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64 Remain In Poland At World Pool Championship 2023 Inbox

Joshua Filler (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)

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.

Brackets / Scores

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.

Other top seeds had less trouble as Shane Van Boening stepped past Mats Schjetne 9-2 whilst two-time winner Albin Ouschan put Khalid Alghamdi onto the losers side. Jayson Shaw meanwhile took out young German Tobias Bongers 9-5 and World Cup of Pool winner David Alcaide whitewashed Jani Uski to secure an afternoon off.

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.

Last 64 Draw

Shane Van Boening VS Jani Uski
Aloysius Yapp VS Chris Melling
David Alcaide VS Wojciech Szewczwk
Lo Ho Sum VS Duong Quoc Hoang
Max Lechner VS Ruben Bautista
Nick Van Den Berg VS Johann Chua
Naoyuki Oi VS Emil-Andre Gangflot
Alexander Kazakis VS Wu Kun Lin
Sebastian Batkowski VS Francesco Candela
Ali Nasser Al Obaidli VS James Aranas
Imran Majid VS Mika Immonen
Mariusz Skoneczny VS Mohammad Soufi
Gerson Martinez VS Lars Kukcherm
Mateusz Sniegocki VS Fabio Petroni
Daniel Maciol VS Dimitri Jungo
Albin Ouschan VS Tyler Styer
Alex Pagulayan VS Johshua Filler
Aleksa Pecelj VS Roman Hybler
Sanjin Pehlivanovic VS Petri Makkonen
Niels Feijen VS Adjn Piknjac
Eklent Kaci VS Mario He
Ko Ping Chung VS Shane Wolford
John Morra VS Luong Duc Thien
Jayson Shaw VS Besar Spahiu
Wiktor Zielinski VS Mickey Krause
Jose Alberto Delgado VS Moritz Neuhausen
Chang Jung-Lin VS Hunter Lombardo
Ko Pin Yi VS Jan Van Lierop
Konrad Juszczyszyn VS Nguyen Anh Tuan
Robbie Capito VS Denis Grabe
Thorsten Hohmann VS Khalid Alghamdi
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz VS Oscar Dominguez

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World Pool Championship 2023 Draw | Van Boening Starts Defense Against Yoshioka

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.

FORMAT

TICKETS

WATCH DRAW

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.

