Roberto Gomez defeated Albin Ouschan 9-7 to advance to the last 64 of the World Pool Championship at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes, but only after a brilliant fightback from the Austrian, who had been 8-0 down.
Ouschan is still alive in the double elimination event and will now face a sudden-death play-off to qualify for the straight-knockout stage. After getting on the board at 8-0 down, Ouschan would have thought his fightback was brief until Gomez missed an 8, and from then the 2016 World Champion set to work on winning six consecutive racks before a missed 6 at just one behind gave his Filipino opponent the chance to win.
Also on the TV table on Sunday evening was US No.1 Shane van Boening, who got his tournament off with a 9-3 win over Petr Urban. He’ll now face fellow American Oscar Dominguez for a place in the last 64.
Germany’s Veronika Ivanovskaia shocked Greece’s Nick Malai with a 9-7 victory, the first win for one of the tournament’s eight female entrants. Ivanovskaia’s compatriot Joshua Filler also got off to a winning start, beating Belarsus’ Margarite Fefilova.
American female April Larson gave Chris Melling a scare before the Brit closed out a 9-7 victory, while Darren Appleton booked his place in the last 64 with a 9-2 success over Germany’s Christof Reintjes, who was on the winning side when the pair were on opposing teams in the World Cup of Pool final last month.
Defending champion Fedor Gorst is safely through to the last 64 after wins over Mark Magi and Mark Gray. Team USA’s Mosconi Cup star Billy Thorpe has also won through the groups stage, as had former World Champion Thorsten Hohmann.
The World Pool Championship continues at 12pm (UK) time on Monday, June 7 and is broadcast live on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live. Live scoring as well as complete tournament results and match schedule can be found at www.matchroompool.com.
Germany’s Joshua Filler and Christof Reintjes defeated Great Britain 11-6 to land their nation’s second World Cup of Pool title.
The pair rode their luck at times in the final and also took advantage of some missed opportunities by the Great Britain pair of Darren Appleton and Karl Boyes, who were looking to complete a fairytale comeback. The duo won the World Cup in 2014 and returned at the last minute as late substitutes to this year’s event.
Having crushed Netherlands in the quarter-finals and Slovakia in the semis, the British momentum came to an end at the hands of Germany, who last won the World Cup in 2011 when Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann took the trophy in Manila.
“This final had so many ups and downs,” said Filler, who shares the $60,000 winner’s prize with Reintjes. “We both missed a 9-ball and made it and without these two 9-balls I don’t think we would have won the tournament because these two gentleman played so unbelievable throughout the tournament. They put in a great final and in the end we were the lucky guys.
“We fought every rack against Estonia and in the final; the break wasn’t really working but we fought to the end and we got the trophy, luckily. Without [my wife] Pia I wouldn’t win any tournament.”
Reintjes added: “I am over the moon. Today was our day; we can miss every ball and they go into the pocket.”
Germany drew first blood at the end of a nervy first rack which saw Reintjes miss the 3 before Appleton failed on the 4. The Yorkshireman showed his nerves early in the match; a missed 5 in the sixth rack was his third crucial mistake and it denied Great Britain the chance to level at 3-3, and gifted Germany a 4-2 advantage.
It was Boyes who missed the 4 in the next rack; leaving it in the jaws after Great Britain had taken advantage of a German pushout. Boyes’ 1 and Appleton’s 3 down the rail were good shots, but the missed 4 showed their fallibility. Germany came from their chairs to make it 5-2.
The hosts settled after that and took the next three racks to level. Germany regained the lead at 6-5 after Reintjes fluked the 2 to open the table. A Boyes 6/9 brought the 2014 champions level again but the Blackpool man missed the 7 and Germany led again at 7-6. They then benefitted from two huge flukes; first Reintjes missed the 9 only to see it fly up table to the opposite corner pocket. He then made a 6/9 for his side to lead 9-6 before it was Filler who fluked a 9; he missed the bank to the middle but it found the opposite pocket to take Germany to the hill.
Great Britain took the next but Boyes had a tough shot on the 2 after their subsequent break. Boyes left it in the jaws and Filler kicked it in, opening the rack for Germany to clinch victory.
“I can’t be disappointed,” said Boyes. “We weren’t in the event, got a last-minute call-up and we’ve got to the final. It was a strange match, we didn’t get off to the best of starts, then there were shot clock issues; it was just a strange match and in the end it wasn’t meant to be. We weren’t in the event, got a last-minute call-up and we’ve got to the final.”
