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.
Alex Lely has announced his decision to step down as European captain for the annual Mosconi Cup after an undefeated three years in the role.
Lely took over from predecessor Marcus Chamat almost three years ago following two successive wins for the American team, with the Dutchman restoring the European dominance during his tenure.
He has now taken the decision to step aside and allow someone else to take up the illustrious role, revealing his intentions to continue his coaching in the USA as well as commentary on both pool and snooker.
The 1999 World Pool Masters winner and former European champion posted on social media: “It’s been a great run, finished with an amazing edition in Las Vegas.
“The intensity I experienced in this one, I will probably never go through again. It was the best one for me. But it ends now. A three-year run is good I feel, the fans get to see a new face, the players get a new input.
“I am happy to have had this chance from Matchroom and feel honoured how these champions have trusted me with their technique and other challenges.”
A new captain will take over the helm for the 2023 edition held on home soil, with former vice-captain Karl Boyes and three-time MVP Niels Feijen amongst the rumoured candidates.
Team Europe took day two of the 2022 Mosconi Cup against the USA to level up at 4-4 at Bally’s Las Vegas live Sky Sports in the UK, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Italy, and Spain, Viaplay in the Baltics, Scandinavia and Poland and networks worldwide.
Day two began with the Fans’ Choice Singles Match with Earl Strickland and Jayson Shaw, respectively picked. Strickland was looking to roll back the years and he was doing more than that as he rallied into an initial 3-0 lead to leave Shaw quiet in his chair. Shaw found his rhythm again in the fourth and a costly scratch from Strickland in rack five put him within one. Another scratch from Strickland in the sixth when trying to cut the eight in gave Shaw the most accessible opportunity to level things back. The comeback was soon complete for two-time MVP Shaw who riled the crowd up to pull Team Europe within one overall at 3-2.
An all-star match-up for the first singles contest between Shane Van Boening and Joshua Filler was never going to disappoint and it didn’t. Van Boening broke dry in the third rack and left an easy 1-9 combo on for Filler to lead 2-1. There was plenty of life in the contest and it was soon 3-3 after an untimely scratch from Filler much to the USA fan’s delight. Filler lost position in the seventh but went airborne in an incredible runout to reach the hill first. A brilliant break and run later and Europe was level overall at 3-3.
The USA needed to stem the European tide from somewhere and it was left up to Tyler Styer and Oscar Dominguez to do that against Filler and Albin Ouschan in match seven of the cup. Nothing could separate them up until 3-3 when an uncharacteristic miss from Styer on the six into the middle pocket brought Filler and Ouschan back to the fold to reach the hill first when it did look like an easy USA runout. Dominguez went airborne on the five in the following rack and it proved to be costly as the Europeans did the rest to get their third point of the day.
In what proved to be the final action of the day, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz got his first taste of singles action against USA vice-captain Skyler Woodward. The crowd was rocking but soon silenced as Sanchez Ruiz moved into a 2-0 lead to put the cat amongst the pigeons. Woodward found a moment of fortune when banking the six ball the full length of the table before finding a plum position on the seven to cut the deficit. Expectations were high from the home faithful as Woodward soon turned it around to a 3-2 and 4-2 advantage.
Play was halted as Woodward reached the hill due to a global broadcast outage meaning players were taken off whilst a fix was actioned to continue live coverage for those at home. Upon return, Sanchez Ruiz broke dry and Woodward ensured the USA would head into day three level overall at 4-4 sealing a vital point with an expert runout that included an exquisite jump on the one as Europe took day two 3-1.
Can’t make it to the 2022 Mosconi Cup? Watch the action wherever you are in the world. Broadcasters below. If you do not see a broadcaster in your country, you can watch on Matchroom.Live
Sky Sports UK & Ireland
AMC Network Hungary
Dazn Brazil, Canada, Italy, Spain, USA
Fox Sports Australia
Mena SSC
Nova Czech Republic and Slovakia
Saran Sport Turkey
Singtel Singapore
Sportklub Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia
Ko Pin Yi has moved inside the world’s top ten on the Live Nineball World Rankings after claiming The APF Asian 9-Ball Open title beating James Aranas in the final 13-11 in Singapore live on the Matchroom Pool social channels as well as on the APF feeds, Matchroom.Live and broadcasters across Asia.
