mulliss (-14) (Jan 31)

Quarter-Finals

Mohsin Faiz (35) 1-3 Paul Bean (-14) (Jan 5)
Rob Mulliss (-14) 3-2 Wayne Martin (-28) (Jan 8)
Keith Holgate (-28) 0-3 Nav Hussain (-28) (Jan 5)
Chris Winter (-28) 3-1 Robert Garratt (7) (Jan 10)

Last 16

Moe Anyanwu (0) 2-3 Keith Holgate (-28) (Nov 20)
Chris Winter (-28) 2-1 Steven Hughes (14) (Dec 5)
Ant McMahon (-7) 0-3 Robert Garratt (7) (Nov 24)
Rob Mulliss (-14) 2-1 Nick Sharp (14) (Nov 26)
Paul Bean (-14) 2-0 Andy Wright (7) (Nov 25)
Nav Hussain (-28) 3-1 Andrew Diacopoulos (-28) (Dec 1)
Wayne Martin (-28) 2-0 Jordan Parnham (7) (Nov 17)
Cary Davies (-7) 2-3 Mohsin Faiz (35) (Nov 28)

Preliminary Round

Chris Winter (-28) w/o-scr Lee Cuomo (+35)
Wayne Martin (-28) 5-3 Patrick Ashurst (-21) (Oct 31)
Mick Garratt (+7) 1-3 Andy Wright (+7) (Nov 1)
Robert Garratt (+7) 3-0 Richard Sutton (+21) (Nov 3)
Alan Caulton (0) 1-3 Mohsin Faiz (+35) (Nov 8)

Previous Recorded Winners

2024: Andrew Diacopoulos
2023: Gary Spencer
2022: Steve Donner
2020: Dave Jobling
2019: Ben Monk
2018: Keith Holgate
2017: Ben Monk
2016: Keith Holgate
2015: Troy Brett
2014: Tom Goldstein
2013: Sean Hopkin
2012: James Moore
2011: Bash Maqsood
2010: James Moore
2009: Wayne Martin
2008: Wayne Martin
2007: Kwok Yip
2006: Chris Winter
2005: Chris Winter
2004: Chris Winter
1987: Anthony Hamilton
1982: John Bednall
1979: Denis Parish
1978: Denis Parish
1977: Denis Parish
1975: John Fox
1973: Tony Matthews
1970: Paul Deverill
1946: Henry Sissons

Historically, this tournament was a singles knockout tournament run by the Nottingham & Notts Institutes Billiards & Snooker Association (“NNIBSA”), with entry restricted to players who competed in the Association’s team league.