Appleton added: “We couldn’t really find our rhythm but from 5-2 down we battled really hard, made some good shots and some good outs to get to 6-6 and from there it is a blur. They had some rolls but that is pool and when your name is on the trophy, your name is on the trophy.
“I definitely feel like I am back to somewhere competing at the top level, so there are a lot of positives. Karl played amazing all week, probably the player of the tournament. I am so happy that I feel like I am back and compete again and I am looking forward to the future.”
Appleton will next be in action at the World Pool Championship from June 6-10, an event he won in 2012, and which Filler snapped off in 2018.
The next Matchroom Pool Series event is the World Pool Masters in Gibraltar from May 22-25, live on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.live. Full broadcast details can be found at matchroompool.com.
Great Britain will face Germany in the World Cup of Pool final after a faultless display by Darren Appleton and Karl Boyes against Slovakia was followed by a fighting comeback from 7-2 by Germany, who beat Estonia 9-7.
Late entrants Appleton and Boyes kept their remarkable dream alive as they kept Slovakian pair Jakub Koniar and Jaroslav Polach in their seats for almost the entire match, completing only the second semi-final whitewash in World Cup history with a 9-0 win.
Appleton made a tough long 9 the take the first rack and send a warning shot to the rest of the field; the 2014 winners were well and truly back. If that wasn’t warning enough, they shut Slovakia out of the match, taking three more ranks for a 4-0 lead. A safety battle in the fifth gave Slovakia a chance but Boyes slammed in a difficult 2 to end the exchange, and Great Britain cleared for a 5-0 lead.
It was an incredible performance, even more so given their late notice to enter the event. GB were near faultless; Appleton had a 6 ball that rattled before dropping in the sixth, but otherwise it was the centre of the pocket every time for the Brits.
They had to play safe after the break at 7-0 up and remarkably that brought Polach his first shot since winning the lag. He had to try a kicked safety but the 1 landed in the jaws of the bottom corner pocket and Boyes was able to do enough to make the 1 and keep the cue ball on the table.
That was Slovakia’s last visit. The result was the first World Cup semi-final whitewash since Finland’s win over Canada in 2007, and Polach could only admiringly describe Britain’s performance as ‘a destruction’.
“Pool is all about chances,” said Boyes. “I left Appleton a long 9 in the first, he knocked it in and it snowballed. We didn’t make any mistakes. They did that to Austria and have been on the receiving end now and the same could happen to us in the final, you never know.
“The big match was round two against Greece, they played okay but let us off the hook and then to do what we did to Holland, then we knew we could win the event. We have lots of experience in these events, so why not?”
Appleton added: “I felt a little bit better today than yesterfay, I am gaining more confidence and Karl is playing really well. Slovakia were probably numb because they weren’t in the game. We broke very well, ran a bunch of racks, and to get off to a great start was massive. It’s unbelievable that we are in the final.”
Great Britain will face Germany after a stunning comeback from Filler and Reintjes over Estonia’s Denis Grabe and Mark Magi.
Germany looked nervy at the table early on and Estonia were able to build a deserved 5-2 lead. Magi and Grabe played some fine stuff in the eighth, giving them both a four-rack lead but also confidence to move forward in the match.
Filler scratched on the 3 in the next rack and Estonia had 7 on the board and a five-rack advantage. However, from there the Germans’ comeback began. They took each of the next five racks to draw the match level at 7-7.
Germany didn’t have a shot in the 15th and Grabe played a great 2 to give his side a chance. They had to go safe on the four and Filler’s safety play was on point and Magi didn’t have luck on his side as the cue scratched to the bottom corner.
That took Germany to the hill, although Filler’s hand was stinging from the aggression of Reintjes’ high-five as the moved ahead.
However, there was still drama to be had. Reintjes under-hit position to the 7 and Filler opted to go safe. Grabe tied it onto the 8 and Reintjes left a tester up rail for Magi, and he missed it. Filler cut it in, and Germany joined Great Britain in the final.
The World Cup of Pool is broadcast live globally including on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live. Full broadcast details can be found at matchroompool.com. For all the latest news and announcements follow Matchroom Pool on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
QUARTER-FINALS Denmark 5-9 Germany
Philippines 4-9 Estonia
Germany will meet Estonia in the World Cup of Pool semi-finals after beating Denmark and Philippines respectively at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes on Thursday evening.