The 2015 World Champion knocked out US Open runner-up Aloysius Yapp, Masato Yoshioka, and Johann Chua on the way to a memorable victory that sees Ko rise inside the top ten on the Live Nineball World Rankings thanks to the 10,000 Singapore Dollars first place prize.
Aranas showed guile and guts throughout as he reminded the world what he is capable of but in the end, it proved not to be enough to pip an imperious Ko who came from behind meaning the Filipino settled for 5,000 Singapore Dollars and second spot.
Ko has been back playing in Europe this year and acknowledged it made a difference playing closer to home: “The difference between Asian and European style in play is very different but despite that, I still had to be performing at my very best to win the tournament. I felt less pressure with less travel and being able to communicate with people in Mandarin so I felt a lot more relaxed and confident.”
The Chinese Taipei star was happy to move inside the top ten to increase his chances of getting into the biggest tournaments on the calendar next year: “In Asia, if there are more rankings events, I will make more of a point of taking part. I feel more pressure when I travel abroad. Winning the tournament will boost my confidence to play well in the US Open Pool Championship. I hope all Matchroom events will come to Asia!.”
Naoyuki Oi‘s run to the semi-finals before defeat to Aranas sees the Japanese star move up from World No. 27 to No.22 whilst Chua enters the rankings for the first time at No. 100. Oi now sits just outside the World’s Top 20 by less than $500. Hong Kong, China’s Lo Ho Sum, and Robbie Capito both move inside the Top 50 after runs to the Last 16 and Quarter-Finals respectively.
Over 15 new players enter the Live Nineball Rankings after the first-ever Nineball Ranking Event to take place in Asia. Ko’s win could prove vital for him ahead of the US Open Pool Championship where the top 128 off the 2022 and Live Nineball World Rankings will be seeded. As it stands, it would mean Ko would be on the same side of the bracket as Nineball World No.2 Joshua Filler.
The tournament was live streamed across the world on the Matchroom Pool Facebook and YouTube as well as OTT platform Matchroom.Live to become the first tournament outside of Matchroom events to be broadcast on those feeds. Matchroom provided support to the APF on site with Karl Boyes lead commentator throughout the coverage live from Singapore.
Matchroom Multi Sport Managing Director Emily Frazer was also on-site in Singapore: “I am delighted with how the inaugural APF Asian 9-Ball Open has gone. I want to take the chance to thank the APF’s team for putting together such a professional set-up and working with us on this Nineball first. I am excited to see where our partnership can head and I hope it’s the first of many Nineball Ranking tournaments to take place in the Southern Hemisphere. It has opened my eyes to further the Nineball schedule globally.”
Focus now turns to Europe and Zaragoza in Spain for the PRP Nineball Open that is set to take place from September 14-19.
Matchroom Pool and the Asian Pool Federation will collaborate to broadcast the federation’s Asian 9-Ball Open worldwide live. This Nineball World Ranking Event will be shown live across APF’s Asian network partners and for the rest of the world via Matchroom Pool Youtube channel hosting over 172,000 subscribers and 70 million views and OTT platform Matchroom.Live; the coverage will boast some of Asia’s biggest pool stars as they head to Singapore from August 24th chasing the 10,000 Singapore Dollars and Nineball ranking points.
Following the launch of the Nineball World Rankings this year, the Asian Pool Federation’s tournament will become the first third-party tournament to be broadcast via Matchroom platforms with the likes of home favourite Aloysius Yapp, US Open champion Carlo Biado, Nineball Top 10 player Naoyuki Oi, former World Champion Ko Pin Yi and more set to compete over the five-day event.
