Ozzy Reynolds and the staff at CueSports International didn’t exactly have an abundance of time when planning this year’s Diamond Las Vegas Open. With CSI moving the CueSports International Expo from late July in 2019 to mid-March this year, the planning and scheduling began almost immediately after last year’s edition completed.
The good news, according to Reynolds, is that there wasn’t much that needed to be changed for this year’s version of the four-day tournament that is scheduled to get under way today at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. “The good news is that we did a lot right last year,” said Reynolds. “The Schedule was right on target. It was just a matter of fine tuning.”
Live coverage begins at 10 a.m. local time with Darren Appleton taking on defending World 10-Ball champion Ko Ping-Chung. Immediately following this contest, reigning Mosconi Cup Most Valuable Player Skyler Woodward will face former World 9-Ball champion Carlo Biado, with the match tentatively scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. The afternoon sessions will kick off with Billiards Congress of America Hall of Famer Francisco Bustamante matching up against five-time US Open 9-Ball champion Shane Van Boening. Competition will continue with 2016 World 9-Ball champion Albin Ouschan of Austria meeting the reigning champion, Russia’s Fedor Gorst.
Other notable Wednesday matches include former World 10-Ball champion Ko Pin-Yi playing Poland’s Mieszko Fortunski, who finished second at last year’s Diamond Las Vegas Open. Later in the day, former Aramith Masters champion Eklent Kaci of Albania faces Masato Yoshioka of Japan, a final eight finisher in last year’s World 10-Ball Championship.
The biggest change which players and fans alike will notice in this year’s version of the Diamond Las Vegas Open is the switch to 10-ball from 9-ball, a move that was made in order to better align the double-elimination tournament with next week’s World 10-Ball Championship as well as eliminate some of the rules and formatting issues that come with 9-ball. “Nine-ball is somewhat problematic on the pro level,” said Reynolds “The change also stays consistent with the Predator World 10-Ball Championship and the other things that we plan to build in the future.”
This consistency also allows tournament organizers to use the event as the final qualifier for next week’s 10-ball championship. Initially, the top two finishers in the Diamond Las Vegas Open who weren’t already entered in the championship were guaranteed bids into the event. However, with a handful of regional qualifiers unable to be held worldwide for a variety of reasons – most notably, restrictions in different countries due to the coronavirus precautions – Reynolds said that at least three at-large spots will be up for grabs this week at the Rio.
Those vying for the remaining entries as well as a $17,000 top prize will be facing a bracket that features some of professional pool’s best, with 39 of the top 50 players in the World Pool and Billiard Association’s rankings matching up in Las Vegas this week. The only two players ranked in the top 20 not competing in this 128-player, double-elimination event are China’s Jiaqing Wu and Haitao Liu, both of whom were prohibited to travel due to coronavirus monitoring.
One player who will be back at the table this week is returning champion Niels Feijen. The former World 9-ball champion used a pair of break and runs coupled with some unforced errors by opponent Fortunski to claw back from a 7-5 deficit and win, 9-8, in the inaugural event last year. The Dutchman, who opens play against Mickey Krause at 7 p.m. local time, posted an undefeated record in last year’s 9-ball formatted, 106-player tournament.
Another change made to this year’s event was the addition of a 30-second shot clock on the main arena table. “We felt like that was necessary to pick up the pace of play and not bore the fans,” Reynolds said.
The Diamond Las Vegas Open is a presentation of CueSports International and Predator and title-sponsored by Diamond Billiard Products, an industry leader in pocket billiard table manufacturing. Co-sponsors are Omega Billiards and Kamui. The event is being hosted by the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino and will be broadcast live on YouTube by CSI Media, a division of CueSports International. For more information, visit www.world10ball.com.
CueSports International (CSI) is an international billiards organization which produces amateur and professional events around the world. CSI, which also operates amateur pool leagues, has three divisions: CSI Leagues, CSI Events and CSI Media. CSI Leagues manages the BCA Pool League and USA Pool League, CSI Events produces numerous amateur and professional events and CSI Media division creates live video billiards content. For more information about CSI, visit www.playcsipool.com or find CueSports International on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.