After Great Britain and Slovakia had won through in the afternoon session, Germany saw off Denmark 9-5 with both Joshua Filler and Christof Reintjes performing strongly, and the story was the same for Estonia as Denis Grabe and Mark Magi eliminated Philippines 9-4.
There was nothing to split Denmark (Mickey Krause & Bahram Lotfy) and Germany (Joshua Filler & Christof Reintjes) after the first eight of a potential 17 racks. Germany took the ninth and then Filler delivered his second golden break of the tournament to put his country two ahead, the first time either of them had a lead of more than one.
Denmark pulled one back but Germany extended their lead again, and then made it 8-5 with a 7/9 combo left for Filler by Lotfy.
Germany didn’t have a shot after breaking on the hill but got the better of the safety exchange and once they had a chance, Filler and Reintjes didn’t allow Denmark back to the table.
“We made twice as many balls on the break as they did, I think that and our safety game was our big advantage in the match,” said Filler. “The focus is playing the best you can. In this format, with winner breaks, your opponent can make five or six runouts but you just have to focus on yourself.
“The golden break was a big 9-ball because it took us two ahead. In a long tournament you need to improve in every match and that’s what we will continue to do hopefully.”
Reintjes added: “To play with the best player in the world is amazing; every shot goes right into the heart of the pocket. We wanted to do better in this match because in the first two matches we had a lot of things to improve, but in this match we had better chemistry.”
Germany will meet Estonia in the semi-finals after Denis Grabe and Mark Magi completed a confident 9-4 win over Filipino duo Roberto Gomez and Jeff De Luna.
Estonia started off strong, leading 2-0 and 3-1. De Luna then pulled off a highlights reel jump to bank the 1 up table. However, Gomez then missed the four and Estonia were back to the table to lead 4-1. Grabe and Magi continued to turn the screw, extending the lead to 5-1.
At 6-1 up Estonia allowed Philippines a route back when Grabe lost control of the cue ball in making the 4. It left Magi with a difficult cut which he didn’t make, and Gomez and De Luna got out of their seats to steal the rack.
It wasn’t the start of a momentum swing, however, as Estonia took the next for a 7-2 lead. Philippines hit back with two racks to close the gap but a brilliant Grabe safety helped Estonia open up the table at 7-4 and he and Magi cleared to reach the hill.
Philippines had a great chance to cut the gap and make Estonia sweat, but De Luna missed the 8. Grabe then made it but Magi hit the 9 hard down table and it rattled out. The cue was tied to the bottom rail and Gomez couldn’t make it up table and Grabe cut the 9-ball home.
Both semi-finals will be played on Friday afternoon before the race-to-11 final in the evening session from 5:30pm. The World Cup of Pool is broadcast live globally including on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live. Full broadcast details can be found at matchroompool.com.
ROUND TWO Russia 2-7 Japan
Italy 5–7 Denmark Germany 7-4 Kuwait
Japan, Denmark and Germany all won through to the quarter-finals of the World Cup of Pool during Wednesday afternoon’s play at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes.
Japan (Naoyuki Oi and Masato Yoshioka) were emphatic in victory over Russia, whose pair was World Champion Fedor Gorst and playing partner Sergey Lutsker. Denmark then took the initiative from 5-5 to defeat Italy, and the session concluded with Germany taking a 7-4 win over Kuwait.
The first two racks of the opening match were shared and it was Japan who took the third to lead Russia 2-1. They broke dry in the fourth but Gorst wasn’t able to successfully jump the 1 and Japan were able to take a two-rack lead that soon became 4-1.
Russia pulled one back in the sixth but a cruel kick from the 7 saw Gorst scratch on the break and Japan were able to run the table again. Oi and Yoshioka were making balls on the break and got to the hill at 6-2 thanks to another run out, and they took full advantage of the winner breaks format to take the next rack for a place in the quarter-finals where they will meet Slovakia.
Denmark and Italy (Fabio Petroni and Daniele Corrieri) were next up and a nip and tuck match saw the scores level after 10 racks. Denmark’s Bahram Lotfy and Mickey Krause were first to the hill, Lotfy making the 9 at the end of the 11th having completely messed it at 5-4 up, which had allowed Petroni ball in hand.
The Danish pair didn’t have a shot after their final break but the crucial moment came with three balls left when Lotfy played a great safety on the 7. Corrieri made a firm connection but the ball was left open for Krause and the impressive youngster set Denmark on the way to the quarter finals.
