WHILE most people were lounging on the sofa watching old movies, eating giant handfuls of chocolate and pretending to put up with extended family members, Keighley potter Arfan Dad was a busy man over Christmas and New Year.

Dad was competing in the Ultimate Pool Pro Cup in the last week of 2021, before taking part in the last-16 of the Ultimate Pool Pairs Cup on Monday.

And he came agonisingly close to making it through to the semi-finals in the latter, with he and his partner Craig Waddingham missing out by the barest of margins in what effectively ended up being a quarter-final clash against Andy Appleton and Michael Tomlinson.

Dad said: “We’d both won our first games of the night 4-0, and played each other after that.

“We went 2-0 down to them but we got it back to 2-2.

“There’s a 20-minute limit on each match, but they were unlucky with Michael’s break in the fifth frame, which gave Craig a chance at the table to get us a 3-2 win within the time.

“It was going well but then he dropped his chalk, and with it being a 15-second shot clock, that threw him.

“He ended up being left with a tough position on the black to win the game, and he missed his double attempt by millimetres.

“That ended up being the last shot of the match, as time ran out.

“Andy and Michael won their next game too, whereas we could only draw 2-2 again, so they went through with two wins and a draw, and we came second with two draws and a win.”

Appleton and Tomlinson now go through to finals night of the competition, which will be held on January 31, after the other three last-16 groups are played.

As for Keighley star Dad, he was involved in more drama at the Pro Cup last week.

He said: “As I’m new on the Ultimate Pool pro circuit, I had to play a last-48 game against John Sullivan, as it was only the top 16 who were guaranteed a last-32 spot.

“But I played well to beat John 8-4, and got through to the last-32 TV stage.

“I was in Group D, and beat Jake McCartney on the buzzer to reach what was basically the last-16.

“I was behind all game really and again it was a timed match, which was 5-5 with less than two minutes to go.

“But Jake potted the white off the break in frame 11, which gave me a chance, and though I was just trying to run the clock down to at least ensure I got a draw, I ended up clearing up with one or two seconds to go to win 6-5.

“But against Shaun Chipperfield in the last-16, I wasn’t anywhere near the level I was at in my first two matches.

“There were chances I was missing in that game that I was taking in my first two, and Shaun was clinical, punishing every mistake, and he won comfortably.

“Myself and (fellow Keighley potter) Chris Melling both went out in the last-16, as he lost 7-1 to Jordan Shepherd, who ended up winning the tournament.”

Dad admitted he can relax a bit for the rest of the month, with his next big tournament the Ultimate Pool Grand Slam in mid-February.