After traveling across the Atlantic Ocean, the World Pool Series gets underway today, with the some of the world’s most accomplished pool players competing in the 8-Ball Classic Championship at the IDM Club in Bucharest, Romania.
Competition opens with seven first-round matches beginning at noon and eight additional contests starting at 2:30 pm and the action continues into the evening with 16 more contests. Five matches will be streamed for free via Facebook live throughout the day.
Seventeen of the 47 players entered have received first-round byes, including Joshua Filler – the winner of June’s Rasson 10-Ball Players Championship. Playing at New York’s Steinway Billiards, the young German overcame a first-round loss to Shane Van Boening and won eight consecutive matches, besting Alex Kazakis 17-10 in the championship match.
Also receiving a bye is Elkent Kaci, a young man who is no stranger to the WPS 8-ball Championships. The Albanian took home two titles last year, earning top honors in the Aramith Masters and also taking home the season-ending Predator Grand Finale in November. Kaci also placed third in last summer’s RYO Classic Championship and was a runner-up in October’s U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships.
Two additional past WPS champions have also made their way to Romania: Russia’s Ruslan Chinahov and Estonia’s Denis Grabe.
Playing in the inaugural WPS event – the Molinari Players Championship – Chinahov posted an undefeated 7-0 record, using a strong break and flawless pattern play to soundly defeat Lee Vann Corteza 16-6 in the finals of the 119-player event.
After suffering a loss in his second match of April’s Aramith 9-Ball Players Championship, Grabe won six consecutive matches to earn his first WPS title. He capped off the tournament by using solid safety play to frustrate and easily defeat Kazakis, 17-7.
Kazakis has also received an early bye as he continues to try and claim his first WPS title. The young Greek has used clutch shot making and some good luck to reach the finals in this year’s Aramith 9-Ball and Rasson 10-Ball Championships but has come up short in the title match. Kazakis also placed in the top five at last year’s 8-ball formatted Predator Grand Finale.
Also entering today’s event with early byes are 2017 Mosconi Cup team members Jayson Shaw and Ralf Souquet as well as World Pool Masters champion Niels Feijen.
The first game to be streamed today will be between Arjan Matrizi and Nick Malaj to be followed by the match between Thomas Pöschl and Albin Ouschan.
The 8-Ball Classic Championship is the third event of the four-tournament 2018 World Pool Series. This event will be held at the IDM Club in Bucharest, Romania from August 7th to 10th 2018. The World Pool Series is sponsored by Rasson, Aramith, Predator, Iwan Simonis, Tiger, and Kamui. Our suppliers and partners are Billiards Digest, CueScore, Outsville, and the WPA.
Alexander Kazakis (GRE) has had a good day „at the office“ today. After having won the 10-ball Kremlin Cup earlier this month, Kazakis came here to Treviso with a lot of wind underneath his wings to play the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open, the final event of the Euro-Tour in 2016. He seems to be on a streak. In his first winner’s round match, Kazakis wasted no time with Guilherme Sousa (POR) and defeated him 9:4. In the next round, the opponent was punished even harder. Ryan Pisany (MLT) fell to the sharp blade of Kazakis and received the maximum penalty. 9:0 was the final result that put Kazakis in the winner’s qualification round where he will be up against Arjan Matrizi (ALB).
Former World 9-ball Champion Daryl Peach (GBR) did not catch that good of a day as Kazakis. He won his first match 9:4 over Adam Mscisz (POL) but then met Sascha Trautmann (GER). The German prove to be too strong for Peach today and showed no mercy for him. 9:3 was the final result that put Peach on the loser’s side of the draw.
Joining the list of the fallen heroes from today is Albin Ouschan (AUT), current 9-ball World Champion. He started with an easy prey in winner’s round one with a comfortable 9:4 victory over Mariusz Skoneczny (POL). In the next round, Ouschan stood against Andrey Seroshtan (RUS). That match went completely against the World Champion. Seroshtan dominated the table and in the end handed Ouschan a tough and painful 9:4 debacle. Seroshtan, who earlier today overpowered Andreas Madsen (DEN) 9:5 now will go against Jose Alberto Delgado (ESP) in the winner’s qualification round.