SEED Name Name
1 Shane Van Boening (USA) VS Masato Yoshioka (JPN)
2 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (ESP) VS  So Shaw (IRI)
3 Joshua Filler (GER) VS James Georgiadis (AUS)
4 Albin Ouschan (AUT) VS Juan Carlos Exposito (ESP)
5 Mario He (AUT) VS Sebastian Batkowski (POL)
6 Jayson Shaw (GBR) VS Francesco Candela (ITA)
7 Wiktor Zielinski (POL) VS Aziz Moussati (MAR)
8 Alexander Kazakis (GRE) VS Erik Hjorleifson (CAN)
9 Max Lechner (AUT) VS Max Eberle (USA)
10 Ko Pin Yi (TPE) VS James Aranas (PHI)
11 Eklent Kaçi (ALB) VS Dimitris Loukatos (GRE)
12 Abdullah Alyousef (KUW) VS Johann Chua (PHI)
13 Oliver Szolnoki (HUN) VS Marcel Price (GBR)
14 Niels Feijen (NED) VS Muhummed Daydat (RSA)
15 Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL) VS Daniel Guttenberger (AUT)
16 Mieszko Fortunski (POL) VS Emil-Andre Gangflot (NOR)
17 David Alcaide (ESP) VS Billy Thorpe (USA)
18 Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) VS Nguyễn Anh Tuấn (VIE)
19 Sanjin Pehlivanović (BOS) VS Joseph Spence (CAN)
20 Jonas Souto Comino (ESP) VS Karl Gnadeberg (EST)
21 Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) VS Bashar Hussain Abdul Majeed (QAT)
22 Ko Ping Chung (TPE) VS Michal Gavenčiak (CZE)
23 Chang Jung-Lin (TPE) VS Jonas-Kvalsund Hansen (NOR)
24 Ronald Regli (SUI) VS Iker Andoni Echeverría (ESP)
25 Naoyuki Oi (JPN) VS Mickey Krause (DEN)
26 Jose Alberto Delgado (ESP) VS Joey Tate (USA)
27 John Morra (CAN) VS Tayfun Taber (GER)
28 Denis Grabe (EST) VS  Ali Nasser Al Obaidli (QAT)
29 Ralf Souquet (GER) VS Sullivan Clark (NZL)
30 Dimitri Jungo (SUI) VS Hunter Lombardo (USA)
31 Thorsten Hohmann (GER) VS Tanes Tansomboon (THA)
32 Aloysius Yapp (SGP) VS Sharik Sayed (SGP)
33 Tomasz Kaplan (POL) VS Ko Ping Han (TPE)
34 Moritz Neuhausen (GER) VS Lường Đức Thiện (VIE)
35 Aleksa Pecelj (SRB) VS Marco Dorenburg (GER)
36 Daniel Maciol (POL) VS  Sina Valizadeh (IRI)
37 Oscar Dominguez (USA) VS Stephen Holem (CAN)
38 Omar Al Shaheen (KUW) VS Joao Grilo (POR)
39 Skyler Woodward (USA) VS Chris Alexander (GBR)
40 Besar Spahiu (ALB) VS Ramazan Akdag
41 Hseih Chia Chen (TPE) VS Nick Van Den Berg (NED)
42 Chris Melling (GBR) VS Duong Quoc Hoang (VIE)
43 Petri Makkonen (FIN) VS Elliott Sanderson (GBR)
44 Imran Majid (GBR) VS Marco Teutscher (NED)
45 Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) VS Mohammad Soufi (SYR)
46 Radoslaw Babica (POL) VS Jan Van Lierop (NED)
47 Robbie Capito (HKG) VS Toh Lian Han (SGP)
48 Jani Uski (FIN) VS Chetan Chhabra (IND)
49 Lo Ho Sum (HKG) VS Lars Kuckherm (GER)
50 Bader Alawadhi (KUW) VS Richard Halliday (RSA)
51 Pijus Labutis (LTU) VS Ajdin Piknjac (BOS)
52 Mika Immonen (FIN) VS  Gerson Martinez (PER)
53 Greg Hogue (USA) VS Mariusz Skoneczny (POL)
54 Shane Wolford (USA) VS  Pia Filler (GER)
55 Karol Skowerski (POL) VS Abdullah Al-Anzi (KUW)
56 Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) VS Ruben Bautista (MEX)
57 Tyler Styer (USA) VS Mason Koch (USA)
58 Roman Hybler (CZE) VS Matt Edwards (NZL)
59 Tobias Bongers (GER) VS Davy Piergiovanni (ITA)
60 Mustafa Alnar VS  Szymona Kural (POL)
61 Daniele Corrieri (ITA) VS Khalid Alghamdi (KSA)
62 Michael Schneider (SUI) VS Alex Pagulayan (CAN)
63 Wu Kun Lin (TPE) VS Fabio Petroni (ITA)
64 Mats Schjetne (NOR) VS Jakub Koniar (SVK)

WHERE TO WATCH

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.

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Longoni 9 Ball League – Round Three Preview

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.

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Bosnia, Austria, Netherlands and Estonia Score Wins at Longoni 9-Ball League

There were four more matches completed in Round Two of the Longoni 9 Ball League which took place at the BHR Treviso Hotel in Italy. The competition features 12 two-man teams divided into four groups of three. Each team plays the other team once in race-to-7 scotch doubles matches and the leading four teams at the end of league play move forward to the semi-finals.

The twist is that it is the top-two ranked players on the Euro Tour ranking prior to the round of matches who will be representing their country so it won’t necessarily be the same two players throughout the tournament.

The opening match on table one saw the Netherlands narrowly defeat Albania by the odd rack in an exciting encounter that highlighted the cut-throat nature of the format. The Dutch were represented by Niels Feijen and Marc Bijsterbosch, while Klenti Kaci and Besar Spahiu wore Albanian colours.

The Dutch pair were always in the ascendancy as they won the scrappy racks and before long found themselves in a 5-2 lead in the race-to-7 match, leaving the Albanians with a bit of a mountain to climb.

A good break from Kaci saw two balls drop and a fine pot on the 2 ball from Spahiu gave them, a chance to claw one back. They took it with some confident potting to make it 5-3. An illegal break, this time from Bijsterbosch, gave Albania another chance. It was by no means an easy table but they knuckled down to take it and reduce the arrears to a single rack.

