Joshua Filler survived being knocked to the loser’s side by Alex Pagulayan on day two of the World Pool Championship 2023 in Kielce, Poland as only 64 remain after two days of action live on Sky Sports, Viaplay, DAZN, Matchroom.Live and TV networks worldwide.
Filler faced Pagulayan early on for a spot in the Last 64 to avoid an extra match in Losers’ Qualification round this evening. The Killer fell to a 9-7 defeat, his second defeat to the Canadian in a matter of days after a loss at the Derby City Classic. It left Filler having to beat Daniele Corrieri to ensure his hunt for a second world title would continue and he did so in emphatic fashion in a 9-1 dismantling. Crucially, defeat to Pagulayan meant Filler lost his seeded position in the bracket ahead of the Last 64 redraw.
Last year’s semi-finalist Abdullah Alyousef suffered a 9-3 defeat to USA hotshot Shane Wolford to be sent home at the first major hurdle whilst Oliver Szolnoki suffered the same fate in a hill-hill finish against Ajdin Piknjac. 2021 runner-up Omar Al-Shaheen struggled for his groove against Denis Grabe as the Estonian came good to knock the 2021 runner-up out the competition. There was frustration for 1996 champion Ralf Souquet also, the Kaiser well beaten by Pole Daniel Maciol in Winners’ Qualification before defeat at the hands of Dimitri Jungo. Home favourite Mieszko Fortunski was also knocked out with the World Pool Masters semi-finalist knocked out by Lars Kuckherm.
The 32 players who qualified through Winners’ Qualification were seeded in the Last 64 redraw against an unseeded player who came through the Losers Qualification matches with Karl Boyes completing the draw with Rachel Casey on the Matchroom Pool YouTube page. Pagulayan and Filler will have to dance again after being drawn against each other whilst defending champion Van Boening will come up against Uski.
Action returns from midday local time tomorrow on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia, the Baltics, and the Netherlands, DAZN in the USA and Italy as well as on Matchroom.Live and broadcasters worldwide. Table 2 and Table 3 are on the Matchroom Pool and Multi Sport YouTube Channels respectively and Viaplay in above listed territories. See where to watch here.
Shane Van Boening (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)
Shane Van Boening will begin the defense of his World Pool Championship title against Japan’s Masato Yoshioka in Kielce, Poland from February 1-5 live on Sky Sports in the UK, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia and the Baltics, DAZN in the USA as well as Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide.
The American will look to become only the second player in history to defend the title following in the footsteps of Earl Strickland in a packed arena at Targi Kielce. 46 countries will be represented in the 128-player field as it is whittled down to the Last 64 over the first two days of action before it’s straight knockout to the end where one will claim the $60,000 first-place prize and the world crown.
The draw was completed with the top 64 players from the Nineball World Rankings against an unseeded player from the other 64 in the hat. Standout first-round ties include 2015 world champion Ko Pin Yi facing James Aranas of the Philippines whilst 2022 semi-finalist Abdullah Alyousef faces the tricky prospect of Johann Chua. 2004 world champion Alex Pagulayan was unseeded and will meet Michael Schneider.
World Cup of Pool winner David Alcaide takes on Billy Thorpe and Shane Wolford‘s mission for a spot on Team USA at the 2023 Mosconi Cup takes on Pia Filler. Francisco Sanchez Ruiz had a year to remember last year and will begin his Nineball campaign against So Shaw of Iran.
Double elimination matches are all race to 9, with all matches from the Last 64 a race to 11 except the final, which is a race to 13.
Table 1 will be live on broadcasters worldwide including Sky Sports in the UK, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia, Baltics, and the Netherlands, DAZN in the USA, Canada, and Italy, as well as on Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide. See where to watch here.
Table 2 will be live on Viaplay in selected territories as well as on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel.
Table 3 will be live on Viaplay in selected territories as well as on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom Multi Sport YouTube channel.
Joshua Filler passed the test of Mosconi Cup teammate Eklent Kaçi and the USA’s Oscar Dominguez to reach the Last 16 of the inaugural European Open Pool Championship at Hotel Esperanto, Fulda, Germany live on the Matchroom Pool Facebook/YouTube and Matchroom.Live.
