Lochan wins Women’s National 8 Ball

Salisha Lochan showed her class, winning the final of the National Women’s 8 Ball Championships, held at Signature Billiards in Champ Fleurs.

On Saturday (May 16), day two of the competition, Lochan was crowned 8 Ball champion by beating Karen Ramcharan seven frames to four in the final.

These two ladies are no strangers to finals competition as they met in the National 9 Ball competition in 2025. On that occasion, it was Ramcharan who prevailed.

The double elimination tournament started on the previous Saturday with eighteen players showing up to represent for the ladies. Notable inclusions along with the finalists, were former top female player Simone Hospedales-Chai and Britney Jagdeo. It was no surprise that those players made up the top four.

Other title hopefuls were Shernice Lezama, Roxanne Baptiste, Jamie Mohammed, Ravina Boodoo, Ebun Samuel and the Persad sisters, Ranasha and Priya. There were also a few first timers to the National setup, like Jessica Sookoo, Samantha Ali, Denise Joseph, Amanda Rampaul, Cherelle Beckles, Kristine Hinds and Nathalya Mohammed.

Lochan was undoubtedly the player to beat after going undefeated on day one, winning four games on the trot to get to the championship match. On her way to the final, Lochan beat Ranasha Persad 5-1, Britney Jagdeo 5-2, Roxanne Baptiste 5-1 and Karen Ramcharan 5-2. That result pushed Ramcharan over to the losers’ bracket. Before that loss, Ramcharan defeated Ebun Samuel 5-0, Hospedales-Chai 5-4 and Shernice Lezama 5-2.

While Lochan sat and waited, Ramcharan was made to work hard in her lone losers’ bracket match.

On day two, Ramcharan also had to wait. Her next opponent would be the winner of the Hospedalaes-Chai/Jagdeo match, which Hospedales-Chai won 4-2. Then came one of the thrilling match-ups of the championships between two of the females who battled amongst the guys in a time when not many ladies played the game competitively. Ramcharan came through the encounter 4-2, to book a rematch with Lochan.

Lochan started well by winning the first frame, Ramcharan hit back with three in a row. At that point, many thought it would be a repeat of the 9 Ball edition but Lochan refused to go away, winning four straight frames. Ramcharan registered a win in the ninth frame to pull within one rack at 5-4 but Lochan was much too strong and closed out the race to seven final, 7-4. Ramcharan was hoping for a triple crown of sorts as she currently holds National titles in 9 ball and 10 ball, but it was not to be.

The Billiards Sports Organisation of T&T (BSOTT), hosts of the tournament, would like to congratulate the ladies on being part of the largest turnout thus far in women’s competition and hopes to increase those numbers in the coming year.