It’s time to get down to the serious business end of things in Doha, as the field of 128 has been cut in half after three days of group play at the 2017 World 9-ball Championship. From here the remaining 64 players will engage in a three day sprint to pool’s most prestigious title. Whoever wins six straight matches will be crowned the new WPA World 9-ball Champion on December 14th.
There was no escaping the tension on Monday inside the cavernous Al Arabi Sports Club as all 32 matches played were do-or-die. “Judgment Day” as it’s known in pool circles always brings out the drama as players, many of them who could just as easily find themselves lifting the title, scramble for their pool playing lives trying to escape the always dreaded group stages. One single roll of the ball could spell the difference between total disaster and a life changing run at glory.
Myanmar’s Maung Maung is not one player pool fans would expect to be a serious contender over the next few days. But the 23 year old ex-snooker player, who has lived and practiced in Beijing, China for the last three years, certainly turned some heads yesterday with a scintillating performance against the Philippines talented Johann Chua. Chua, who recently won the All Japan Championship in Osaka a few weeks back, is one Filipino player many fans thought might make a run at the title this year. But the sharp shooting Pinoy never had a chance as Maung cruised to an impressive 9-3 win. It’s the first time in the history of the World 9-ball Championship that a player from Myanmar has made it to the knockout rounds.
Die hard Filipino fans need not worry, however, as seven other Pinoys passed the grade and made it through to the knockout rounds. On Monday, veteran Warren Kiamco, Roland Garcia, and Qatar based Israel Rota and Francisco Felicilda all won handily to punch their tickets to the Final 64. There they’ll join Carlo Biado, Jeffrey De Luna and Jeffrey Ignacio in the quest for pool glory. A Filipino has not won the World 9-ball Championship since legend Francisco Bustamante pulled off the feat here in Doha in 2010.
In terms of numbers via country, the Taiwanese are the clear winners at this point. 10 Taiwanese make up the final 64, including world number one Chang Jung Lin, and 2015 World 9-ball Champion Ko Pin Yi. The pressure of Judgement Day certainly didn’t affect the Taiwanese as four players made it through including Lo Li Wen, Nien Rong Chih, Hsieh Chia Chen and Yu Li Si. The only Taiwanese player not to make it through yesterday was Cheng Yu Hsuan, who just happened to be up against a compatriot, Lo Li Wen.
The Polish side has been quietly putting in a stellar performance in this year’s championship with six Poles qualifying for the final 64. On Monday, players from Poland stepped up big time, going 4-1 for their best performance perhaps ever. Winners included Mateusz Sniegocki, Mieszko Fortunski, Wojciech Szewczyk, and Wiktor Zielinski. Zielinkski, it should be noted, is just 16 years old and is one of the rising stars on the European pool playing circuit, having recently won a Euro Tour event.
The Chinese team also cashed in their chips on Monday with four out of six winning and going through. Team China will have 5 players competing for the title starting today. One noted player who will not be among them, however, is former World 9-ball Champion, Wu Jiaqing. Wu fell to 21 year old Swede Daniel Tangudd, 9-5 and was eliminated from the event.
One player that seems to have caught the eye of many fans around the world is Canada’s John Morra. Two years ago Morra was a definite rising star in the pool world, and proved it by reaching the quarterfinals at the World 9-ball Championship in Doha in 2015. Morra then briefly stepped away from the game only to return with a renewed hunger for the winner’s circle. Several months back he won the Canadian 9-ball championship which won him a paid trip to Doha. Yesterday, Morra took down Argentina’s Arial Castro, 9-6, to advance to the knockout rounds. Nobody in the pool world would be surprised if the talented Canadian makes some serious noise over the next few days.
“Today I played pretty well,” a refreshed looking Morra said after qualifying. “I’m over the jet lag and I feel pretty well. The last few months I’ve been playing really well. I’ve been traveling all over the US. I got in some big money matches. I got the hunger back. I had lost it last year. I didn’t feel like playing the game. I had problems in my neck and I was stressed. I’m an emotional player. But right now I feel great and I’m motivated. I feel I can go all the way.”
Play in the round of 64 begins at 10am Doha time(GMT +3.) The round of 64 and 32 will be played today, with 16 players remaining at the end of the three sessions.
All matches will be race to 11, alternate break. The final on Thursday will be a race to 13, alternate break.
The players will compete on Wiraka DYNASTY Tables with Simonis 860 Cloth, Electric Blue Color and using Aramith Tournament Pro cup TV Pool Balls featuring the new Duramith Technology.