Filler had a good day of it coming from behind to defeat Kaçi 9-8 when his goose had looked cooked when Kaçi had a 5-9 combo to seal victory at 8-7 only for the Albanian to offer the gift that the Killer needed to get back into it. Kaçi didn’t get a look in from then on as Filler broke in the final rack but it was far from easy with the 7, 8 and 9 all glued together and the rack penned underneath it. Filler kept his cool in the moment though despite the glaring problem to complete victory and set up a Last 32 tie with Oscar Dominguez of the USA.
Dominguez had came from 4-1 down against Tyler Styer to peg him back at 5-5 and 6-6 before pulling through to meet his old Mosconi Cup rival to reach the Last 16.
Filler came into the contest on the back of two hill-hill showings in his last three matches in the tournament and he was in no mood for a similar scenario. Filler hit the front early on but Dominguez was playing freely and causing the German a whole heap of problems. The home crowd were out for their star man and he delivered a 10-7 victory to book his spot in the Last 16 in what proved to be a successful day that also saw him become the first player on Team Europe for the 2022 Mosconi Cup off the Live Nineball World Rankings.
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz was the only player who could beat Filler to the first Mosconi Cup spot with $14,000 separating the pair heading into the tournament but his hopes were ended in the Last 32 at the hands of Albania’s Besar Spahiu who mounted an impressive comeback to steal it 10-8 and confirm Filler’s spot on Team Europe for the 2022 Mosconi Cup at Bally’s Las Vegas from November 30 to December 3.
Jayson Shaw (Taka Wu – Matchroom Multi Sport)
Jayson Shaw is next up for Filler after the two-time Mosconi Cup MVP saw off Petri Makkonen earlier on in the day before a grueling battle with Italy’s Daniele Corrieri to book his place in the Last 16. Corrieri took the game to Shaw and had the better of the opening exchanges with a 1-9 combo the pick of the bunch as he found his rhythm early doors with Shaw not doing too much wrong.
Eagle Eye found his mojo at the midway stage and he didn’t do too much wrong from then on as he led for the first time in the match at 7-6. Shaw from there was imperious as he set up a mouthwatering clash on Table 1 with Filler next.
Team USA‘s charge for glory on home soil will be led by Nineball World No.1 Shane Van Boening who came through his own tests against Germany’s Sebastian Staab in the Last 64 before Wojciech Szewczyk stood in his way of a weekend appearance. Szewczyk took the early initiative to lead 2-0 before Van Boening pulled back to 2-2. The pair were entertaining the crowd with some of the best safety play witnessed all week as Van Boening came back to lead only for Szewczyk to soon lead 5-4 and be at the halfway point. Van Boening was dominant to lead 9-5 only to break dry in the next and Szewczyk to bite back. The Pole was struggling for position on the 1 ball. and had to play safe and from there Van Boening played a kick and stick that would rival any in history to leave Szewczyk in knots. A short safety battled ensued for Van Boening to come on top and meet Sanjin Pehlivanovic in the Last 16 tomorrow.
Alexander Kazakis defeated David Alcaide 9-2 to reach the Last 32 and meet John Morra. The Greek had a battle on his hands against Morra who lead at various points and most importantly was 8-6 up in the Race to 10. The Canadian looked to have control but Kazakis has demonstrated in recent times his steely nature with some clutch pots to pull it back and looked to be in to level at 9-9. Kazakis lost position on the penultimate ball to leave it over the pocket and give Morra the easiest route into the Last 16 to meet Konrad Juszczyszyn next.
Tomorrow and Sunday, Table 1 action is 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. Table 2 will be on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel. See the full where to watch list here.
Thorsten Hohmann and Joshua Filler (Taka Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)
Defending champions Germany sailed through their opening encounter with New Zealand 7-1 as the 2022 World Cup of Pool got underway at the Brentwood Centre, Essex live on Sky Sports Arena in the UK, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Viaplay in Scandinavia, the Baltics, Netherlands, and Poland. Matchroom.Live in territories without a broadcaster.
