DAY TWO OF the Dynamic Billard Italian Open played out today (Saturday) at the Best Western Premium BHR Treviso Hotel. With 230 players and 20 tables, there are plenty of matches to get through and as a consequence the Italian Open is extended to four days, concluding on Monday evening with the live televised semi-finals and final.
There are 32 players remaining on the winner’s side of the bracket including Poland’s Szymon Kural who earlier this week triumphed in the WPA Predator World U19 Championship. The 18-year-old from Krakow went undefeated through that tournament, and after a brief pit stop in home town Krakow, hit the road bound for Treviso.
So far, he has three wins from three matches and defeated French No.1 Alex Montpelier 9-6 in the main arena to book his spot in the winners’ qualification round where he will face Alex Kazakis (Greece) at midday on Sunday.
Commented Kural; “It feels fine, nice, because again, I played very well. I beat a very good player and Alex also played very well. His break though, didn’t work so good and my break was a bit better so overall I’m happy and looking forward to playing Alex Kazakis tomorrow.
“I’m tired but I’ll fight till the end and we’ll see how that works. I will do my best as always and I will try to play my best pool. I’m feeling quite confident because four days ago I won the best title of my life – the World Junior Championship – so I’m confident and I’ll have a lot of fun,” he added.
Another Pole, Wiktor Zielinski, is still on course to usurp the No.1 spot from Francisco Sanchez Ruiz as he too finds himself in the winners’ qualification draw where he will face Tomasz Kaplan. Other big guns still undefeated include Mario He, Eklent Kaci, Niels Feijen, Ronni Regli, Dennis Grabe and veteran Ralf Souquet.
Jonas Souto
On the losers’ side of the draw, the final featured match was a cracker between another former WPA World Junior Champion in Spain’s Jonas Souto and experienced Romanian Babken Melkonyan. The Bucharest man played at a high level as he led throughout but struggled as the finishing line approached.
Souto’s break wasn’t working to any great effect and it was Melkonyan who reached the hill first at 8-6, having led 4-1 in the early stages. A snooker from Souto saw Melkonyan escape but scratch in the process. With ball-in-hand, the Spaniard made hard work of it but soon found himself level at 8-8. Breaking for the match, Souto found something and delivered his best of the match and from there he ran out for a tight victory.
He said afterwards, “I don’t know how I won that! It was strange in the beginning as I didn’t make a miss and I was 4-1 down as he didn’t miss a ball. He was playing perfect and I managed to comeback under pressure and he missed a little bit more but he played unbelievable. I tried my best all the time and I won 9-8 but it was a difficult, tough match. I think I was breaking well but just didn’t get the rolls but in the last rack I had the luck and made the run out.
“At this Euro Tour, if you lose in the first or second rounds, you need a lot of energy for all those matches because there’s five or six of them to get through but I’ll give it my best and if I do, I do. And if not then it’s onto the next one,” he added.
Play continues tomorrow (Sunday) with the remainder of Losers’ Round Three, followed by two more Losers’ Side rounds, then the last 32 qualification matches on both sides of the bracket. Play commences at 9.00am.
As well as the prize money, there are Tour ranking points on offer as well as world ranking points, so there is everything to play for. All Euro Tour tournaments are 9-ball and players compete in a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 32 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are races to 9 racks with alternate break.
All the matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com as well as selected matches on Facebook Live on the EPBF page. In addition, the semi-finals and final, played out on Monday night, will be live or highlights on the following television stations across Europe;
SportKlub HD – Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia,
Bosnia Herzegovina, Greece
Eyecons – Netherlands)
SportKlub – Poland
ORF – Austria
B1B Box – Bulgaria
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com
Day 2 of the UK Open Pool Championship at the Copper Box Arena, London live on the Matchroom Pool Facebook and YouTube pages as well as Matchroom.Live brought plenty of success for the top seeds as only Ko Pin Yi, Naoyuki Oi, and Eklent Kaci came unstuck in Winners’ Round 1.