As a further addition to develop third-party promoters, five-time Mosconi Cup winner and Sky Sports pundit Karl Boyes will be out in Singapore providing commentary and reporting on the live coverage with other Matchroom personnel set to join Boyes in the Garden City to provide support, knowledge, and engagement for the ranking event.
The tournament is the first ranking event on the Nineball World Rankings in Asia and it opens the door for other tournament organisers globally to benefit from Matchroom’s global reach on social media to live stream matches worldwide to millions.
Emily Frazer Matchroom Multi Sport Managing Director said: “When we first saw the Asian Pool Federation launch the Asian 9-Ball Open we knew it would be a perfect fit for our Nineball World Rankings; and now we’re so excited to further that partnership which sees the APF’s live coverage go global thanks to our huge following on social media, our in-house OTT platform Matchroom.Live and the level professionalism shown from the APF team. It opens the door to other eventsaround the world to join the rankings but also benefit from the exposure that comes with working with the leading promoter in the sport. This collaboration has always been one of our many goal’s associated with the Nineball World Rankings that we set for the future but with the Multi Sport team as ambitious as ever it looks like we’re ahead of schedule.”
“APF is thrilled by this exciting partnership with Matchroom which will bring pool sports to even greater heights in this region . The support by Matchroom has made it possible to enhance the coverage and quality of the event and this in turn will undoubtedly raise the visibility and profile of the event and place Asia firmly on the global map of pool sports. “ – Christopher Chuah, President of the APF
The addition of the tournament marks a major moment in the inaugural year of the Nineball World Rankings with the eventual winner of the APF 9-Ball Asian Open set to take home 10,000 Singapore Dollars in a maximum field of 96 with the field full.
Albin Ouschan, Ko Ping Chung, Alexander Kazakis, and home favourite Jayson Shaw all went out of the inaugural UK Open Pool Championship at the Copper Box Arena, London. Only 16 remain as the $200,000 tournament heads into single elimination live on Sky Sports Action in the UK and Ireland, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Italy, Spain, Viaplay in Scandinavia, Poland, and the Baltics as well as Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide.
It was a grueling day of action in one of London’s most iconic venues as the tournament went through three stages of Losers Round action and a further two rounds of Winners to get the final 16 who will now compete over three tables in Races to 11 to make Saturday evening’s quarterfinals.
One player who won’t be there is Ouschan who has been battling to keep his impeccable record at Matchroom events going. It started in the best possible way with a win over veteran Ralf Souquet but he came up against a resurged Robbie Capito of Hong Kong, China who played one of the matches of his career to knock out the two-time World Champion 9-0. Shaw headed into the day knowing he needed to win three ties to keep hopes of making the final two days on home soil, but it wasn’t to be as young Jonas Souto Comino of Spain came good in a hill-hill finish early on live on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel. Souto Comino’s hopes of his best performance to date in a Matchroom event ended at the hands of Mika Immonen 9-3 swiftly after.
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz was dumped onto the Losers’ Side of the tournament on the opening day and has since then battled away to make the Last 16. The Derby City Classic 9-Ball winner sidestepped past USA Mosconi Cup hopeful Nicholas De Leon 9-3 before wins over Ping Chung and Wojciech Szewczyk to make it two Spaniards in the final stage. The ever-present David Alcaide has stayed on the winners’ side with relative ease all week but had his sternest tests of the week beating both Immonen and World Pool Masters semi-finalist Mieszko Fortunski 9-7 to be right in the picture.
World Champion Shane Van Boening continues to steamroller his way through the tournament beating Daniel Maciol 9-3 to be in the hat whilst Mario He’s remarkable week continued to defeat Thorsten Hohmann 9-3 after beating Ko Ping Chung 9-1 earlier on. World Pool Masters winner Joshua Filler breezed past one of the last remaining Brits Luke Rollison 9-2 with a golden break along the way to join He and Van Boening in the draw.