Germany’s near pairing of UK Open and World Pool Masters winner Joshua Filler and former World Champion Thorsten Hohmann come into the tournament as one of the favourites as they look to become the first nation to defend the title whilst New Zealand’s Matt Edwards and Simon Singleton were flying their countries flag for the first time since 2019.
New Zealand won the lag but that was a rare highlight early on as Germany looked to build up some steam. Both teams struggled with the early pace of the table with Singleton missing the three to the middle pocket and opening the table for Filler and Hohmann to make the early move at 1-0. There were chances for New Zealand despite being 4-0 down but they seized their chance in the fifth rack after a brief exchange led to Filler missing a bank on the 9-ball and allowing their opponents the chance to be on the board at 4-1.
It was a tough day at the office for New Zealand through with errors being their downfall early on and Germany just too hot to handle late on as they wrapped up a 7-1 victory to set up a second round clash with either the Netherlands or Morocco later this week.
Chinese Taipei are no strangers to the World Cup either as they made a triumphant return to the fold for the first time since 2019 against debutants Argentina. Ko Brothers of Pin Yi and Ping Chung will be feared throughout the tournament, and they sent their warning signs as they moved past Ariel Casto and Sebastian Rodriguez 7-2 to do their work early in the tournament.
Casto and Rodriguez could count themselves to be unfortunate early on as Chinese Taipei took the early rolls to lead 3-1. Pin Yi won the tournament in 2015 with Chang Yu-Lung and with his younger brother alongside him this time, Ping Chung upped the ante to put them two away at 5-1. Argentina was soon gifted their second rack to be 5-2 behind after Chinese Taipei lost their position on the eight. Argentina’s optimism soon came crashing down though as the Ko brothers rattled up a 7-2 victory to meet either Greece or Cyprus next.
The afternoon session concluded with Albania’s Eklent Kaçi and Besar Spahiu who met Italy’s duo of Francesco Candela and Daniele Corrieri. Corrieri is no stranger to big moments much like Kaçi with success in beating Skyler Woodward at the World Pool Championship back in April whilst Kaçi’s Mosconi Cup pedigree came to roost as Albania did their work in a 7-2 win.
There were some early nerves from both sides but Kaçi’s know-how around the table eased Spahiu into proceedings. Spahiu broke well in the second rack to leave a carom on for the 9 to sink and put Albania 2-0 up. That momentum continued at 3-0 before Italy got on the board with a neat piece of safety. Albania continued on their way at 5-1 with relative ease as Italy did get back another rack only for Kaçi and Spahiu to wrap up their win and face either Spain or Australia next.
The Longoni 9 Ball League, a brand-new scotch doubles tournament, continues in Sankt Johann Im Pongau, Austria with the final group matches. Playing out on the 23rd June at 20:30h, the evening will feature matches between Norway & Bosnia Herzegovina and Poland v Italy, followed at 21:30h by Spain v Albania and finally Serbia v Germany.
The top-ranked athletes from the current EPBF EuroTour standings compete in a team scotch doubles format. 12 teams compete in four groups of three teams, with the group winners progressing to the final stage and the team finishing bottom, relegated from next year’s competition.
With the EuroTour rankings determining the teams, Germany’s Tobias Bongers moves ahead of Thorsten Hohmann, after his 5th place finish in Italy, and will partner Joshua Filler in their match with Serbia. Having beaten Estonia in the first round, the German duo will seal a semi-final berth with a victory over Serbia’s Aleksa Pecelj and Andreas Klasovic.
Francesco Candela remains the top Italian on the EuroTour rankings and he will again be partnered by Fabio Petroni who just bettered Daniele Corrieri with a 33rd place finish in Italy. Petroni sits just one place and 15 points above Corriere in 37th place on the overall ranking. The Italians have a tough match they need to win against Poland’s hot properties, Wiktor Zielinski and Wojciech Szewczyk, who eased past Austria in the opening round 7-3.
With the group winners advancing to the semi-finals, it’s all to play for and a few groups could end with a tiebreak if the results go that way. For this to happen in their respective groups, Albania would need to beat Spain, Serbia beat Germany and Italy conquer Poland. This scenario would force a tiebreak in their respective groups.
That would see all three teams in the group go head-to-head at the next EuroTour stop in Bulgaria in August in a race to 7 racks with both advancement and relegation determined.