The 2017 World 9-ball Championship is hosted by The Qatar Billiard and Snooker Federation(QBSF), and was sanctioned by the The World Pool Billiard Association, the governing body of the sport of pool.
With an impressive 8:2 victory over Samuel Santos (POR), Joshua Filler (GER) just won the 8-ball title at the inaugural Dynamic Billard European Championships for U23 at the Golden Tulip Jagershorst Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands.
The final match was played between Joshua Filler (GER) and Samuel Santos (POR). Filler was definite the player who was regarded as the highest favourite in the field. Santos was not necessarily expected to get this far but due to his premium performance here, he secured his spot in the final match. With victories over Berk Mehmetcik (TNC) 8:4 and Casper Matikainen (FIN) 8:5 he underlined his claim for the title today. On the other hand, Filler took down Georgi Georgiev (BUL) 8:4 and Roberto Bartol (CRO) 8:4 to meet Santos in the title match. In the beginning of the final, it looked as if there was a close competition between the two contestants. After 5 racks the score was 3:2 to Filler but Santos seemed to have a foot in the door still. However, that changed dramatically. Filler simply did not make any mistakes and played ice cold as he is known for. Whenever he was at the table he made the game look so easy since he made no mistakes, being it pocketing balls or playing position for the cue ball. He was always almost perfect for his next position. Consequently, he took the next 6 racks in a row and had Santos only play an insignificant role in the rest of the match. In the end, Filler took the match 8:2 and won the inaugural title undefeated.
Tomorrow, the Dynamic Billard European Championships for U23 at the Golden Tulip Jagershorst Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands will continue at 10:00 CET with first round matches of the 9-ball competition.
Every day, one match from the events will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF. 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 around noon every day. Results and schedules can be found at www.europeanpoolchampionships.eu so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Youth.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organised by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.europeanpoolchampionships.eu, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Daniel Tangudd (SWE) had reached the quarterfinal in the 8-ball competition at the Dynamic Billard European Championships for U23 at the Golden Tulip Jagershorst Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands. He defeated Roberto Bartol (CRO) 8:5.
The match started furiously for Tangudd. He was 5:1 up after 6 racks and it looked like Bartol was easy prey for him. This was mainly due to the fact that Bartol did not have a good break shot. He scratched twice and did not have runout options as his opponent had. But at 5:1 for Tangudd, the Swede missed an easy 8-ball to go 6:1 up on Bartol. Maybe that was a wake-up call for the Croatian. He started to play better and suddenly Tangudd seemed to be a bit insecure. After 11 racks, Bartol was 5:6 down to Tangudd. The match was really open again. But then Bartol again scratched on his own break and Tangudd was able to benefit from that mistake. He won two racks in a row and took the match 8:5 from Bartol to make it into the single elimination stage of the last 8 players. Bartol will have one more chance to come back if he wins his match on the loser’s side against Aliaksandr Hapeyeu (BLR) tomorrow morning at 10:00 CET.
Another notable performance was once more shown by Joshua Filler (GER). Today, he defeated Daniel Resch (AUT) 8:3 and then Casper Matikainen (FIN) 8:3 for his seat in the quarterfinals.
For the first time in its history, the EPBF has staged the European Championships in the „Under 23“ category. The main reason is to have the step from Under 19 to Men not so huge and maybe give some more time to younger players to adapt to the level in the main categories.
Tomorrow, the Dynamic Billard European Championships for U23 at the Golden Tulip Jagershorst Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands will continue at 10:00 CET with loser’s qualification matches of the 8-ball competition.
Every day, one match from the events will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF. 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 around noon every day. Results and schedules can be found at www.europeanpoolchampionships.eu so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Youth.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organised by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.europeanpoolchampionships.eu, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
On the first day of the Dynamic Billard Dutch Open at the Golden Tulip Jagershorst Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands, Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) succeeded over Maksim Dudanets (RUS) with 9:7 in a match that was determined by many errors.