The action began live on the Matchroom Pool Facebook with the two young guns of Lo Ho Sum and Mickey Krause head to head with Ho Sum looking to build on his runner-up finish at the World Pool Masters just a few weeks ago. Krause is far from a pushover though and the Dane showed his credibility and rise through the ranks to dispatch the Hong Kong, China player to Losers Round 2 in a 9-5 win.
Dennis Orcollo went up to Solihull, Birmingham between the World Pool Masters and the UK Open to keep in stroke playing in a local tournament which he won on Sunday evening and that decision seems to have paid off so far as he came good in a 9-4 win against Chris Seville of Great Britain.
One of the upsets of the day came on one of the back tables as 2015 World Champion Ko Pin Yi was on the end of a 9-4 loss to Luke Garland. Garland was only a few frames away from a World Snooker Tour card a few years back before defeat to UK Championship winner Zhao Xintong at the final hurdle and it showed his pedigree to run seven racks on the way to an 8-0 lead over Pin Yi. Pin Yi did come back but it proved too much of a hill to climb putting him into the next stage in the Losers bracket.
Oi is still in search of his first Matchroom title and his work will be cut out if he is to get rid of that hoodoo this week. The Japanese star fell at the hands of Pole Mariusz Skoneczny in the opening match of the day live on the Matchroom Pool Youtube. Kaci also missed out to Skoneczny’s compatriot Daniel Maciol 9-6. Maciol will face Pijus Labutis in the next round on the winners’ side whilst Kaci faces Rich Jones on the other side of the bracket to keep his hopes alive.
The USA’s Chris Reinhold survived an inspired fightback from Pia Filler to set up a clash with Pia’s husband Joshua in the next phase. Reinhold had amassed an initial advantage, but Filler came back into the contest most notably with a brutal hook early on in the 14th rack. Filler ran it close to get one away from Reinhold at 8-7 but it was the two-time Mosconi Cup player who pulled through to meet Joshua next.
It was the end of the road for Martin Gould on day two as the former World Snooker ranking event winner faced two defeats. Firstly, to Great Britain’s rising star Elliott Sanderson despite hitting the front first and looking in control before being dumped out of the competition in the evening to the vastly experienced Daniele Corrieri who will represent Italy at the World Cup of Pool next month from June 14-19 at the Brentwood Centre in Essex, England.
The journey for Gary Wilson continued though as the former Crucible semi-finalist bounced back from defeat to Chris Alexander to beat Gianluca Cappella and set up a tie with Romania’s Babken Melkonyan tomorrow.
Top seeds Shane Van Boening, Albin Ouschan, David Alcaide, Max Lechner, and Jayson Shaw amongst others all sailed through their respective contests to keep their run on the Winners’ Side continue. Alcaide yet to drop a rack this week whilst Van Boening has only dropped two so far.
There’s plenty of action for fans to get their teeth into tomorrow as Losers Round 3, 4 and 5 all take place as well as Winners Round 2, and 3. Over 100 players will be out of the tournament by the close of play tomorrow.
The final two days are available on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland as well as on Viaplay in Scandinavia and the Baltics and various other broadcasters worldwide including Matchroom.Live in relevant countries. See the full where to watch list here.
Tickets start from £15 for the day using the code UKOPEN at checkout. Secure yours here
He entered the main arena with a house cue and lost his match to Damianos Giallourakis (GRE) with 0:9…. but it seemed that he was enjoying his time.
The talk is of Frank Dane, a well known Dutch Radio DJ and leisure time pool player. "We love to have a game of 9-ball in between our radio shows“, explained Dane after his match, "and once we were talking about it. We then got a call and me and my friend got invited to this event.“ "Actually, I’m not a pool player at all, everything started from a joke and I just showed up but I must say I really enjoyed my day here. Everyone is so nice and friendly but probably also everyone here would beat me“, added Dane. He was certainly an asset to the Dynamic Billard Dutch Open.