When the final day began at the U.S. Open, there were only four men left in action. The first to fall away was Ralf Souguet who lost 11-6 to Haitao Liu. The hot seat match was not much of a contest. Yu-Hsuan Cheng dominated the match and Karl Boyes only rarely rose from his chair. The final result was 11-3 and Karl could do nothing but await his opportunity against Haitao Liu.
Boyes got a better start in this match and soon led 3-1. But in the next rack Boyes scratched while shooting the one ball and Liu took that gift home to narrow the score to 3-2. Boyes fouled again in the 6th rack and again Liu capitalized to tie the score at three apiece. Liu scratched on the next break and Boyes ran the rack to lead 4-3 in the race to 11 games. From there, Liu grabbed the momentum and continued claiming racks until he led 9-4. Boyes won the next one to bring us to 9-5 and called for a 5-minute break. When play resumed Boyes appeared energized and committed. He broke and ran the next rack and then in game 18 he played a safe that caused Liu to make a bad hit and then he made a heroic bank on the 5-ball to claim the rack. The heightened aggression was paying off. 9-7 with Boyes breaking. Boyes broke dry and left a wide-open table.
Liu was hearing the footsteps. He began to hesitate at the table, blew his position on the 4 ball, and that caused him to be so out of line on the 5 that he fouled the shot. When the 9 ball fell Boyes had pulled within a single game at 9-8. Boyes cleared the next table like it was routine and now stood tied with Liu at 9.
Here is where we need to tell you that in the semi-final and final of the U.S. Open you must win by two games, though there is a cap at 13 games (15 in the finals as it is a race to 13) so Boyes or Liu could win from the hill if the game were to become tied at 12.
Boyes broke and ran the next rack to get to the initial hill. He broke dry and everything had a pocket but some balls were close to others so shape would be crucial for Liu to claim this rack. Liu had a long opening shot and missed it. The footsteps in his ear were now ahead of him. Boyes approached the table like he owned it. He made the tough run look routine and won the match 11-9. This was a truly remarkable performance. The man had been down 9-4 and then denied his opponent another rack. He won 7 racks in a row. I see a Mosconi Cup in his near future.
Yu-Hsuan Cheng opened our final with a break and run but then broke dry in the second rack. Boyes took full advantage and we were tied at 1 in this race to thirteen (with the aforementioned win-by-two stipulation). Then the Cheng train began to roll. Racks began to fall for him and soon he led 4-1 before committing an illegal break where three balls failed to pass the side pocket. It mattered little. Cheng regained control of the table late in the rack and ran it out to lead 6-1.
Then Cheng again hit an illegal break shot in rack 8. Boyes took that one to trail 6-2 and took a timeout. Boyes broke and ran the next rack and then the next went his way as well to bring us to 6-4. When he broke the next rack, the cueball nearly scratched but hung up in the corner leaving Cheng shooting deep out of the corner on a long 1 ball that he missed. Boyes made a nice run and had things in hand when he took an easy 8 ball for granted and hung it in the corner. Cheng increased his lead to 7-4.
Boyes took the next rack (7-5) but then fouled on the 1 ball in the next rack and let Cheng out to 8-5. Boyes took one back in the next rack but then Cheng took the next and our score stood at 9-6. He then took the next two racks with just solid pool playing and led 11-6. Things had turned very dark for Karl Boyes. It would get no brighter. Cheng commanded the table from there and ran away with the games to win the 40th Annual U.S. Open 13-6.
Day two at the U.S. Open saw the continuance of the Karen Corr story as she bested James Blackburn 11-1. This means her scoring record thus far, after two matches, is 22-5. The audience will be thick today for her match against Jayson Shaw. Certainly, Shaw is one of the greatest players of our day, but so is Ko Pin-Yi, and we all know what happened there. Whatever happens now, Corr has increased her legion of fans to extraordinary levels.