The lineup was promising. Ekonomopoulos belongs to Europe’s pool elite for many years already. His opponent today, Maksim Dudanets, belongs to the young Russian players which have earned many merits during European Championships and previous Euro-Tours. Both players have a high profile record and the match was expected to be of high quality. In the beginning of the match, that was valid and true for Dudanets. He played solid and performed quite well while Ekonomopoulos committed unexplainable errors. He missed easy pots and positions and he seemed to be completely off track. After 6 racks, Dudanets had robbed at least three racks off Ekonomopoulos and was 5:1 in the lead. It seemed as if the match would be a single sided affair in favour of Dudanets. But then the tide turned in the match. While Ekonomopoulos grew stronger, Dudanets started missing shots and playing poor positions. A player with the experience of Ekonomopoulos of course benefitted from the situation and snatched some racks from Dudanets in that phase of the match. After 14 racks, the score was all square at 7:7. The tension rose and now it was Dudanets’ turn to commit mistakes. He did so and Ekonomopoulos capitalised from it, went on the hill with 8:7. In rack 16, Ekonomopoulos broke and ran the table to win the match 9:7 over Dudanets. This victory was achieved with quite some luck. Dudanets was the far better player in the first half of the match while Ekonomopoulos dominated the second half. The victory therefore is in order yet still a bit lucky. Ekonomopoulos will face Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH) in the next round on the winner’s side while Dudanets needs to seek his fortune on the loser’s side of the draw.
Other remarkable results include Wojciech Sroczynski (POL) defeating Evgenii Buslaev (RUS) by a whisker 9:8. Sweden’s Daniel Tangudd remained victorious today over Denis Grabe (EST). Former World Champion Oliver Ortmann (GER) took down up and rising star Joshua Filler (GER) 9:7 in an exciting and thrilling encounter. Tomi Ahonen (FIN) got the better of Imran Majid (GBR) 9:8. Not the best day for Britain’s pool elite. In the same round, Joao Grilo (POR) achieved a 9:4 victory over Daryl Peach (GBR). Mohammed Soufi (GER) won 9:5 over Mario He (AUT).
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.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Dutch Open.
The Dynamic Billard Dutch Open at the Golden Tulip Jagershorst Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches from winner’s round 2.
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.
THERE WERE wins for the big guns of China, Holland and Austria as the first round of the 2017 12BET World Cup of Pool moved towards its closing stages at the York Hall, Bethnal Green.
Featuring 32 two-man teams from around the globe, the 12BET World Cup of Pool is into its 11th year as reigning champions Chinese Taipei attempt to become the first team ever to successfully defend the title at the York Hall.
China, who with Wu Jiaqing and Dang Jinhu, looked to be one of the tips for the championship, had a real struggle on their hands to get past qualifiers Portugal in their first-round match-up. They lead 4-0 then 5-1 before the Portuguese pair, who won through a big qualifying tournament in Austria last year, got their break going.
With some solid shot making and some combinations the 9, they soon clawed their way back into it and were breaking at 5-5. However, class prevailed as the Chinese pair got back to the table and converted their chances to run out 7-5.
Two-time World Cup of Pool runners-up Holland easily negotiated their opening first round match as they hammered Hungary 7-0. It was the ever-reliable pairing of Nick Van Den Berg and Niels Feijen who once again looked solid as they had too much for the Hungarian pair of Gabor Antal and Gabor Solymosi. They now play old nemesis the Philippines in the second round.
Feijen said, “We got off to a great start and the break was clicking really well. Nick played some really nice recovery shots and overall played a really solid match.
“Everybody remembers one ball in 2014, the missed 8 ball that was the climax of the event but we played really solid that year and in 2013 – one ball is one ball and if we can play at that level again we can go all the way.”
Van den Berg added, “Normally you try and make a ball on the break but with this rule you’re trying to control the one ball. I hit the knuckle of the side pocket a few times so we had a tough shot sometimes to start but we played solid and made some good outs.
“We have some bad memories of playing the Philippines – we lost the final 10-8 here in 2013 and we are here to take revenge.”
In the final match of the afternoon, Mario He and Albin Ouschan of Austria struggled to get past Sweden but despite going from 6-2 to 6-5 against Marcus Chamat and Daniel Tangudd, the Austrians held on the reach the second round.
Play continues Thursday evening afternoon with one more first round match and two second round matches:
USA (5) v Singapore
Japan (9) v Canada (8)
Finland (13) v India
Broadcast for six days live on Sky Sports in the UK; the tournament is available live in over 100 countries around the world. A comprehensive list of countries and networks broadcasting the World Cup of Pool can be found here: http://www.matchroompool.com/world-cup-of-pool/#watchlive
The 12BET 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 as well as other stations around the world.
12BET World Cup of Pool Tickets are on sale now at www.matchroompool.com priced at just £10.00 per evening session (Tuesday to Sunday) and £8.00 per weekend afternoon session. Tuesday to Friday afternoons are free. A season ticket covering all sessions is priced at £60.00.