More remarkable results of today include Mateusz Szaszor (POL) defeating favored Nick Malai (GRE) with 9:7. Ralph Eckert (GER) just remained the upper hand over Pawel Misiak (POL), winning with 9:8. Andy Worthington (GBR) got the better of Ivo Aarts (NED) by winning with 9:7. Being 7:8 down, Aarts forfeited the match with 7 balls still remaining on the table.
In the first winner’s round, we had "The Terminator“ Niels Feijen (NED), currently ranked Nr. 1 in the Euro-Tour rankings, snatching his match with 9:3 over Evangelos Vettas (GRE). Feijen’s teammate Nick Van Den Berg (NED) also won with 9:5 over Alan Conway (IRE). Mihai Robert Braga (ROM) delivered a small upset to the event, winning with 9:8 over Karol Skowerski (POL). Young gun Joshua Filler (GER) won his first match clearly by smashing Lars Van Dijk (NED) 9:4. Mark Gray (GBR) took care of Babken Melkonyan (ROM) also with 9:4.
Matches will continue tomorrow at 09:00 with the matches of the first loser’s round.
All matches can be viewed LIVE at www.kozoom.com. Up to 11 tables in HiRes quality are providing you with all the action of the event. You do not miss out one single match! Join today!
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.eurotouronline.com
The event will be hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.
THE 2015 DAFABET WORLD CUP OF POOL got underway today with three first round matches and there were a couple of upsets as two-time champions China crashed out to qualifiers Romania and then France squeezed past the seeded Canada in a deciding rack.
Taking place at the York Hall in London, the Dafabet World Cup of Pool features 32 two-man teams from around the globe competing for a $250,000 prize fund. Televised live in over 40 countries around the world, the event is now entering its tenth year.
No.8 seeds China had a torrid time of it at the hands of qualifiers Romania who were making their debut in the competition. They put on a tremendous show to take the match 7-4.
In 2011 the Chinese as defending champions crashed out to qualifiers Switzerland in Manila and it was a similar story this time.
The Romanian pair of Babken Melkonyan & Ioan Ladanyi looked in control throughout the match and they moved into a 4-0 lead to leave their opponents – Liu Haitao and two-time World Cup of Pool winner Li Hewen – looking bemused.
The Chinese got it back to 4-2 and then 6-4 but the Romanians never really looked in trouble as they showed no sign of nerves in front of the cameras as they closed out the match.
Having won a tough qualifying event with 20 competing teams, the Romanians were delighted to have made such a positive impact.
“We played we played well and only made one mistake each – the rest of the game was satisfying and I am very happy we won because this was Romania’s first participation in the World Cup of Pool,” said Babken Melkonyan.
“In a race to seven it is important to win the first rack. We got a 4-0 lead and we had a chance to make it 5-0 but I scratched but we recovered to win the match.
“I will watch Germany play Indonesia tonight – I think I will watch all the matches because there are some nice matches with great players. Germany has Thorsten and Ralf who are great players. I have watched Ralf since I was young and began playing pool. He is one of my idols”
In the final match of the session the French pair of Stephan Cohen and Alex Montpellier enjoyed a great win over the Canadian pairing of Jason Klatt and John Morra. The match was tense and nervous with plenty of errors but exciting nonetheless.
France led at 4-3 but that soon became 5-4 to Canada and then 6-5 to France as both teams felt the pressure. Canada levelled it and then broke for the match but Klatt scratched to give France the table. There was plenty more drama in the rack but in the end it was Cohen who potted the winning 9 ball for the victory.
Montpellier was relived to get over the line in such a topsy turvey match: “The last rack was crazy, I couldn’t think and it was very nervy. Whoever we play next isn’t important because it is about how we play together.”
Cohen added, “There was a lot of pressure at the end and we had a bit of luck with some shots, and they made a few errors. But that is 9-ball, it is always the same story.