Looking to take the next Spahiu made a fatal error, leaving the 5-ball hanging after a slow fine cut. Dutch tension eased as they took the remaining balls to gain a two-rack lead to go on the hill at 6-4.

A third illegal break of the match returned the table to the Albanians who now had to win the remaining three racks for victory. They took the rack and then the next to take the match to the hill at 6-6.

It was Bijsterbosch to break and it was a good one but left an awkward table. A loosener from Spahiu left the 4 ball for Feijen to pocket then Bijsterbosch took the 5 using the bridge. That was effectively the end as the Dutch cleared up for a hard-fought 7-6 win.

The second match of the evening featured an Italian team made up of Francesco Candela and Fabio Petroni against a strong Austrian pairing of Max Lechner and Mario He. The match was an object lesson in making the most of the break.

They shared the first four racks before Austria took a 3-2 lead. The outcome of the match hinged on a missed 9 ball from Candela in the next. It was eminently missable and Candela called for an extension only to be informed by his playing partner that they’d already taken it. Unnerved, he missed the 9 ball – the only missed ball of the entire match – and He gratefully accepted the opportunity to increase their lead to 4-2.

From there, the Italians could never reassert themselves in the match and it was the Austrian pair who ended up 7-2 winners.

Full results from the evening’s play:

Group A: BOSNIA HERZOGOVINA (Pehlivanovic/Piknjac) 7 – 6 GREECE
(Kazakis/Ekonomopoulos)

Group B: AUSTRIA (He/Lechner) 7 – 2 ITALY (Candela/Petroni)

Group C: NETHERLANDS (Feijen/Bijsterbosch) 7 – 6 ALBANIA (Kaci/Spahiu)

Group D: ESTONIA (Grabe/Gnadeberg) 7 – 3 SERBIA (Pecelj/Klasovic)

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Gorst Fights Back To Get World Pool Championship Defense Off To Winning Start

Fedor Gorst

Fedor Gorst survived a huge scare in the opening match of his World Pool Championship defence as he fought back from 5-1 and 6-2 down to defeat Estonia’s Mark Magi 9-7 at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes.

Jayson Shaw found himself 6-0 down against World Under-17 champion Moritz Neuhausen of Germany. But the former US Open champion and current Mosconi Cup MVP, being watched by European captain Alex Lely, wasn’t going to lie down and began a confident fightback, winning eight racks without reply. The German youngster cut the deficit to 8-7 with Shaw on the hill but the Scot wrapped up the match 9-7.

There were also opening session wins for Predator Championship League Pool winner Albin Ouschan, who beat Fabio Petroni 9-5, and Finland’s Mika Immonen who beat Kristina Tkach 9-4 having been 3-1 down early on.

The World Pool Championship opens with a double elimination group stage, so those who have already won one match are one away from reaching the last 64. Those who lost their opening fixtures play again on Monday, against another player who has suffered defeat and the loser will be eliminated.

Former World Champion Thorsten Hohmann came through a hill-hill finish against German compatriot Tobias Bongers, and World Under-19 Champion Jonas Souto Comino of Spain inflicted a 9-3 defeat on Karol Skowerski.

Alex Kazakis, who was recently crowned World Pool Masters champion, was up against his mixed-doubles partner Kelly Fisher, the Women’s World Champion, and the Greek star was a 9-1 winner.

Gorst had twice been four racks down on the TV table at the start of the session, but took five in succession to lead Magi 7-6. The defending champion missed a 9 to reach the hill, but having levelled at 7-7 Magi didn’t take another rack and Gorst won 9-7. He’ll face Mark Gray for a place in the last 64.

The World Pool Championship continues at 6pm (UK) time on Sunday, June 6 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.

Draw Made For World Pool Championship

Fedor Gorst will begin his World Pool Championship defence against Estonia’s World Cup semi-finalist Mark Magi after the draw was made for the event, which runs from June 6-10 at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes.

Among the other standout matches for the Double Elimination Group Stage is recent World Pool Masters champion Alex Kazakis against Women’s World Champion Kelly Fisher. Predator Championship League Pool winner Albin Ouschan faces Italian Mosconi Cup legend Fabio Petroni, while former World Champion Mika Immonen will be up against rising star Kristina Tkach.