2017 12BET World Cup of Pool is sponsored by Rasson Billiards who supplies the Official Table; the cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith by Saluc. Predator is the Official Cue and Chalk of the event.
Mark Gray (GBR) has already taken four victims down in the Dynamic Billard Portuguese Open in Salgados Palace Hotel in Albufeira, Portugal. Today in the round of the last 32 men single elimination, Gray wiped the floor with Daniel Tangudd (SWE) and handed him a doughnut, winning the match 9:0. Before that match, Gray’s route to the single elimination stage of the event led over Athanasios Vrakas (GRE) 9:3, Sergey Lutsker (RUS) 9:3 and Marcus Chamat (SWE) 9:1 even. Altogether, Gray allowed his opponents to win seven (7!) racks against him in four matches! What an impressive performance from the Brit so far.
Other remarkable results from today’s rounds include Ronald Regli (SUI) conquering Mieszko Fortunski (POL) 9:8 in winner’s round 2. Regli then went on and also defeated Roman Hybler (CZE) 9:8 before he fell to the sharp blade of young Wiktor Zielinski (POL) 4:9 in the single elimination round which puts in in 17th place. Mats Schjetne (NOR) upset current World 9-ball Champion Albin Ouschan (AUT) and overran him with 9:5. Then he was overrun himself, losing 4:9 to Sebastian Ludwig (GER). In the loser’s qualification round, Schjetne went up against Fortunski. The Norwegian managed to win that encounter 9:7 and advanced to the single elimination stage. There, he won 9:7 over Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) and will meet Joshua Filler (GER) tomorrow at 10:00 GMT for a spot in the quarter-finals.
In the women’s division, Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR) is playing a nice tournament so far. Last night, she defeated Vivien Schade (GER) by a margin of 7:6 and advanced to the winner’s qualification round where she met Melissa Rademakers (NED) today. Polovinchuk proved stronger than Rademakers and handed her a 7:5 defeat to secure her spot in the single elimination round of the last 16 players. There she will receive an opponent who still needs to qualify and will be drawn in the match against her at 12:00 GMT. Also well on track is Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) who took down Veronika Ivanovskaia (GER) by 7:6 only. The same result was good for Katarzyna Wesolowska (POL) who made it over Ine Helvik (NOR) in the round of the last 16 remaining women.
Another interesting incident occurred during today’s matches. For quite some years now, EPBF conducts anti-doping tests on a random basis at the events. These tests are requested by IOC and WADA these days and all sports federations must follow this procedure. Today, one test was arranged and four matches were determined from which the losing players had to go to the testing. However, one player denied being tested although he was drawn for it. After being informed that denying a doping test would result in the same penalty as having a positive finding in the sample, the respective player still did not want to take the test. This behaviour was immediately reported to the higher authorities and the outcome will very likely be that the player in question will receive a long ban from international as well as national billiard events, according to the WADA code which is binding for all sports federations worldwide. Conduct like this can and will not be tolerated and is regulated for all sports by the WADA codes and regulations.
The Dynamic Billard Portuguese Open in Salgados Palace Hotel in Albufeira, Portugal will continue tomorrow at 10:00 GMT with matches from last the 16 single elimination in the open event and at 09:30 GMT with matches from the loser’s qualification round in the women’s event.
Every day, one match from the event will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF. 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 on up to 24 tables live via www.kozoom.com who stream the whole event on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page around noon every day. Results and schedule can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Italian Open starting Thursday 30thMarch at 09:00h
The event will be 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.epbf.com, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
At the 2017 Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair Athletes in the Salgados Palace Hotel in Albufeira, Portugal, the Gold Medals in the 9-ball individuals have been awarded. Jouni Tahti (FIN), Kelly Fisher (GBR) and Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) are the title holders for the next year.
In the men’s division, Ruslan Chinakhov played against Ronald Regli (SUI) in the final match. Both players have somehow already achieved a huge goal by reaching the final match since the two finalists are automatically qualified for this year’s World Games which will be held in Wroclaw, Poland. Chinakhov’s way into the final match led over Niels Feijen (NED) 9:5, Daniele Corrieri (ITA) 9:1, Alexander Kazakis (GRE) 11:5 and Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL) 11:9. His opponent Ronald Regli terminated Artem Koshovyi (UKR) 9:6, Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) 9:7, Nick Van Den Berg (NED) 11:9 and Maksim Dudanets (RUS) 11:9 for his seat in the match for glory. The final match itself was high class by both players with Chinakhov simply being better than Regli. The Russian know how to use his chances and how to put extra pressure on his opponent Regli. In the end, the clear result of 11:6 was more than deserved for Chinakhov.