Greece are the only team already relegated from next year’s Longoni 9 Ball League having lost their opening two matches. This leaves Bosnia & Herzegovina and Norway in a straight shoot-out for a place in the semi-finals which take place on Friday 30th September in Slovenia.
The Longoni 9 Ball League, promoted by the Longoni Group is a team event consisting of the two highest EuroTour ranked athletes from 12 nations competing in a scotch doubles group format. Matches can be viewed live on the free Kozoom platform, TV.kozoom as well as on the Longoni 9 Ball League & EPBF Facebook pages.
One of the games’ greatest, Efren “Bata” Reyes will represent the Philippines alongside US Open champion Carlo Biado at the 2022 World Cup of Pool this June 14-19 at the Brentwood Centre, Essex, England with tickets available from £10.
The 2022 World Cup of Pool line-up is now complete with all 32 countries confirmed as they do battle for the lucrative prize pot of $250,000 plus the pride of representing their country in one of the sports most unique format with Germany looking to defend their title led by newly crowned World Pool Masters champion Joshua Filler and BCA Hall of Famer Thorsten Hohmann.
Great Britain’s charge for a first World Cup of Pool crown on home soil will see Great Britain A form a new pairing of two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Jayson Shaw and debutant Elliott Sanderson who was selected based on performances so far this year on the Live Nineball World Rankings. Mosconi Cup winner Imran Majid and 2012 Mosconi Cup MVP Chris Melling will represent the red, white, and blue for Great Britain B.
The USA’s assault on the title will come in the form of Nineball World No.1 and World Champion Shane Van Boening with two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Skyler Woodward whilst Austria, two-time winners of the World Cup of Pool, will see Albin Ouschan partner with Nineball World No. 5 and close friend Max Lechner.
Reyes will compete at the World Cup of Pool for the first time since 2012 when the tournament was hosted in the Philippines. The Magician is a two-time winner of the cup claiming the inaugural title in 2006 with Francisco Bustamante before repeating that result three years later on home turf.
Along with the launch of the Nineball World Rankings, the WPA received x16 allocations for various federations seeing countries make their debut this year including Peru with Christopher Tevez and Gerson Martinez as well as Argentina with Ariel Casto and Sebastian Rodriguez for a strong South American contingent. Chinese Taipei return to the fold after missing out last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will look to replicate its success of 2015 with the Ko Brothers of Pin Yi and Ping Chung pairing up.
The first 16 countries were decided by WPA federations from around the world before eight countries were selected based on the 2022 Nineball World Rankings. The final eight came as wild cards from Matchroom. Players have been selected based on both the 2022 and live 2023 Nineball World Rankings. The final team will be revealed during the final day of the UK Open Pool Championship this May 22 at the Copper Box Arena, London.
Tickets start from only £10 per session and £15 for an all-day ticket to both the afternoon and evening sessions. Fans can also enjoy the whole week of action for only £85.
Tickets
Individual Sessions – From £10
Day tickets for both sessions – From £15
Season Ticket – £85
The World Cup of Pool brings 32 nations together as two-player teams compete for national pride, the title, and their share of a $250,000 prize fund from June 14 to 19. The tournament is a straight-knockout format leaving no room for error. Germany are the reigning champions with one of the world’s best in Joshua Filler spearheading their defence. The likes of World Number One Albin Ouschan of Austria, the USA’s finest Shane Van Boening, and Great Britain’s two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Jayson Shaw will all look to lead their sides to the title over six action-packed days.
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
David Alcaide and Skyler Woodward became two of the biggest exits so far as the 2022 World Pool Championship field was whittled down to the Last 64 at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes. Coverage live on Sky Sports in the UK/Ireland, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria as well as Viaplay and networks worldwide.
Losers’ Round 1 saw the first few scalps of the day as both Woodward and Alex Pagulayan were punished as they exited without a win to their name. Woodward lost out to Daniele Corrieri in the opening match, and he went hill-hill with Qatar’s Ali Al Obaidli who fluked the 9 in the penultimate rack to hold the break in the final one. Elsewhere, Pagulayan was much fancied heading into the tournament, but he faltered against former EuroTour winner Craig Osborne of Great Britain to exist early on the second day.