“Now it is different because everybody we have played has won in the tournament and is more relaxed. We will be more relaxed too and we have two days to practice. We feel a lot better now we have the first win.”
The Korean pair of Jeong Young Hwa & Ryu Seung Wu won a ding-dong opening match of the tournament against Malaysia as they lead 5-0, looking in command before a series of misses and errors turned it into a 6-6 thriller. Neither side looked comfortable and there were missed pots and poor positional play from all four players as the match became nervier and nervier.
The Malaysian pair of wily veteran Ibrahim Bin Amir & novice teenager Kok Jken Yung somehow found their way back to 5-5 before a missed 4 ball with ball in hand gave Korea a 6-5 lead. They couldn’t take advantage from the break but Malaysia, breaking for the match returned the favour as they too couldn’t convert as Korea ran out winners.
The following broadcasters are screening live coverage of the Dafabet World Cup of Pool:
Sky Sports – GB and Ireland; Sky – New Zealand; CCTV – China; Nova TV – Czech Republic & Slovakia; OSN – Middle East & North Africa; ESPN 3 – USA; ESPN Latin America –Central & South America; Viasat – Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria & the Baltic states.
For fans outside those territories, Perform Group will be streaming the event via their www.livesport.tv service. In addition the Dafabet World Cup of Pool is syndicated around the world as 31 x 1 hour programmes by Matchroom Television.
Featuring 32 two-man teams from around the world, the Dafabet World Cup of pool is celebrating its tenth year as defending champion England attempt to become the first team ever to successfully defend the title. The event runs from 22nd to 27th September.
Tickets are now on sale at www.SEETickets.com and are priced at 10.00 per evening session (Tuesday to Friday), 12.50 per evening session on the Saturday and Sunday. Weekend afternoon sessions are 7.50 while Tuesday to Friday afternoons are free!
A season ticket covering all sessions is priced at 65.00.
The World Cup of Pool will carry a $250,000 prize fund including $60,000 for the champions. The event will be produced by Matchroom Sport Television and televised live on Sky Sports and then syndicated internationally as 31 x 1 hour programmes.
Diamond Billiards are the Official Table of the 2015 World Cup of Pool; the Official Cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith. The Official Cue, Chalk and Rest are supplied by Predator.
This first week-end of september marks the second edition of the Predator "Dynamite" Open in Brasov, Romania. The man himself after whom the event has been name – Darren Appleton – has brought along with him many international players who are on their way to the World 9-Ball Championships next week in Qatar. These top stars are treated like royalty and Romanians' passion for pool is here for all to see. Most of the international players are in Brasov for the first time and fell in love with this beautiful city.
During day one, we witnessed packed crowds from the 64-player double elimination round. With players from 14 countries at the start of the even, Romanians made their countrymen and themselves proud by placing 4 players into the final 16. Romanian champion Ladanyi Ioan looked very solid, along the way he beat Russian star Ruslan Chinahov to qualify. Euro tour regular Babken Melkonyan came through beating the former european star Sandor Tot and last year's runner up Ciprian Gandac. Later on Gandac did make it from the losers' bracket in a hard thought battle (7-6) against Ferdi from Turkey. Alexandru Cotescu, after losing to Darren Appleton 8-1 bounced back to qualify with a 7-1 scoreline.
The biggest surprise of the tournament so far was Turkey's player Saki Kanatlar beating the likes of Jason Klatt to get his place into the final 16. In the end, 13 out of the 16 seeded players qualified besides the two Marian from Romania and Jason Klatt Canada.
Today promises to be a great day for Romanian pool and the invited starts. 16 players remain representing 10 countries to make this a true international field. Exciting match-ups today. The single elimination rounds will be played to a finish, with races to 10 and a race to 11 for the final match.