Another World Pool Masters winner in Karol Skowerski rolled back the years to beat Skyler Woodward 9-1 for his Last 16 spot after defeating compatriot Wiktor Zielinski in a hill-hill finish. Woodward did join Van Boening in the single-elimination stage though after fighting off a resilient Capito in Losers’ Qualification.
There will be one Brit flying the flag this weekend though as Imran Majid battled through a hardy day on the Losers Half beating Marco Teutscher in a hill-hill finish before overcoming Jose Alberto Delgado and Thorsten Hohmann 9-5 and 9-3 respectively. Majid faces Filler for a spot in the quarterfinals.
The Last 16 draw was completed by Karl Boyes and Matchroom Multi Sport Managing Director Emily Frazer. The eight winners from the winners’ half kept their seedings and were randomly drawn against the eight players from Losers’ Qualification.
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
Accu-Stats Video Productions has released their MAY schedule of YouTube Premiere matches. They focus on the 2022 Derby City Classic and the 2015 US Open 9-Ball Championships. Fans can enjoy the world’s greatest players including Shane Van Boening, Fedor Gorst, Jayson Shaw, Joshua Filler, Ko Ping Chung, Earl Strickland, Mike Dechaine, and many, many more.
Accu-Stats premieres a new match from their immense archive of New and Historic content three times a week: Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday nights at 8pm EST. There is a lively chat during each premiere. Pat Fleming will host most nights in May. Viewers can find the Accu-Stats YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/AccuStatsVideoProductionsTV
May Premiere Schedule:
May 1st – 2022 Derby City Classic One Pocket – John Gabriel vs Alex Pagulayan
May 3rd – 2015 US Open 9-Ball Championship – Earl Strickland vs Scott Frost
May 5th – 2022 Derby City Classic Big Foot Challenge – Jayson Shaw vs Omar Al-Shaheen
May 8th – 2022 Derby City Classic One Pocket – Josh Roberts vs Darren Appleton
May 10th – 2015 US Open 9-Ball Championship – Shane Van Boening vs Roberto Gomez
May 12th – 2022 Derby City Classic Big Foot Challenge – Joshua Filler vs Alex Kazakis
May 15th – 2022 Derby City Classic One Pocket – Jayson Shaw vs Anthony Meglino
May 17th – 2015 US Open 9-Ball Championship – Ivica Putnik vs Ko Ping Chung
May 19th – 2022 Derby City Classic Big Foot Challenge – Shane Van Boening vs Lee Vann Corteza
May 22nd – 2022 Derby City Classic One Pocket – Fedor Gorst vs Darren Appleton
May 24th – 2015 US Open 9-Ball Championship – Kai-Lun Hsu vs Mike Dechaine
May 26th – 2022 Derby City Classic Big Foot Challenge – Roberto Gomez vs John Morra
May 29th – 2022 Derby City Classic One Pocket Finals – Fedor Gorst vs Joshua Roberts
May 31st – 2015 US Open 9-Ball Championship – Karl Boyes vs Liu Hai-Tao
For over 30 years, Accu-Stats has been the leader in Professional Tournament Match Videos. The entire collection is available on DVD at http://www.accu-stats.com.
You can also watch more than 400 Accu-Stats matches from the 2018 and 2019 INTL 9-BALL OPEN; 2016-2020 Derby City Classic; 2015-2017 US Open 9-Ball Championships, as well as the Accu-Stats “Make It Happen” Invitationals via the Accu-Stats’ Vimeo Subscription service: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/asvod/
Two-time World Pool Masters champion Niels Feijen has admitted it was a surprise when he received his wild card invite for the 2022 World Pool Masters at the Europa Point Sports Complex, Gibraltar May 5-8 live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Feijen was speaking to Karl Boyes on the latest episode of Loose Pool with the Dutchman in a reflective mood ahead of next week admitting that it would be an amazing feeling to claim the title for the third time, but he’s aware the challenge is much harder as an unseeded player: “When you look at it back then you had to win four matches but you have to beat four of the toughest guys on the planet. Now I have to win five! If I catch some groove and form, I am playing well enough to win. I don’t think anyone is a hot favourite. It’s a tough format. It would feel amazing to win it three times. It’d be a good line to see how many have won it more than twice. It’d be a nice group to join.”
