The billiards band-wagon moved over to Preston with Rex Williams and Ashok Shandilya added to the entry list— although Shandilya failed to appear.
The wisdom of playing on snooker conditions must be questioned as the Billiards Committee saved on venue costs to run the tournament in parallel with the Liverpool Victoria Snooker Tournament.
Early indications and averages appeared to say the billiard players didn't enjoy the table covering and pocket size, but Roxton Chapman and David Causier dispelled those ideas by scoring 1,004 and 1,207 points respectively.
David's victory was all the sweeter because of the extent of demolition over Chris Shutt, his fellow Teessider. Foldvari beat Eugene Hughes for the second time in a week.
Williams having beaten Peter Sheehan then fell to Ian Williamson by 23 points. Foldvari beat Bob Close.
The quarter-finals saw Russell and Chapman comfortably through, Russell making a 362 break and Chapman making the tournament highest of 466. Geet Sethi accounted for David Causier while Peter Gilchrist made only 89 points in two hours against Foldvari.
Despite a 259 break, Russell lost to Chapman, while breaks of 210 and 115 could not take Foldvari past Sethi.
The final was expected to provide a worthwhile spectator interest, but it failed to work, as reportedly only 30 spectators were present—including the players previously eliminated!
Geet Sethi took his first title on English soil and the £7,000 winner's prize, while Chapman took £4,000 as runner-up.
Television coverage of the final was promised—it resulted in an 8 minute slot five days later, in an unscheduled snooker interval. Actual play shown on the box was meagre, and the TV link-man mis-pronounced "Geet" and called Roxton by another name! Ah well, at least they got billiards on the box.
Thankfully, Scotsman Alan McManus spoke very well of billiards, the game, the skills required and the players involved.
Thank-you Alan, it does you and our game some credit.
| M. Wildman
66 | 416 | (8.3) | M. Spoormans
74 | 397 | (7.8) |
| Nalin Patel
110, 94 | 786 | (23.8) | Dave Sneddon
| 313 | (13.6) |
| A. Agrawal
82 | 661 | (16.5) | Devendra Joshi
114 | 458 | (11.7) |
| I. Williamson
177, 99 | 453 | (23.8) | Manoj Kothari
99 | 383 | (21.2) |
| Rex Williams
117, 85, 77unf | 629 | (17.9) | Peter Sheehan
53 | 415 | (11.8) |
| Agrawal
114 | 825 | (17.9) | Ashot Potikyan
| 316 | (6.8) |
| R. Chapman
294, 195, 187, 85 | 1,004 | (41.8) | Dinkar Akolkar
| 150 | (6.5) |
| Peter Gilchrist
131, 99, 99, 98 | 575 | (26.1) | Steve Naisby
121 | 390 | (17.7) |
| Mike Ferreira
94 | 640 | (11.4) | Brian Dix
| 284 | (5.0) |
| R. Foldvari
132 | 406 | (13.1) | Eugene Hughes
| 227 | (7.0) |
| Bob Close
85 | 388 | (10.8) | Clive Everton
72 | 348 | (9.4) |
| D. Causier
192, 98, 96, 89, 86, 85 | 1,207 | (28.1) | Chris Shutt
89 | 383 | (8.9) |
| M. Rehani
| w/o | A. Shandilya
| scr | ||
| Alok Kumar
86, 75, 71 | 814 | (20.9) | S. Hardcastle
61 | 426 | (10.9) |
| Mike Russell
173, 140, 87, 75 | 759 | (25.3) | Mark Wildman
60 | 412 | (13.7) |
| Nalin Patel
144, 113, 97 | 750 | (24.2) | Arun Agrawal
67 | 282 | (9.1) |
| I. Williamson
75 | 342 | (17.1) | Rex Williams
102 | 319 | (16.0) |
| R. Chapman
289, 213, 72 | 783 | (28.0) | S. Agrawal
130 | 405 | (14.0) |
| Peter Gilchrist
237, 226, 95 | 950 | (29.7) | Mike Ferreira
| 268 | (8.1) |
| R. Foldvari
126 | 430 | (21.5) | Bob Close
84, 82 | 328 | (16.4) |
| Dave Causier
89 | 960 | (20.4) | Mukesh Rehani
| 403 | (8.6) |
| Geet Sethi
138, 100, 95, 85, 81 | 819 | (28.2) | Alok Kumar
181 | 431 | (14.9) |
| Mike Russell
362, 128, 91, 88, 75, 71unf | 946 | (52.5) | Nalin Patel
107, 103, 55 | 388 | (20.4) |
| R. Chapman
466, 145, 130, 80 | 894 | (74.5) | Ian Williamson
94 | 229 | (20.8) |
| R. Foldvari
94, 369unf | 580 | (44.6) | Peter Gilchrist
| 89 | (6.3) |
| Geet Sethi
116, 111, 93, 85, 74 | 734 | (25.3) | Dave Causier
190, 73 | 572 | (19.7) |
| R. Chapman
157, 96, 94, 181unf | 695 | (49.6) | Mike Russell
259 | 507 | (33.8) |
| Geet Sethi
107, 106, 100, 74 | 521 | (32.5) | Robby Foldvari
210, 115 | 389 | (25.9) |
| Geet Sethi
124, 105, 102, 129unf | 698 | (38.8) | R. Chapman
87 | 293 | (16.3) |