Here's the line-up for the last 16 starting at 11am CET:
With the annual World Cup of Pool coming back to London this September, Matchroom Sport can announce the 32 teams and players set to contest the annual $250,000 pairs tournament. Taking place at pool’s fiercest venue, the York Hall in Bethnal Green, the World Cup runs from Tuesday 22nd to 27th September.
Defending champions are England A with Karl Boyes and Darren Appleton looking to become the first pair to successfully defend their crown. Competition will be tough though, with a host of previous winners and finalists taking part.
Germany will be represented by 2011 champions Thorsten Hohmann and Ralf Souquet and 2012 winners Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen (Finland) will be once again taking part. America’s Shane Van Boening, a winner with Rodney Morris in 2008, is paired with Mike Dechaine this time, while Li Hewen, a two-time winner in 2007 and 2010 will be partnered by Liu Haitao as they make a run for title number three for China.
Holland, desperately unlucky to be runners up in 2013 and 2014, will be looking to go one better as Niels Feijen and Nick Van Den Berg team up once again. Daryl Peach and Mark Gray, who came so close for England in 2008, will also be trying to repeat those performances.
Other highly fancied teams include the Philippines which pairs former World No.1 Carlo Biado with under-rated Warren Kiamco and Taiwan – World 10 Ball champion Ko Pin Yi and Chang Yu Lung. Team Austria will also fancy their chances as World No.1 Albin Ouschan and Mario He pair up one again.
Commencing on Tuesday 22nd and culminating in the final on the evening of Sunday 27th, the event will be played to a single elimination format over six days with two sessions a day.
There are 31 matches in total.
Tickets are now on sale at www.SEETickets.com and are priced at £10.00 per evening session (Tuesday to Friday), £12.50 per evening session on the Saturday and Sunday. Weekend afternoon sessions are £7.50 while Tuesday to Friday afternoons are free!
A season ticket covering all sessions is priced at £65.00.
The World Cup of Pool will carry a $250,000 prize fund including $60,000 for the champions. The event will be produced by Matchroom Sport Television and televised live on Sky Sports and then syndicated internationally as 31 x 1 hour programmes.
Dennis Orcollo (Photo courtesy of Dong Secuya/philboxing.com)
The Philippines Dennis Orcollo wins his second straight 9-8 match in as many days to advance to the knockout stage of the 2015 World 10-ball Championship in General Santos City.
Filipino pool players have a standard answer when asked by the media, “How did you play?” Even if they just played the greatest round of pool in the history of the sport, the comeback will invariably be a humble, “I’m just lucky.”
World number 7 Dennis Orcollo is definitely not being humble today as he profusely thanks the pool gods for the good fortune he’s been the beneficiary of here in General Santos City in the southern Philippines. For the second straight day Orcollo pulled a great escape from what looked like sure defeat, winning 9-8 yet again, and advancing to the single elimination round of 64 at the 2015 World 10-ball Championship.
Playing against Pampanga’s Roland Garcia, Orcollo looked to be cruising into the knockout stages with an 8-5 lead in the race to 9 alternate break match. Garcia, though, stormed back and had only five balls left on the table for the win when, inexplicably, he touched and moved the 8-ball with his hand while lining up a shot on the five ball. Orcollo leapt out of his chair, said a quick thank you to his Lord, and cleared the colors for the win.
“I’m really lucky today,” Orcollo said afterwards and this time you knew he meant it. “I didn’t think I would even get back to the table. I still can’t believe I won that match.”
31 other players are feeling as relieved as Orcollo as they also booked their spots in the final 64 which begins on Wednesday evening. For another 32 players, however, the dream of world pool glory crashed and burned as they each suffered their second defeat in as many days, which meant they were eliminated from the event.
The field for the final 64 will be filled after the first three sessions tomorrow in what promises to be a day of drama and nerves. Judgement Day in championship pool often makes otherwise reasonable men lose their minds, as the prospect of possibly being in contention for a world title suddenly dawns on them.