They’ll meet Germany after Joshua Filler and Christof Reintjes scored a 7-4 victory over Kuwait’s pairing of Omar Al-Shaheen and Bader Abdullah Alawadhi.
Kuwait, who were impressive in beating Poland 7-3 in the first round, took a 2-0 lead before Germany won the next five. A dry break gave Kuwait an opportunity and they closed to within one, before Alawadhi missed the 9 to level the match, which gifted Filler the chance to put Germany on the hill, and they ran out with their last break to win 7-4.
“In the first match Kuwait played really strong and that’s what we expected,” said Filler. “We both played okay, I think Omar missed an easy ball which was good for us, but we didn’t make balls on some of the breaks. But of course we are super happy to be in the quarter-finals.”
Round two concludes with three matches in the evening session, including USA vs. Philippines and Estonia vs. Great Britain A.
The World Cup of Pool is broadcast live globally including on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live. Full broadcast details can be found at matchroompool.com.
Italy dumped World Cup of Pool third seeds Spain out in the first round of the event at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes, while there were wins on Monday evening for Germany, who survived a Lithuanian fightback, and Kuwait, who shocked Poland with a 7-3 victory.
Italy (Fabio Petroni and Daniele Corrieri) led for much of the evening’s first match against Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz and World Pool Masters champion David Alcaide and it was a Corrieri golden break that got them to 4-1. They moved to the hill with a healthy 6-2 lead, and it turned out that they would need it.
A mini fightback got Spain to 6-4, but Sanchez-Ruiz then missed a long 2 to the top pocket. Corrieri made the jump to remove the 2 but hooked himself on the 7. However, former Mosconi Cup player ‘Fabulous’ Fabio Petroni fluked the 3 and that opened the table for the underdogs, who cleared for the match to set up a second-round clash with Denmark on Wednesday.
The second match of the evening featured Germany’s US Open Champion Joshua Filler alongside new partner Christoph Reintjes. They were taking on World Cup rookies Lithuania, who were represented by two-time European under-23 champion Pijus Labutis and Kestutis Zadeikis.
After opening up a 5-1 lead, Germany were hit by a Lithuanian comeback, but the debutants stalled at 5-4 and from there the favourites were able to take advantage of a third dry break to close out the match 7-4.
“To play in the arena is always edgy in the first match but I really enjoyed it,” said Filler. “I missed a couple of shots but it happens but the main thing is to keep positive, and my partner played really well so I am delighted that we won.
“You should practice as a team to find your chemistry and rhythm and I think that is the key for every team. I was impressed with Lithuania. I saw them in the practice room and they played good and after 5-1 down they kept fighting.”
The evening concluded with another seeded team being eliminated. This time it was Poland who were on the wrong end of the result, with Kuwait’s Omar Al-Shaheen and Badar Abdullah Alawadhi impressing in a 7-3 victory.
The first round concludes on Tuesday with matches including appearances for all three Great Britain Teams. Kelly and Allison Fisher take on Philippines pairing Jeff De Luna and Roberto Gomez in the opening match at 12 noon (UK time). The evening session sees Jayson Shaw and Chris Melling against Belarus’ Margarita Fefilova and Yana Halliday after the return of 2014 winners Karl Boyes and Darren Appleton, they take on South Africa as late replacements for Canada. The evening session will begin at 5:30pm with USA against Australia.
The World Cup of Pool is broadcast live globally including on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live. Full broadcast details can be found at matchroompool.com.
Mosconi Cup winners Jayson Shaw and Joshua Filler are among the latest players to be announced to represent their countries at the upcoming World Cup of Pool, which takes place from May 9-14, live on Sky Sports.
MVP Shaw will be joined for a second time on Great Britain A by Chris Melling, a Mosconi Cup MVP himself in 2012 and who recently reached Winners’ Group of Predator Championship League Pool.
Joshua Filler will team up with debutant Christoph Reintjes for Germany. Reintjes is a former EuroTour silver medallist and joins Filler, the 2018 World Champion and reigning US Open champion as Germany look to lift the trophy 10 years on from their only previous World Cup success.
Also confirmed is Canadian pair Alex Pagulayan and John Morra. Pagulayan was World Champion in 2004 and lifted the US Open 12 months later. He is also a former World Pool Masters champion but so far the World Cup has alluded him and Team Canada, who will be hoping to break that duck in Milton Keynes.
The World Cup of Pool features 32 two-player teams and is played to a straight-knockout format, with a total prize fund of $250,000.