But we cannot focus on Ms. Corr alone. The worlds greatest players are all here and all of them have their eyes firmly set on the prize. Those who have yet to find defeat include the aforementioned Jayson Shaw and Carlo Biado who will find himself against Thorsten Hohmann today. In fact, if you look at the chart you will find many matchups for Tuesday that promise mouth-watering action.
Ralf Souquet had a fine showing last night as he dominated Johnny Archer 11-1 but today must face Greek powerhouse Nikos Ekonomopoulos. Mosconi Cup nominee Mike Dechaine takes on John Morra while former Mosconi Cup teammates Shane Van Boening and Justin Bergman will fight in a highly anticipated match as many are touting the ever-rising skills of Justin Bergman. Another match of Cup veterans will find Nick Van Den Berg doing battle with Rodney Morris and Darren Appleton plays Ruslan Chinakov of Russia.
As for the "controversy" concerning the resignation of Jay Helfert as TD, both Helfert and Behrman found themselves between a rock and a hard place and both did what they felt they had to do. Helfert felt he could not alter the chart after the players meeting as that is the long custom in tournaments and Behrman felt compelled to honor the commitment he had made to his two-time past champion Allen Hopkins. Behrman found a player who was happy to vacate his spot to honor Hopkins and the event. But that is all a sideshow to the action on the tables and everyone is now settled in to concentrate on the play and ignore the disagreement between the owner of the event and his original Tournament Director. Scott Smith has taken over those duties and while the presence of Mr. Helfert will be missed the show will still go on. After all, when the quarterback is injured you do not stop the game, you put in another quarterback. So let's not let a business disagreement distract us from what is really important at the Open, the play upon the tables.
This is the most powerful field this reporter has ever seen at an Open and that is the factor that makes all else pale. This event has huge implications on many careers and that will be the focus of the week.
The winners alongside the runner-ups and organizers
Han Yu and Yu-Lung Chang are the 2014 China Open Champions. The China Open began with 64 men and 48 women, all of whom qualified to be here by their performance records in their home federations or qualifying tournaments. This makes for very tough fields as no walk-ons are there to ease the path. Every match is a showcase.
In both the men’s and women’s divisions the event began with the players drawn into groups. The eliminations that occur here leave us with a final ladder that has 32 names on it for the men and for the ladies there are 16.
From here on in any player can win or lose on any table. You only have 16 players left and they have shown themselves to be the cream of the crop. From this round Ronglin Chang progressed by eliminating Johann Chua 11-7. Thorsten Hohmann eased by Radoslaw Babica 11-9 and Yu Lung Chang defeated Bing Jie Chu 11-6.
The Round of Eight did not take long as every victory was decisive. Ronglin Chang shut down Thorsten Hohmann 11-6 while Yu Lung Chang dispatched Lee Van Corteza 11-8. Nearby Carlo Biado finished the event for Shane Van Boening 11-4 and Jeffrey Ignacio did the same for Mika Immonen 11-6.
Four men left and each were only a pair of wins away from the glory. We expected these matches to be close but instead were surprised by the dominance of our winners. Yu Lung Chang let his skills shout out an 11-4 trouncing of Ronglin Chang and Jeffrey Igancio left Carlo Biado behind in an 11-6 dust storm.
Yu Lung Chang was determined and his focus proved invincible as he took the crown 11-5 over our runner-up Jeffrey Ignacio.
On the ladies charts we were already down to 16 players and every name reflected many National or World Titles. This was an extremely impressive field. The first eight matches found Rubelin Amit slipping past Chieh-Yu Chou 9-8 while Han Yu had an easier time with Yichen Liu 9-4. Sha Sha Liu continued her march besting Xinmei Liu 9-5 as Kelly Fisher bumped off Jing Wu 9-4.