Many of those who have already qualified don’t seem to be in any danger of losing their cool any time soon. World number 1 Chang Yu Lung of Taiwan continued to fly under the radar today with another superb performance, beating Finland’s Petri Makkonen, 9-5, to advance. I say “under the radar” because Chang, with his stoic and emotionless demeanor, attracts little to no attention. If you watch him closely, however, he plays fearless pool and that quiet confidence will surely carry him far in this event.
Canada's Jason KlattWith a third of the field of 128 players, the Philippines was a lock to dominate the final 64 and several notable names have looked exceptionally good so far. Jeff De Luna has given up just one rack in two matches and he could very well find himself the number one seed in the knockout rounds. Other Filipinos advancing today with fine performances were Francisco Bustamante, Alex Pagulayan, Lee Vann Corteza, Warren Kiamco, Roberto Gomez, Elmer Haya, Antonio Gabica, Raymund Faraon, and Carlo Biado.
When boxing legend and hometown boy Manny Pacquaio brought the World 10-ball to General Santos, one of his aims was to give the legions of lesser known Filipino pool players the chance to shine and this is exaclty what is taking place at the SM Mall. Several of the younger and not so well known Filipino players also advanced today and it’s clear that several will be establishing their credentials here this week. One of those looking to make a name for himself is Roland Dela Cruz, a relatively unknown Filipino who took down two-time World 9-ball Champion Thorsten Hohmann on the losers’ side. Hohmann’s early exit represented the biggest upset so far in this year’s event.
England’s Darren Appleton came up against two young Filipino players today. Appleton, the 2008 World 10-ball champion, has spent enough time this country to know that top notch pool talent is waiting every corner in every city in the Philippines. To take anyone lightly is akin to pointing a gun at your own head. After handily defeating Angelo Ariola 9-2, the Englishman found himself in a tight tussle with Ruben Cuna. Appleton had to fight to the finish to advance to the Final 64 with a well-earned 9-7 win.
Afterwards, Appleton revealed he knows not to take any of the Filipinos lightly and in fact, he employed a strategy to thwart any chance of an upset.
“He’s a good young Filipino player,” Appleton said of Cuna. “My experience got me through that one. I played two Filipinos today and my game plan was to not show any emotion, not show any weakness to them. Because obviously they are very young and they’re not used to tournament play. They are not used to playing big names so I think that helps in the end because he missed a couple of balls that he wouldn’t miss in the pool room. I wanted to make him work for it.”
Also winning their second match and advancing to the knockout round were Germany’s Ralf Souquet, Taiwan’s Chang Jung Lin, Fu Che Wei and Ko Ping Chun, Canada’s Jason Klatt and John Morra, and Estonia’s Denis Grabe.
The group stages will finish up on Wednesday over the first three sessions. The round of 64 in the single elimination stage begins in two evening sessions Wednesday, and continues Thursday morning over one session.
The semi-finals and final will take place on Saturday.
The winner of the 2015 World 10-ball Championship will receive $40,000, while the runner up will receive $20,000
**The 2015 MP Cup World 10-ball Championship takes place at the SM Mall in General Santos City, Philippines from February 15-21 and is sanctioned by the World Pool & Billiard Association(WPA), the world governing body of pool.
The WPA will be on hand in General Santos throughout this year’s World 10-ball Championship providing up to the minute information, photographs and in depth articles with insights and analysis from WPA Press Officer Ted Lerner.
Day 1 at the 2015 MP Cup World 10-ball Championship in General Santos City sees some favorites cruise while others struggle to find their form.
One thing that is a constant in any world championship in the sport of pool is good old pressure. But as the 2015 MP Cup World 10-ball championship kicked off on Tuesday in the Philippines southernmost city of General Santos, it was not the usual nerve rattling pressure that makes grown men cry and brings back the fans time and again that was on display. It was, rather, that nagging pressure to get out of the gates quickly, to find that championship spark that can carry you to glory later in the week.