Rolling into the evening, it was Losers’ Qualification with 32 final players set to join the Last 64 and 32 going home. On Table 1, Jayson Shaw demolished Jakub Koniar 9-3 to see the two-time Mosconi Cup draw Finland’s Petri Makkonen in the Last 64. Alcaide was a World Pool Championship semi-finalist just under 12 months ago and his cueing suggested it would be straightforward’s against Hong Kong’s Lo Ho Sum who was knocked into the losers’ bracket by defending champion Albin Ouschan. Ho Sum though, held his nerve in some cagey early moments to pull through and find himself in the Last 64.
Pia Filler put in a stellar day to beat Ivan Meng Li in the afternoon and Bashar Hussein Abdulmajeed 9-6 to make the Last 64 for the first time and set up an enticing Table 1 match with Mario He at 11 am.
From now, it is single elimination with matches becoming Race to 11 up until the final. The draw saw the 32 players who won in Winners’ Qualification drawn against the 32 players who won in Losers’ Qualification this evening.
Mosconi Cup USA hopeful Shane Wolford has been drawn against Masato Yoshioka whilst Live (2023) Nineball World Rankings No.1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz faces two-time World Champion, Thorsten Hohmann. Elliott Sanderson overcome a hill-hill finish with fellow Brit Tom Staveley to set up a clash with Chinese Taipei’s Chang Jung-Lin tomorrow.
Albin Ouschan got off to the perfect start as he began the defence of his World Pool Championship title at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes live on Sky Sports in the UK/Ireland and DAZN in the USA, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy as well as other networks worldwide including Matchroom.Live and Viaplay.
The Austrian faced a tricky opening encounter against Hong Kong’s Lo Ho Sum to begin proceedings on Table 1 and he lived up to expectations to deliver a 9-3 victory. Ouschan came into the tournament in hot form after winning the inaugural Premier League Pool title and he got off to the best of starts to amass a 6-3 lead in the Race to 9 contest. The Mean Machine continued his way to set up a Winners’ Qualification match against Daniel Maciol in which the Pole was no match for the two-time world champion as he romped into the Last 64 in a 9-1 win.
This year sees the World Pool Championship take on a new double elimination structure. The afternoon session saw all 128 players play their opening match. The losing 64 moved to tomorrow’s Losers’ Round 1 whilst winners faced off in Winners’ Qualification in tonight’s session. The losing players from the evening moved immediately into tomorrow evening’s Losers’ Qualification where they will meet the winners of tomorrow’s Losers’ Round 1 matches.
Two upsets involved two potential 2022 Mosconi Cup prospects for the USA as Skyler Woodward found himself on the end of a defeat to Italy’s Daniele Corrieri to fall into Losers’ Round 1 whilst there was joy for Shane Wolford. Wolford faced 2021 semi-finalist David Alcaide to book a place in the Last 64 and the American admitted after a thrilling 9-7 win from behind 7-5 down. Afterward, Wolford admitted it was perhaps his biggest win to date. Alcaide could have to face compatriot Jose Alberto Delgado but that’s only if Delgado beats Ho Sum.
Matchroom Pool YouTube fans were treated to a vintage Jayson Shaw display in the afternoon as he overcome Vincent Halliday 9-2 on Table 2, but the two-time Mosconi Cup MVP faltered against Michal Gavenciak in a 9-7 loss. The loss means Shaw will face the winner of Jakub Koniar and Roman Hybler in Losers’ Qualification tomorrow evening.
Live (2023) Nineball World No.1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz danced through his opening matches relatively unscathed with a 9-0 whitewash over Albania’s Besar Spahiu before closing out Table 1 action in a satisfying 9-3 win over Dang Thanh Kien of Vietnam. Sanchez Ruiz’s efforts see him get a day off tomorrow and a Last 64 tie with Corrieri on Friday morning.
Action returns tomorrow with Wiktor Zielinski in Table 1 action against Bulgaria’s Kristina Zlateva from 11 am UK time on Sky Sports Arena, DAZN, Viaplay, and networks worldwide.
Thursday 7th April – 11:00 am UK time – Afternoon Session
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.