Top eight Men:
1. Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS)
2. Ronald Regli (SUI)
3. Maksim Dudanets (RUS)
Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL)
5. Daniel Tangudd (SWE)
Nick van den Berg (NED)
Alexander Kazakis (GRE)
Andre Lackner (GER)
In the women’s division, Kelly Fisher was here on a mission. Residing in the United States since several years now, she wanted to try and get her foot in the door to play at the World Games. In order to do so, she needed to reach the final. Her mission did not begin too promising since she lost her opening match and had to make her long way into the final through the loser’s side. Making it back to the single elimination, Fisher eliminated Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) 7:2, Veronika Ivanovskaia (GER) 8:2 and Ina Kaplan (GER) 8:5. Her opponent in the final match was Nataliya Seroshtan (RUS). She overpowered Yini Gaspar (SUI), Ine Helvik (NOR) 8:2 and Ana Gradisnik (SLO) 8:5 for her spot against Fisher. Like in the men’s division, both players have booked their spot for this year’s World Games by making it to the final of the 9-ball individuals at the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair Athletes in the Salgados Palace Hotel in Albufeira, Portugal. The final match was quite unspectacular though. Fisher was way too dominant for Seroshtan today to have a real match going on. After 12 racks being played, Fisher came out as the clear 8:4 winner over Seroshtan, claiming this year’s title in women’s 9-ball in Europe.
Top eight Women:
1. Kelly Fisher (GBR)
2. Nataliya Seroshtan (RUS)
3. Ina Kaplan (GER)
Ana Gradisnik (SLO)
5. Vivien Schade (GER)
Veronika Ivanovskaia (GER)
Ine Helvik (NOR) Kristina Grim (GER)
In the wheelchair division, the final match turned out a one man show for Jouni Tahti or, vice versa, a disaster for Henrik Larsson (SWE) who was Tahti’s opponent. Tahti creamed Larsson to the max and handed him a doughnut, winning the final match 7:0 over Larsson.
Top eight Wheelchair Athletes:
1. Jouni Tahti (FIN)
2. Henrik Larsson (SWE)
3. Fred Dinsmore (IRL) Kurt Deklerck (BEL)
5. Matt Duffy (GBR) Roy Kimberley (GBR)
7. Kim-Ronny Nygard (NOR)
David Himpe (BEL)
Final medal table after 5 of 5 events:
After the quarterfinal matches today, two players in the men’s and two in the women’s division were randomly drawn and brought for testing against doping. The EPBF is conducting anti-doping tests since many years now and will continue to do so in order to fulfil the requests from the international umbrella federations for a clean sport.
This concludes the coverage of the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair Athletes in the Salgados Palace Hotel in Albufeira, Portugal. Starting Thursday, we will be back with more news from the upcoming Dynamic Billard Portuguese Open and Portuguese Women Open.
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.
In his first match at the Dynamic Billard Albanian Open in Tirana, Albania, newly crowned World 9-Ball Champion Albin Ouschan (AUT) took first blood with 9:6 over Jani Siekkinen (FIN).
Having just arrived this morning from Doha, Qatar, where he won the title of the World 9-ball Champion, Albin Ouschan had to be on duty again at 14:00 local time and cross swords with Jani Siekkinen in the Euro-Tour. The match started slow and Siekkinen got a small lead. When Ouschan had the chance to tie the match at 3:3, he even missed an easy 9-ball and allowed Siekkinen to gain a two-rack lead over him with 4:2. The audience was curious whether Ouschan had not yet overcome his travel exertions and whether he was able to bring his level of play on the table today. But that lack of concentration turned out to be a one off thing. In the rest of the match, the World Champion got more and more focussed and improved his performance step by step. After having trailed 3:5 in the match, Ouschan left not many chances anymore for Siekkinen. To the contrary, the Finish missed a few important shots and seemed to show some nervousness. That is a kind of weakness that one should not show when playing a heavyweight like Ouschan. The Austrian cruel-heartedly punished the mistakes from Siekkinen and finally took the match quite convincingly with 9:6.
