The tournament last week in Moscow was one of the most dazzling events
of the current Pyramid circuit. Being part of the annual "Rossiskaya
Gazeta Cup" since 2006, this series is part of the European Committee
of Pyramid calendar. The Moscow Confederation of Billiard Sports (MCBS)
and Russia's leading newspaper "Rossiskaya Gazeta" made sure that the Moscow leg was a special event with the final rounds held at
the State Kremlin Palace inside the Moscow Kremlin, seat of the
government of the Russian Federation.
On the 8th of October at Moscow's Poligon Billiard Center, a record 34
women and 103 men from 11 nations entered the fray. More world
class players than ever before came to Moscow to try to gain one of the
coveted final round spots on Saturday, a 34.000 USD prize fund and
world ranking points. MCBS Executive director and vice president Vitaly
Mant commented: "Concerning the proportions the Kremlin Tournament this year is
still greater than the editions before. We are thinking about changing
the modalities next year to come up to that enormous inflow. On the
other hand we get more and more offers by companies and federations to
collaborate with us. Lets look....."
Although
the prelims were filled with present Pyramid stars, only a few of them
could snatch a ticket for the Kremlin as the young guns dashed
forward. Kirill Annishenko, world's number one and defending champion
from Russia, prevailed over number three Alexander Palamar (Ukraine)
5-4, before he was beaten by 17 year old Einar Samaleyev from Tatarstan
(Rus) 4-5 in the second to last round. World Dynamic Pyramid champion
K.Saguinbayev (Krg) was defeated by Daniil Bogushevsky, the reigning
Russian champion, in the same round. The next and deciding last 16
stage became the final station for another two favourites: The reigning
world Combined Pyramid and Asia Open champion Alikhan Karaneyev from
Kazakhstan lost to Pavel Mechovov (Rus) 3-6, while Russia's Jury
Pashinsky, former world and reigning European champion, was defeated by
compatriot Pavel Kouzmin 4-6.
At
the same time the women's division saw a rum start when this year's high flyer Yelena Bounos (Belarus) was defeated by compatriot
Violetta Klimova with a 2-3 in last 16 round.
On Saturday at the
State Kremlin Palace, some hundreds of invited guests from sports,
society and politics were watching the start of the women's semis and
men's quarter final matches. Spectators included sports celebrities, members
of the Russian government and lots of cue sports personalities from the
nations of Commonwealth of Independent States.
In the women's
division, Anastacia Lyupova from Moscow never let anybody put her over
a barrel. The 2 times European champion whitewashed Svetlana Maximova
(Armenia) 3-0 in the semis, before she defeated Natalya Trofimenko
(Moscow) 3-1 in the final (8-1, 3-8, 8-6, 8-5).
Quarter finals men:
Vladimir Vinetswige (Rus) 4-5
Pavel Kouzmin (Rus)
Vladimir Lyutov (Rus) 5-2 Andreiy Gloushanin
(Blr)
Dmitri Petropavlovsky (Rus) 5-2 Arsen Saakov (Rus)
Pavel
Mechovov (Rus) 5-2 Stanislav Tshemodanov (Rus)
Pavel Kouzmin,
the 2007 Longoni Cup champion and last remaining Top Ten player, as
well as Pavel Mechovov, current world's number 13, seemed to be the
favourites for the final, but again the young savages would not be deterred from their plan to reach the Kremlin final. With a 5-2 score Lyutov
beat Kouzmin, while Petropavlovsky overcame Mechovov with a narrow
margin of 5-4.
In the final, Lyutov quickly went to the fore after
he brought the first 3 frames to his account. In the 4th frame Lyutov
seemed to come closer to the win with some spectacular in-off shots,
but Petropavlovsky struggled through that to earn his first point. From that point, Petropavlovsky dominated the match. Lyutov, on the other
hand, seemed to lose his way. With a 5-3 score at the end, Dmitri
Petropavlovsky captured his first big title as the new Kremlin king.
Frame results: 8-0, 8-6, 8-1, 6-8, 2-8, 3-8, 6-8, 1-8