The lower half of the bracket saw Siming Chen defeat Allison Fisher 9-5 and Akimi Kajatani keeping it close with a 9-8 escape from Pei Chen Tsai. Xiao-Ting Pan squeezed past Szu-Ting Kuo 9-8 while Ga Young Kim obliterated Nataliya Seroshtan 9-1.
The four matches in the quarter-finals witnessed Han Yu beating Rubelin Amit 9-7, Sha Sha Liu ruining the afternoon for Kelly Fisher 9-6, Siming Chen punching the ticket for Akimi Kajatani 9-2 and Ga Young Kim finding dead punch to best Xiao-Ting Pan 9-7.
What a powerhouse group for the semi-finals! All of these players have proven their ability to win the Big One. This time Han Yu prevailed over Sha Sha Liu 9-4 and Ga Young Kim earned her berth in the final with a 9-7 win over Siming Chen.
Our final match between Ga Young Kim and Han Yu found Han Yu pulling away and winning the title 9-5. AZB wishes to congratulate our champions and thank the promoters and all involved in putting this event on annually.
The Men's pool division at the World Games in Cali, Colombia, began July 26th with sixteen men and sixteen women representing their home countries. Darren Appleton of Great Britain won the Gold medal for Men and Chou Chieh-Yu of Chinese Taipei has done the same in the Ladies division.
Appleton came to the final table via victories over Dennis Orcollo (11-9), Brandon Shuff (11-6), and Mohamed El Assal (11-9). Chang had dispatched Haitao Liu (11-6), Johnny Archer (11-8), and Ivan Lopez Avila (11-2).
None of the past matches mattered once the two finalists entered the fray. Appleton lept out to a 4-2 lead and then maintained that two rack spread at 6-4. Chang took the next rack to get within one and then claimed the next as well to level the score at 6 all.
Appleton fought back with a nice run and edged to 7-6. No good. Chang returned the favor and tied us again at 7. Soon Chang enjoyed his first lead at 8-7. As the stretch run began Chang took control and took rack 16 to lead the match 9-7.
Appleton clawed back to 9-8 and then used his bulldog character to even us again at 9 apiece. The World Games Gold just became a very short race. Appleton survived a rack of safeties to get to the hill first at 10-9. But Chang refused to lie down and came back to once again tie the match at double-hill.
Appleton took the next rack with style and courage to claim the Gold Medal. The world's Number One Player proves once again why he is considered the best.
World 8-ball supremacy, along with $35,000 in cash, is assured of a home in Taiwan for the next year, as Che We Fu and Jun Lin Chang both won their semi-final matches this afternoon at the Fujairah Tennis and Country Club.
The all-Taiwan final between Fu and Chang will begin later today at 5pm local time(GMT +). The match will be a race to 11, alternate break.
Fu completely dominated China’s Haitao Liu winning easily 9-3. Fu has been playing red hot 8-ball in the last few days, breaking well and barely missing any balls. It’s a recipe for success in professional 8-ball and has brought the veteran campaigner into his first world championship final.
Chang’s semi-final match vs. Chris Melling was much closer but the 26 year old from Taipei put in a brilliant performance in overcoming the confident Englishman. Melling raced out to a 2-0 but then saw Chang, with his deliberate style, crawl back in the match.
Chang took the lead at 4-3 and never looked back. Melling had trouble all afternoon with the break, consistently coming up dry. Chang took advantage and built up a 6-3 lead. Melling battled back to 6-5, but Chang broke and ran for a 7-5 lead. Melling again broke dry in rack 13 and Chang pushed the lead up to 3. Melling had one last fight back, moving the score to 8-7. But Chang held his nerve in rack 16 to get over the finish line first.
The winner of the World 8-ball Championship will receive $20,000, while the runner up will receive $15,000.
The WPA will be providing up to the minute coverage of the finals on its website, www.wpa-pool.com, including live scoring of the match , as well as blow by blow coverage via the WPA’s Twitter page, @poolwpa.
Call it a case of the student surpassing the master.