“There’s two kind of pressure in these events,” said an obviously relieved Karl Boyes after he took down former world 9-ball champion Ronnie Alcano of the Philippines 9-7 in their first match of the group stages. “The first pressure is trying to get through the group stages, to just get those two wins and get into the single elimination. There’s nothing worse in this game than going out in a world championship in the group stages. All of us feel that the tournament doesn’t really begin until the single elimination stage. Then, if you can then make it to the final 16, that’s when you look around and realize you’ve got a chance to win the world title.”
Indeed with 51 matches in the books after a long Day 1, nobody amongst the 128 players from nearly two dozen countries is touching the subject of winning the crown. For the next two days, it’s all about winning the required two matches, getting out of your group and securing a spot in the money rounds, the Final 64, which begins Thursday night. It’s a pressure to perform, and, especially for the top players, to not embarrass themselves.
There was a host of terrific matches inside the SM City Atrium today with many contests featuring top names squaring off against each other, adding that extra element of drama and gravity to the proceedings. Plenty of matches went all the way to the wire, leaving one player greatly relieved and the other suddenly staring at elimination.
In a match featuring two up and coming quality players, Canada’s John Morra found himself down to 8-5 in a race to 9 to the Philippines Jundel Mazon. But just when Mazon thought he had the match won, he slipped and allowed the Canadian a lifeline. Morra turned the tables on the Filipino and sent him to the losers’ side of the group with a brilliant comeback.
“He made a few mistakes when he was up 8-5,” Morra said. “I just started putting pressure on him and I could see he was feeling it. I played really well at the end.”
The Philippines Dennis Orcollo is surely one of the favorites here this week, but he struggled against fellow Filipino Oliver Medenilla. Down most of the match, Orcollo discovered his groove just in time to win a squeaker, 9-8.
“I didn’t feel that good today and I didn’t break that well,” said Orcollo, the world number 7. “There’s always pressure in the first match because you don’t know the tables and how to break. But I finally figured out the break. That’s the key to winning this tournament is the break shot. If I can break good, I’ve got a chance. And I know how to deal with the pressure in the knockout stages.”
The Philippines veteran Warren Kiamco is coming off a massive victory in the US at the Derby City 9-ball and could surely find himself in the winner’s circle here this week. But young Filipino upstart Raymart Comomt proved yet again that the talent pool in the Philippines runs as deep as Sarangani Bay here in Gen San. Comomt took Kiamco to the limit before falling to his elder at the finish line, 9-8.
Two-time World 9-ball Champion Thorsten Hohmann has found lots of success in the Philippines but he’ll have to bear down over the next two days, as he fell in a nail biter to Indonesia’s Sharoni, 9-8. China’s talented young star Wang Can had his hands full with Philippine veteran Antonio Lining, winning a tight match, 9-8.
One player who seems to play pressure free these days is World number 1 Chang Yu Lung of Taiwan. He opened the day in a quality matchup against Spain’s David Alcaide. Smooth and steady as always, Chang cruised to a 9-6 victory and looks set to go far this week.
Perhaps the finest performance of the day was put in by the Philippines’ Antonio Gabica. The Qatar based Gabica, who two years ago took runner up in the World 9-ball Championship in Qatar, stomped on world number 11 Lui Haitao of China, 9-3.
Another Qatar player, Waleed Majid, currently ranked number 12 in the world, continued his fine tournament form as he defeated the Philippines Jordan Legaspi 9-6. Majid is the highest ever ranked player out of the Middle East and his dedication to the sport is paying big dividends.
The Netherlands big stars, including World number 2 Niels Feijen, Nick Van Den Berg, and 2011 World 10-ball Champion Huidji See are not entered in this year’s event but a rising Dutch player clearly wants some of that limelight. Marco Teutscher defeated world number 8, and Mosconi Cup star Nikos Ekonomopoulos, 9-5.