Another interesting encounter took place in winner’s round one between Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) and newbie Aleksa Pecelj (SRB). The 16-year-old kid from Serbia came here to Treviso for his first Euro-Tour experience and he came up with some impressive performances. In round one, he defeated Jorge Garcia-Fonseca (ESP) with 9:0. Then he met Stepanov who is constantly ranked in the top 32 in Europe since years. However, Pecelj did not show too much respect and tried to live for the moment. He used his chances whenever he got them and Stepanov committed some unnecessary mistakes. This combination lead to a score of 8:8 with Pecelj having the final break shot. He could not make a ball off the break but left no shot for Stepanov. The cue ball was hiding partly behind the 8-ball and he could not see the whole of the 1-ball. He played a push-out and left a tough position for Pecelj. The young Serbian decided to go for a combination shot that was very hard to make. Playing that shot in that situation would have probably not been the choice of many players. But Pecelj went for it and made it. He then used his chance and ran the rack to win with 9:8 over a disappointed Stepanov. In his next match in winner’s round two, Pecelj lost to Olivier Mortier (BEL) 7:9.
This year’s Mosconi Cup Captain for Team EUROPE, Marcus Chamat (SWE). received a painful whipping today from Hubert Lopotko (POL). In winner’s round one, Lopotko destroyed Chamat on table 1 and handed him a clear 9:5 defeat. Thereafter, Chamat went to the loser’s side and ousted Tom Bjerke (NOR) 9:6. Having received a walk-over in the next round, Chamat will be up next against Thomas Poeschl (GER) on Friday morning at 10:30 local time. On the other hand, Lopotko has made his way through to the winner’s qualification round by taking down Kristjan Kuusik (EST) 9:5 after the destruction of Chamat. At 13:30tomorrow, he will face Stephan Cohen (FRA) for a spot in the single elimination of the event.
The Euro-Tour is played on 20 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be purchased at www.kozoom.com. Once a premium membership is held, all events for the respective period of time can be viewed LIVE. Additionally, a huge video gallery is contained in the website.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.eurotouronline.com, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Euro-Tour’s ranked #1 player Mark Gray (GBR) just notched a 9:5 victory over up and rising Joshua Filler (GER) in the winner’s qualification round of the Dynamic Billard Albanian Open in the Expo Center in Tirana, Albania.
Mark Gray is always a hot favorite for the title in any Euro-Tour event. Currently leading the rankings, the Brit still was favored in this match with Filler who is regarded as „the“ rising star in European Billiards by many. The signs for the match were on the wall: This was going to be a tough battle for both of the two players. Indeed, Filler was a great challenge for Gray over a long period in the match. After ten racks, the score was 5:5. This proved that none of the two really got any momentum until then. Filler was at the table having won the safety scenario in that rack and had a clear layout in front of him. He incomprehensibly missed an easy 3-ball and gave the potential lead away to Gray who thanked him and went ahead with 6:5. The next break was Filler’s. He had balls down but no shot at the 2-ball. So again, a safety exchange opened the rack. Gray played the better shots and took w two-point lead with 7:5. Then Filler took a time-out since he needed to get going now otherwise Gray would be too far ahead of him. Rack 13 saw again Gray as the better safety player and he managed to win that rack too, climbing on the hill 8:5. Now it was Filler’s break and his last chance to somehow turn the tide in the match. Filler had a good break and a nice layout in front of him. However, he again missed an easy shot on the 4-ball and gave the rack away to Gray who took the rack and the match 9:5 over Filler. In this match, Filler committed too many mistakes and Gray was the deserved winner in the end.