Taiwan’s Jun Lin Chang, who for the last ten years has been a pupil of fellow countryman Chei Wei Fu, did his pool teacher proud by winning the 2012 World 8-ball Championship, convincingly beating Fu in an all-Taiwan finals in Fujairah, 11—6.
Chang’s performance today, which started with a gritty 9-7 semi-finals win over England’s Chris Melling, vaulted him atop the pool playing world and deservedly so. Chang’s ability to read patterns, his even-keel demeanor, and his dead-eye potting skills, were all on display throughout the week in Fujairah and carried him through world class competition all the way to his first world championship.
The fact that Chang has learned much about pool and life at the feet of the 38 year old Fu, added a fascinating twist to what had become an all-Taiwan 8-ball party in Fujairah. The 26 year old Chang began studying the game from Fu at the age of 16. Despite traveling the world in the last few years, the two had never played each other in an international event.
The fact that these two ended up in the finals of a world championship was amazing result. As is the case in most pro tournaments, the tournament was constantly in a state of flux, with a single small roll of a ball determining outcomes of matches and careers. But by the time the finals rolled around, it was clear that the two hottest players this week had made it. Like Chang, Fu was playing red hot pool the last few days and had never come close to defeat. His 9-3 beat down of China’s Haitao Liu in today’s semi-final was just the latest in a string of powerful performances.
Both players were playing at about the same high level so it was difficult to predict who would come out on top in the final. But one thing was perfectly clear in this tournament; dry breaks and only one missed ball invariably lead to instant punishment from the other player. And that’s exactly how this match played out.
Fu won the lag but missed an early ball which Chang pounded on for the clear and a 1-0 lead. Chang then coolly broke and ran the next rack for a 2-0 lead. Fu broke dry in rack three and when Chang couldn’t convert a long pot, Fu also missed and paid the price for a three rack deficit.
The deliberate Chang doesn’t normally let big leads like this get away, but Fu decided it was time to make a match of it. Fu finally got on track when he broke serve in the next rack after Chang scratched on the break. He broke and ran rack 5, then broke serve in rack 6, and broke and ran rack seven for a 4-3 lead. That, however, was the last lead Fu would see in the match.
From there Chang stepped on the gas and took the next four frames, which included two break and runs, one clear off a dry break, and a cleared table from a Fu miss, all for a 7-4 lead and a vice grip on the match.
At this point Fu’s energy level seemed to wilt, while the tall and burly Chang just kept motoring along. Fu got one back, but Chang kept on going, punishing a single mistake by Fu, and breaking and running when he had the break. Chang made Fu pay for a mistake to go up 8-5. Then broke and cleared for a 9-5 lead. Fu got one consolation rack before Chang closed out his first world championship in style; a break and run, and clear off a Fu miss.
Afterward Chang was understandably highly emotional not just about his amazing accomplishment, but about the man who had helped him get to the top of the mountain, who happened to be the same man he had just beaten to get there.
“It’s like a dream,” Chang said through an interpreter. “To be a world champion. It’s something I dreamed about for a long time. I didn’t feel any pressure playing him. He taught me more than just how to play pool. He taught me how to be a man in real life, how to carry myself, how to behave and lead your life, don’t criticize and get down on yourself too much. Lead with you actions not your words. He is not just a teacher but a big brother to me, and a good friend.”
For Fu, the result brought on mixed emotions as his long cherished journey to his first world title ended in a losing battle with his very own pupil.
“I played bad in the final,” Fu said, still able to laugh and joke . “I felt like I ran out of energy. I’m very happy for him. I’m proud. But I think I would have preferred to have played a player from another country.”
For winning the World 8-ball Championship, Chang won $20,000, while Fu takes home $15,000
Haitao Liu must surely be singing the praises of that universal phrase about now, after the hard nose Chinese turned a desperate situation around at the very last moment, and came back from an 8-5 deficit to shock Taiwan’s Pin Yi Ko, 9-8, and move into the semi –finals of the World 8-ball Championship in Fujairah, UAE.