Play in the group stages continues on Day 2 of the World 10-ball Championship. The field of 128 will be cut in half by late on Day 3 on Wednesday when the final 64, single elimination stage of the tournament begins. The semi-finals and final will take place on Saturday.
The winner of the 2015 World 10-ball Championship will receive $40,000, while the runner up will receive $20,000
**The 2015 MP Cup World 10-ball Championship takes place at the SM Mall in General Santos City, Philippines from February 15-21 and is sanctioned by the World Pool & Billiard Association(WPA), the world governing body of pool. The entire event is sponsored by Manny Pacquiao.
The WPA will be on hand in General Santos throughout this year’s World 10-ball Championship providing up to the minute information, live scoring, photographs and in depth articles with insights and analysis from WPA Press Officer Ted Lerner.
Mario He (AUT) juts made his way through to the semi finals at the Dynamic Billard Dutch Open in Leende, The Netherlands.
In the round of the last 16 players, he had a very tough match with Marcus Chamat (SWE). In the end, He had the better start in the day and won the match with 9:6. That brought him into the quarter-finals where he met Tony Drago (MALT). „The Tornado“ had just overpowered Daryl Peach (GBR) in the previous round with 9:8. At 8:8, Drago broke and ran the rack. However, the quarter-final was a clear affair in favor of He. The Austrian won 9:4 and booked his seat in the semi-finals where he will meet Nikos Ekonomopoulos from Greece.
Another Greek contestant in the semi-finals is Alexander Kazakis. He managed to get to the semis with victories over Nick Van Den Berg (NED) 9:7 and Francisco Diaz-Pizarro (ESP), also 9:7.
Kazakis will have to deal with Mark Gray (GBR) in the semifinal match.
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
Niels Feijen is on fire! After winning the 9-Ball European Champion title two days ago, he is now in the final 16 players of the Dynamic Billard North Cyprus Open Euro-Tour event. He had an epic clash with Albin Ouschan (AUT) in the round of the last 32 players. Feijen seemed to be unstoppable by Ouschan. After 8 racks, the scoreboard displayed 7:1 for Feijen. Then the tide seemed to turn in the match. Ouschan won a rack after Feijen gave him a good safety position but Ouschan luckily pocketed the 2-ball. That obviously gave him wind underneath his wings. Ouschan managed to pull a few racks back from Feijen. And „The Terminator“ seemed to be impressed by Ouschan’s comeback. 6:7 was the score after 13 racks. Then, Ouschan came up with a sloppy played safety shot. That was his end in the tournament. Feijen ran that rack and the next one to win this match with 9:6. He will now face Chris Melling (GBR) in the next round.
Other notable results from today include Manuel Gama (POR) ousting Darren Appleton (GBR) from the event with 9:6. Serge Das (BEL) had a close heads-up match with Daryl Peach (GBR). Das had the better end in his favor, winning the match with 9:8 over Peach. Young „Orange“ player Ivo Aarts (NED) also still has the chance to leave his footprints in the tournament. He defeated Babken Melkonyan (ROM) with 9:6 and will now have to deal with „grandmaster“ Ralf Souquet (GER) in the next round.
In the women’s Euro-Tour event, all-time favored player Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) won her match in the round of the final 16 players clearly with 7:1 over Katarzyna Wesolowska (POL). She will now face Wesolowska’s teammate Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) who eliminated Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR) 7:1 in the next round. Kristina Zlateva (BUL) has a match with Monica Webb (USA) in the same round. Zlateva overcame Martine Christiansen (NOR) 7:3 while Webb destroyed Darya Sirotina (RUS) with 7:1. Caroline Roos (SWE) will play Ana Gradisnik (SLO) in the same round, just like Claudia Kunz (SUI) versus Kristina Tkach (RUS).
The Euro-Tour event will continue tomorrow morning at 10:00 am local time.
All results and more info can be found on www.eurotouronline.eu . LIVEStream of all 24 tables can be viewed at www.kozoom.com.
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.eu or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