Great Britain A, Germany and Canada will join defending champions Austria (Albin Ouschan and Mario He), Netherlands (Niels Feijen and Marc Bijsterbosch) and Great Britain B (Kelly Fisher and Allison Fisher) at the event. Also previously confirmed were teams from Finland (Petri Makkonen and Casper Matikainen), Poland (Mieszko Fortunski and Wojciech Szewczyk), Spain (David Alcaide and Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz) and Japan (Naoyuki Oi and Masato Yoshioka).
Further teams will be announced shortly and the draw for the World Cup of Pool will be made soon after all teams have been confirmed.
The World Cup of Pool will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live, with further international broadcasters to be confirmed.
After a dramatic final match, Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) raised the trophy in the air at the Dynamic Billard Dutch Open at the Golden Tulip Jagershorst Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands tonight.
Chinakhov never had a victory at the Euro-Tour so far. However, this year he already won the European Championships 9-Ball and one of the WPS events in the United States. However, the Euro-Tour title was still not in his list of achievements. He made his way into the final match over Mats Schjetne (NOR) 9:5, Francisco Diaz-Pizarro (ESP) 9:6, Marco Teutscher (NED) 9:8 and finally his teammate Sergey Lutsker (RUS) 9:5. His opponent Christoph Reintjes (GER) also played an amazing tournament so far. His last appearance at the Euro-Tour is eight years ago and he came back to Leende to make it to the final of 199 top players, eliminating big guns including Jakub Koniar (SVK) 9:6, Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) 9:5, Niels Feijen (NED) 9:6 and Albin Ouschan (AUT) 9:6 in the semi-final match. The setup was prepared for a high-class pool final and the match kept all promises. Both players performed quite solid but Reintjes struggled with his break shot. After 6 racks, the German was even leading 4:2 with almost no break. That was due to the fact that Chinakhov missed some shots in the beginning and also played very offensively. But then, the „Siberian Express“ from Russia managed to turn the tide in the match. He took rack 7 after an illegal break from Reintjes. in the next rack, he missed an easy 2-ball but when Reintjes came up with a decent safety shot for him, he fired the 2-ball in with a jump shot and ran the rack to tie the match at 4:4. As the match continued, Reintjes could not come up with a good break shot. Out of 6 breaks, he had 5 of them illegal and had to give the table to Chinakhov. The Russian accepted those gifts and grew stronger while Reintjes’ performance suffered of course since he grew more and more nervous, seeing the score board only adding points on his oppenent’s side. In the end, Chinakhov took the match with 9:4 and deservedly won his first Euro-Tour event in his career. 2017 seems to be his year so far. Let’s see how long the „Siberian Express“ continues on that roll.
„When I met Reintjes in the final match, I remembered him from my early Euro-Tour days“, said Chinakhov after the final. „I saw his list of opponents and I must say that he probably had the tougher draw than me“, Chinakhov added. „I knew I had to perform well. In the final match, I was not as nervous as I was before because I was also tired after this long day of pool“, Chinakhov explained, „and in the end I think I have won because my break was better than his.“ „This year is quite successful for me so far and I hope I can keep up the good results“!
Also today, the first rounds of the Dutch Women’s Open have been played. All-time favourite Kristina Tkach (RUS) started out as furiously as expected. In a full field of 64 participants, she defeated Vania Franco (POR) 7:2, Jennifer Vietz (GER) 7:0 even and Birgit Heidorn (GER) 7:1 in the winner’s qualification round to book her seat in the single elimination stage of the last 16 players. Another remarkable player that could make some noise is Eylul Kibaroglu (TUR). She won her first matches 7:6 over Monika Zabek (POL), 7:2 over Jessika Nilsson (SWE) and 7:5 over Palina Chernik (BLR). Melanie Suessenguth (GER), Oliwia Czuprynska (POL), Katarzyna Wesolowska (POL) and Veronika Ivanovskaia (GER) also belong to the circle of players that are expected to make it far in the event.
Every day, one match from the events will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF for free. All Facebook users may check out the high standard of quality which is provided for all the events and see what the Kozoom members receive all the time. You can see all the matches live via www.kozoom.com who stream the whole event on 23 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page every day. Results and schedules can be found at www.womeneurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Dutch Open.
The Women Dutch Open at the Golden Tulip Jagershorst Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands will continue tomorrow morning at 09:30 CET with matches from the last 16 players single elimination. Additionally, the women’s event will start at 09:00 CET with first round matches.
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.