Other remarkable results from today include Ronald Regli (SUI) eliminating Mario He (AUT) from the tournament in loser’s round 3 with 9:8. Mario He, being the winner of the last event in North Cyprus, met Regli who was the runner-up from Austria, the event before. Two high-class players that one would not have expected in the early loser’s rounds. But they both already lost once so they had to joust on the left side of the flowchart. At 8:8, He played a poor safety shot which allowed Regli to run out and stay alive in the tournament. In the next round he will face Mark Mägi (EST) who also managed to win his last match with 9:8 over Michal Turkowski (POL).
Earlier today, Karlo Dalmatin (CRO) ended the hopes of Daniel Tangudd (SWE), overrunning him with 9:6. Alen Muratovic (BIH) sneaked past Dimitri Jungo (SUI) with a 9:8 triumph over the Suisse. Ermal Dylie (ALB) also kept a foot in the door, winning his match with Rui-Edgar Franco (POR) 9:8. Dylie’s teammate Arjan Matrizi (ALB) also stayed alive in the event defeating French legend Stephan Cohen (FRA) 9:7. Jim Chawki (SWE) send Nick Malai (GRE) home by sweeping him 9:7.
In the Albanian Women Open, Katarzyna Wesolowska (POL) pipped her teammate Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) 7:6 in the first round. She will play Sandra Baumgartner (AUT) in winner’s round 1 at 15:30 CET today. Baumgartner remained the upper hand over Yini Gaspar (SUI) 7:4 in her first match. Diana Khodjaeva (BEL) shelled Palina Chernik (BLR) 7:1 in round 1 and will now encounter Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR) in the next round.
The Euro-Tour is played on 24 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be purchased at www.kozoom.com. Once a premium membership is held, all events for the respective period of time can be viewed LIVE. Additionally, a huge video gallery is contained in the website.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.eurotouronline.com, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Euro-Tour’s top ranked player Nick Van Den Berg (NED) followed his teammate Niels Feijen’s example and joined him on the loser’s side of the Dynamic Billard Dutch Open Euro-Tour event in Leende, The Netherlands. Van den Berg lost 7:9 to young Wojciech Szewczyk (POL).
In the beginning of this winner’s round two encounter, the match went back and forth between the two players. They took racks in turn and after 14 racks, the score was tied at 7:7. Van den Berg, who is leading the Euro-Tour rankings for a long time already, definitely wanted to stay on the winner’s side. He witnessed last night’s match when his World Cup of Pool-teammate and long time friend, Nr. 2 ranked player Niels Feijen fell to Tony Drago. The quality and the level in the Euro-Tour these days is very high and no-one – not even the highest ranked players – can take a victory for granted at any stage of the event.
At 7:7, Szewczyk had Lady Luck on his side. He executed a jump shot on the 1-ball and missed it but fluked it in another pocket. That gave him the chance to run the rack which he did. He went on the hill and took an 8:7 lead over van den Berg. In the 16th rack, van den Berg broke the balls. „Actually, it was his first decent break in the match. All earlier breaks, Nick was very unlucky and never had a real chance of running out“, stated Szewczyk after the match. Van den Berg had the chance but did not use it. He missed the 2-ball and allowed Szewczyk back to the table. The young Polish cleared the table and took the match with 9:7, sending van den Berg to the loser’s side. „I was pretty lucky to win this match“ said Szewczyk, „I had a few flukes during the match while Nick really had to struggle with his break shot. I think I am a lucky winner“, Szewczyk mentioned very modestly,
Other remarkable results include Niels Feijen (NED) ousting Aziz Moussati (MAR) 9:1 on the loser’s side. In the winner’s round 2, Ralf Souquet (GER) cleared Niels Doessing (DEN) with 9:1. The winner of the recent two Euro-Tour events, Denis Grabe (EST) won his second match also with 9:2 over Arjan Matrizi (ALB). Valery Kuloyants (GER) remained victorious over Daniele Corrieri (ITA) 9:7.
Three out of 11 tables can be watched LIVE throughout the event on www.kozoom.com. The event will be hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion, IBP. For further information, please check the event website at www.eurotouronline.com or contact the EPBF press office at press@epbf.com