Players were seeded with defending champion Fedor Gorst seeded 1, and the remaining 63 seeded determined by the WPA World Ranking. Seeded players were randomly drawn against unseeded players. Since the draw has been made, some players have had to withdraw due to travel issues. Any withdrawals are replaced by players from the waiting list.

The tournament begins with a two-day Double Elimination Group Stage, with the 128 players split into 16 groups of eight players. That will reduce the field down to 64, after which the tournament will adopt a straight knockout format.

Group matches are all race to 9, with knockout stage matches a race to 11 except the final, which is a race to 11.

Players who win their first two matches in the group stage advance to the last 64, while players who lose their first two will be eliminated. Players with one win and one draw will play a third match with the winner advancing to the last 64 and the loser knocked out.

MATCH SCHEDULE
All matches in the Group Stage are race to 9, and group fixtures follow this pattern:

Match 1: As Drawn
Match 2: As Drawn
Match 3: As Drawn
Match 4: As Drawn

Match 5: Winner Match 1 vs. Winner Match 2 winner advances to last 64
Match 6: Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4 winner advances to last 64

Match 7: Loser Match 1 vs. Loser Match 2 loser is eliminated
Match 8: Loser Match 3 vs. Loser Match 4 loser is eliminated

Match 9: Loser Match 5 vs. Winner Match 8 winner advances to last 64
Match 10: Loser Match 6 vs. Winner Match 7 winner advances to last 64

GROUP DRAW

Group A
Fedor Gorst (ROC) vs Mark Magi (EST)
Mark Gray (GBR) vs Julio Burgos (PUR)
Jeffrey De Luna (PHI) vs Dimitri Jungo (SUI)
Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL) vs Jasmin Ouschan (AUT)

Group B
Albin Ouschan (AUT) vs Fabio Petroni (ITA)
Roberto Gomez (PHI) vs TBC
Omar Al-Shaheen (KUW) vs Alain Da Costa (FRA)
Aloysuis Yapp (SGP) vs Kaiden Hunkins (USA)

Group C
Billy Thorpe (USA) vs Francisco Gatsby (CHI)
Marc Vidal (USA) vs Ivica Putnik (CRO)
Petri Makkonen (FIN) vs Benjamin Belhassen (FRA)
Mieszko Fortunski (POL) vs Marcel Price (GBR)

Group D
Thorsten Hohmann (GER) vs Tobias Bongers (GER)
Mika Immonen (FIN) vs Kristina Tkach (ROC)
Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH) vs Kevin Lannoye (BEL)
Ralf Souquet (GER) vs Ronald Regli (SUI)

Group E
Jayson Shaw (GBR) vs Moritz Neuhausen (GER)
Jani Siekkinen (FIN) vs Michal Gavenciak (CZE)
Ruslan Chinakhov (ROC) vs Alex Montpellier (FRA)
Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) vs Imran Majid (GBR)

Group F
Casper Matikainen (FIN) vs Elliot Sanderson (GBR)
Mark Foster (GBR) vs Jan van Lierop (NED)
Mohammad Ali Berjawi (LEB) vs Vladimir Matvienko (ROC)
Max Lechner (AUT) vs Mickey Krause (DEN)

Group G
David Alcaide (ESP) vs Andreja Klasovic (SRB)
Pijus Labutis (LTU) vs Jeremy Sossei (USA)
Robbie Capito (HKG) vs Ruben Bautista (MEX)
Denis Grabe (EST) vs Vitaliy Patsura (UKR)

Group H
Skyler Woodward (USA) vs Jaroslav Polach (SVK)
Radoslaw Babica (POL) vs Ivo Aarts (NED)
Vincent Halliday (RSA) vs DJ McGinley (CAN)
Daniel Schneider (SUI) vs So Shaw (IRI)

Group I
Shane van Boening (USA) vs Petr Urban (CZE)
Oscar Dominguez (USA) vs Roberto Bartol (CRO)
Karol Skowerski (POL) vs Jonas Souto Comino (ESP)
Hunter Lombardo (USA) vs Mats Schjetne (NOR)