Other remarkable results from today’s matches include Imran Majid (GBR) teaching a lesson to Dimitri Jungo (SUI) 9:1. Alen Muratovic (BIH), first medal winner for his country three years ago at the European Youth Championships, defeated Euro’s ranked #26 Daniel Tangudd (SWE) unexpectedly with 9:7. Tour leader Mark Gray (GBR) wasted no time with unrated local player Arenc Norja (ALB) and overpowered him with 9:1. The all-Polish matchup between Piotr Kudlik and Mieszko Fortunski went 9:8 in favor of Fortunski. Euro-Tour’s #6, Mario He (AUT) had a lot of work to do against young Andreas Madsen (DEN). After a tough fight and 16 exhausting racks, He was the winner with a close result of 9:7 only.
Another favorite who had to struggle more than he liked was BCA Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet (GER). He had to deal with 16-year-old Osman Sanlisoy (TNC). What looked like a walk in the park for Souquet before the match turned into a nightmare for the German legend. After 14 racks, Souquet was with one foot in the grave, trailing 6:8 against Sanlisoy. With his own break coming up, he needed to win three consecutive racks in order to stay on the winner’s side. But he had no ball down on his break. Sanlisoy attempted a safety shot but left the 1-ball open for Souquet. The German cleared the table to get to 7:8. Rack 16 was opened by Sanlisoy then. He had a good break shot but the lowest numbered ball was a very tough thin cut. He attempted it and missed. He left a really tough shot for Souquet who actually made it into the pocket and cleared the table again, leveling the match hill-hill at 8:8. Now the advantage was on Souquet’s side. He had his own break shot coming up and took the last two racks off Sanlisoy. The pressure was strained to the breaking point. This time Souquet played a cut break and succeeded in pocketing the 1-ball in the side pocket. Three other balls broke the kitchen line so the break was legal and he also had a long shot at the 2-ball. He played a safety shot and left no other chance to Sanlisoy than leaving him a shot. Souquet took the chance and sneaked over the winning-line, winning the match 9:8 over strong Osman Sanlisoy.
Today between 19:00 and 20:00 local time, EPBF will go LIVE on Facebook with and interview of Albin Ouschan and others. Spectators are asked to interact with the video.
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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.
Nick Malai (GRE) defeated Austrian top player Albin Ouschan (AUT) with 9:6 in the first winner’s round of the Dynamic Billard Austrian Open.
There seems to be a curse on Austrian players here in St. Johann. The tournament is held here for the 5th time and never has an Austrian player been able to win the open event. This year, things were looking prosperous for Albin Ouschan. He came here as nr.1 World ranked player. But he could not find his game at all. To the contrary, he played a lot of bad shots, committed fouls, missed easy balls and played bad safety shots. Ouschan seemed to be disgusted with his own performance. Malai capitalized for that. He also started out with some mistakes but then he got momentum since Ouschan left him too many chances. It all started in rack two when Malai missed an easy 8-ball and left it there for Ouschan. The Austrian pocketed the 8-ball and then missed the 9-ball. It can hardly be told when Ouschan missed so many shots the last time. After a while, Malai got going and his break started to work better. Whatever Ouschan did, he could not get into his own rhythm. Being in the lead 7:3, Malai tried to take the shortcut on the hill and attempted a combination shot on the 9-ball. He failed and gave the table to Ouschan. The Austrian ran the rack and the crowd was hoping for him to start a comeback. But already in the next rack, Ouschan missed another easy shot to give the table to Malai who went on the hill with 8:4. Then, Malai missed an 8-ball and Ouschan managed to pull two racks back from Malai. However, one could tell by the body language of Ouschan that he had almost given up on himself. At 6:8, Malai took the final point and won the match with 9:6. „I have really benefitted from my opponent’s mistakes“, stated Malai after the match, „the match was not good but I handled the situation better.“ „Luck was also a factor in this match, but I think in the end my break worked better and that’s why I won the match in the end“, Malai added.
Other remarkable results include Marek Kudlik (POL) defeating Karl Boyes (GBR) in the first winner’s round 9:3. Daniel Tangudd (SWE), member of Team EUROPE at the recent Atlantic Challenge Cup, won his two matches of the day 9:8 over Mats Schjetne (NOR) and 9:2 over Sebastian Batkowski (POL). Petri Makkonen (FIN) took down Karlo Dalmatin (CRO) 9:7.
The current nr.1 ranked player of the Euro-Tour, Niels „The Terminator“ Feijen (NED) easily won his first appearance at the Dynamic Billard Austrian Open 2015 with a 9:4 victory over Damian Adamus (POL). BCA Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet (GER) also marched on into the second winner’s round by smashing Salah Ziyaei (UAE) 9:2.
The action will continue tomorrow at 09:00 with the matches of the second loser’s round.
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The event is be hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.