The race to 9, alternate break semi-final, which will begin at 1:30 PM(GMT +4) on Friday, will be Liu’s first ever trip to the final four of a world championship. There the 26 year old will face Taiwan’s red hot Che Wei Fu, who notched his third convincing victory of the day in his quarterfinal match when he blitzed the Netherland’s Huidji See 9-3.
The cross straits rivalry is one half of what promises to be an entertaining and intriguing day of championship pool in Fujairah. In the other semi-final, England’s Chris Melling, who played brilliantly in handily defeating the Philippines last bet, Roberto Gomez, 9-4 in the quarterfinal, will take on Taiwan’s Jun Lin Chang. Chang, Taiwan’s number 1 player, easily beat Germany’s Oliver Ortmann,9-3, in his quarterfinal match.
The down to the wire thriller with Ko was Liu’s second 9-8 match in 24 hours. In the round of 32 on Wednesday night, Liu just squeaked by Hungary’s Vilmos Foldes. Today in the round of 16, Liu knocked out Karol Skowerski, who had shocked defending champ Dennis Orcullo the night before.
Against Ko Liu was facing certain elimination as he was down 8-5, with Ko at the table after breaking and sinking a ball. In professional 8-ball, as has been proven all week, sinking a ball on the break virtually guarantees a run out so Liu had no reason to think he’d even get a chance. Besides, Ko hadn’t trailed in the entire match and, as he’s been doing all tournament, was playing superbly, using an incredibly powerful and precision break shot to take command of the match. For two days Ko had been one of the favorites around the arena to get to the final.
Ko, however, badly missed his first shot and Liu pounced, clearing the table. Liu then broke and ran to get to 8-7 down. He then played the rack of his life, deftly breaking up several difficult clusters while potting balls to tie the match. A high pressure break and run gave him an unlikely spot in the semis.
If today’s performance is anything to go by, Liu’s opponent Fu is certainly going to be a tough nut to crack, though. Fu started off by pounding Korea’s Hwang Yang, 9-0. Fu then manhandled the Philippines Lee Van Corteza 9-5. Fu didn’t have much problem handling See either.
While anything can happen in the wide open game of professional 8-ball, England’s Melling surely has to be one of the favorites coming into the final four. The 33 year old Brit has been one of the world’s best players for the last 18 months. Years before turning to the American game of pool, he played English 8-ball where he became one of the greatest ever to play the game, winning every major title several times. Melling brings a fearless and powerhouse style to the arena every time out, and oozes confidence.
Melling, though, very nearly let his chances slip away earlier in the day in his TV table match against the UAE’s best player, Salah Al-Rimawi in the round of 32. Al-Rimawi came back from 8-6 down and had the break in the last rack. Unfortunately for the home fans, Al-Rimawi broke dry. Melling stepped up and cleared the table for a gut wrenching 9-8 win.
That was all the spark that Melling needed as he next rolled over Thorsten Hohmann 9-4 in the round of 16. He then took that momentum into his impressive victory over Gomez.
“Except for a few bad racks in the middle, I played awesome,” Melling said. “I’m confident I can win this thing. The break is massively important. And I can pot as good as anybody. I just can’t make silly mistakes.”
As evidenced by his performance in three matches today, Chang certainly will pounce on the slightest misstep. Chang grinded out a 9-5 win over Bruno Muratore, 9-3 over Carlo Biado, before crushing Ortmann.
The semi-finals of the 2012 World 8-ball Championship begin at 1:30PM(GMT + 4). The finals will begin at 5:00pm. The winner of the 2012 World 8-ball Championship will receive $20,000, while the runner up will get $15,000. The tournament has a $156,000 prize fund.
The WPA will be providing up to the minute coverage of the semi-finals and finals on its website, www.wpa-pool.com, including live scoring of all matches, in depth articles on the goings on posted several times a day, as well as blow by blow coverage of big matches via the WPA’s Twitter page, @poolwpa.