Group J
Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) vs Marco Dorenburg (GER)
Richard Halliday (RSA) vs Aleksa Pecelj (SRB)
Oliver Szolnoki (HUN) vs Daniele Corrieri (ITA)
Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP) vs TBC

Group K
Eklent Kaci (ALB) vs Lukas Fracasso Verner (USA)
Stephen Holem (CAN) vs Badar Alawadhi (KUW)
Yukio Akagariyama (JPN) vs Ricky Evans (USA)
Corey Deuel (USA) vs Benji Buckley (GBR)

Group L
Darren Appleton (GBR) vs Shane Wolford (USA)
Marco Teutscher (NED) vs Christoph Reintjes (GER)
Ricardo Sini (ITA) vs Jeff Nieuwenhuyzen (AHO)
Alexander Kazakis (GRE) vs Kelly Fisher (GBR)

Group M
Niels Feijen (NED) vs Tim de Ruyter (NED)
Chris Robinson (USA) vs Yip Kin-Ling (HK)
Nick Malai (GRE) vs Veronika Ivanovskaia (GER)
Masato Yoshioka (JPN) vs Muhummed Daydat (RSA)

Group N
Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) vs Miguel Silva (POR)
Mario He (AUT) vs Philipp Stojanovic (CRO)
Jakub Koniar (SVK) vs  Vania Franco (POR)
Tyler Styer (USA) vs Henrique Correia (POR)

Group O
Naoyuki Oi (JPN) vs Jennifer Barretta (USA)
Roman Hybler (CZE) vs Daniel Maciol (POL)
Donny Olson (USA) vs Bahram Lotfy (DEN)
Chris Melling (GBR) vs April Larson (USA)

Group P
Tomasz Kaplan (POL) vs Sergey Lutsker (ROC)
Chris Alexander (GBR) vs Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE)
Wiktor Zielinski vs Kim Laaksonen (FIN)
Joshua Filler (GER) vs Margaret Fefilova (BLR)

Japan, Denmark And Germany Reach Quarter-Finals Of World Cup Of Pool

Masato Yoshioka

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.

For all the latest news and announcements follow Matchroom Pool on FacebookTwitterYouTube and Instagram.

Italy And Kuwait Provide Shocks At World Cup Of Pool

ROUND 1
Spain 4-7 Italy
Germany 7
-4 Lithuania
Poland 3-7 Kuwait

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.

For all the latest news and announcements follow Matchroom Pool on FacebookTwitterYouTube and Instagram.

Philippines Aim For Record Fourth Title At World Cup Of Pool

Jeffrey De Luna and Roberto Gomez (Erwin Dionisio)

Philippines, Russia and Greece are the latest teams to be confirmed for the World Cup of Pool, while Italy and Switzerland will also be aiming for doubles glory at Stadium MK, England this May 9-14, live on Sky Sports and DAZN.

Philippines are three-time World Cup winners and joining forces in the hope of landing a record-breaking fourth Filipino title are Jeff De Luna and former World Championship runner-up Roberto Gomez.

Russia will be represented by reigning World Champion Fedor Gorst and 23-year-old Sergey Lutsker, who was silver medallist at the Junior European 10-Ball Championship in 2015. Gorst was part of the successful European team when he made his Mosconi Cup debut last December and is hoping to help lead Russia to their first ever World Cup title this May.

Greece will be represented for a third time by the pairing of Nick Malai and Alexander Kazakis, runner-up at the last World Pool Masters. Italian duo of Daniele Corrieri and former Mosconi Cup star Fabio Petroni will also return, while Switzerland will be represented by Ronald Regli and Dimitri Djungo.

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.

Team Austria (Albin Ouschan and Mario He) will defend their title in Milton Keynes, but competition will be tough with some of the biggest names in pool already confirmed. They include, Netherlands (Niels Feijen and Marc Bijsterbosch), Japan (Naoyuki Oi and Masato Yoshioka), and Great Britain A (Jayson Shaw and Chris Melling). Also confirmed are teams from Finland (Petri Makkonen and Casper Matikainen), Poland (Mieszko Fortunski and Wojciech Szewczyk) and Spain (David Alcaide and Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz).

As host nation, Great Britain has two teams in the World Cup and the combination of Women’s World 9-Ball Champion Kelly Fisher and BCA Hall of Famer Allison Fisher makes Great Britain B one of the most anticipated teams of the event.

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.

For all the latest news and announcements follow Matchroom Pool on FacebookTwitterYouTube and Instagram.

Bad night for Austrian Team at Klagenfurt Open

Clockwise: Kazakis, Kaci, Filler and Dudanets

In the round of the last 32 players single elimination of the Dynamic Billard Klagenfurt Open 2019, all remaining three Austrian players have been eliminated,
 
Albin Ouschan (AUT) was up against young Wiktor Zielinski (POL). The Polish youth player has demonstrated last year when he won the Euro-Tour in Treviso, Italy, how strong he can perform. That also happened tonight. he succeeded in playing his A-game, using his chances and keeping Ouschan always at a distance. After 2:2, Zielinski dominated the match and did not allow Ouschan to get back into it. He made no mistakes while the Austrian struggled and could not find a recipe to break Zielinski’s run. 9:6 was the clear result in favour of Zielinski which leaves a 17th rank finish for Ouschan.
 
Ouschan’s teammates Mario He and Max Lechner had even worse experiences in the same round. Both of them lost with 1:9. Mario He fell against Eklent Kaci (ALB) while Lechner was overpowered by Ruslan Chinakhov. Having three top class players in the round of the last 32 players with all of them losing more or less clearly is definitely not the result that the Austrian organiser would have wished to see at the end of this day.
 
Loser’s Round 2
 
The day started with most matches displaying „business as usual“. Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) seemed to be back on track and eliminated Adam Stankiewicz (POL) 9:4. Wiktor Zielinski (POL) handed a doughnut to Marco Schmitt (GER) winning his match 9:0. The first small upset was provided by Pierfrancesco Garzia (ITA) when he ousted teammate Fabio Petroni (ITA) surprisingly with 9:5. Another interesting result was Marcus Chamat (SWE), the captain of the European Mosconi Cup Team, winning with 9:5 over Imran Majid (GBR). The next round however brought a huge surprise. Ralf Souquet (GER), multiple World, European and Euro-Tour Champion, was kicked out by Michael Huetter (AUT), local player from Austria. That exit came completely unexpected for Souquet and does also not help him to advance in the rankings. While Souquet was out, other high profile players on the loser’s side such as Tomasz Kaplan (POL), Thorsten Hohmann (GER) and Darren Appleton (GBR) continued their quest through the loser’s rounds.
 
Loser’s Round 3
 
The next capital casualties were recorded in loser’s round 3. Thorsten Hohmann fell to the sharp blade of Alex Montpellier (FRA) with 7:9. The same round saw Pijus Labutis (LTU) fall to Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) with 0:9. Francesco Candela (ITA), dark horse from Italy ended Darren Appleton’s journey here at the Dynamic Billard Klagenfurt Open 2019 with an impressive 9:7 victory over the former World Games Gold Medallist.
 
Loser’s Round 4
 
This round saw the end of Europe’s Mosconi Cup captain Marcus „Napoleon“ Chamat (SWE) who was defeated by Konstantinos Koukiadakis (GRE) with 9:8. Karol Skowerski (POL) took down „The Terminator“ Niels Feijen (NED) with 9:6 in the same round.
 
Last 16 players single elimination
 
Joshua Filler GER v Oliver Szolnoki HUN
Wojciech Szewczyk POL v Marc Bijsterbosch NED
Miguel Silva POR v Mark Gray GBR
Maksim Dudanets RUS v Denis Grabe EST
Sanjin Pehlivanovic BIH v Wiktor Zielinski POL
Damianos Giallourakis GRE v Mats Schjetne NOR
Ruslan Chinakhov RUS v Fedor Gorst RUS
Alexander Kazakis GRE v Eklent Kaci ALB
 
Tomorrow, the Dynamic Billard Klagenfurt Open 2019 will continue at 10:00 CET with matches from the round of the last 16 players single elimination. The final match is scheduled for 18:00 local time.
 
Every day, up to two matches will be streamed LIVE over the EPBF Facebook page and on the EPBF YouTube channel. Check for updates and announcements.
 
The Dynamic Billard Klagenfurt Open are played in the Sportpark Klagenfurt Arena in Klagenfurt, Austria, on up to 20 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be obtained 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 or visit us on Facebook for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.