In 2018, Feijen had to overcome Shane Van Boening in the final, but it wasn’t his biggest challenge after being told to stay away from the pool table for over ten weeks prior to the tournament to recover from tennis elbow. The victory was an emotional one for Feijen who only really felt his best when playing Boyes in the semi-finals: “I wasn’t able to hit a ball until right before. It was borderline that I was about to pull out but then I got the green light from my physio to play for 20 minutes a week before the event. The next day I could do 30 then 40 etc. Then I was allowed to do a break that really hurt in the beginning. I had zero form and zero expectation.”
“When I got there, I played you (Karl Boyes) in the semis. The thing was, that was the first match, and moment I was pain-free, the chains just flew off, there was so much energy going through me. I didn’t care if I was going to win or lose. I was like a kid again. When you get in that mode it’s a win-win. Won the semis then I won the final. Amazing memories and one of the biggest wins emotionally for me in my career.”
Some may write off Feijen with the new wave of European players breaking through but he’s more focussed than before to keep delivering huge moments with the Terminator keen to keep impressing: “During COVID-19, I struggled you were playing then taken off for four or five weeks. That’s tough you must pick back up and stay motivated. I wasn’t playing well but to be honest, my motivation wasn’t at its peak. This year, I said we had the European Championship, I want to go there and get a gold medal. I got gold medal in Nineball. My game’s been good.”
The 2022 World Pool Masters will once again be played on Rasson Ox tables with 4-inch pockets with the tournament known as one of the toughest in Nineball not just for the strength and depth of the field but playing conditions: “I think it’s good. It was tough last year. The heat is on in short races. You see surprising misses. The players are under pressure right out the gate. You must take of your position play than with looser pockets. You will see more surprises in the World Pool Masters with crazy misses and it will get under the player’s skin. You must mentally prepare.”
Feijen will enter the preliminary stage before facing one of the seeded top eight off the 2022 Nineball World Rankings in the Last 16. He will find out his opponent when the draw is complete on Thursday, April 28.
EVENT FORMAT
The top 8 seeded players enter at the last 16, where they are joined by the winners from the preliminary round, where players ranked 9-24 face off.
All matches race to 7, winner breaks, except for the final which is a race to 9.
Naoyuki Oi knocked Joshua Filler out of the World Pool Championship at the last 32 stage, while Americans Shane van Boening and Skyler Woodward won through to the last 16 at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes.
Oi inflicted an 11-6 defeat on Germany’s Filler, a recent World Cup of Pool winner and the 2018 World Champion. That sets up the popular Japanese player with a last 16 match against Spain’s Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz, who ended the dreams of four-time Mosconi Cup winner Karl Boyes, who was beaten 11-3.
“I am really happy with the win, it was the best match I have played in the tournament and I am looking forward to the next round,” said Sanchez-Ruiz. “I knew it would be a tough match but I played perfect at the beginning of the match. This is the most important tournament of them all and it would be a dream to win it.”
Skyler Woodward defeated Bahram Lotfy 11-4 and will now meet Roberto Gomez, who beat Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp 11-7. Woodward’s Mosconi Cup USA teammate Van Boening continued his run of fine World Championship form with an 11-4 win over Lithuania’s Pijus Labutis.
Albin Ouschan registered an 11-7 success over Germany’s former World Champion Thorsten Hohmann, and Marc Bijsterbosch beat Billy Thorpe in a hill-hill thriller. Ouschan’s Austrian compatriot Max Lechner came from 9-5 down to Brit Elliot Sanderson to win 11-9.
There was a big win for Kuwait’s Omar Al Shaheen who beat Chris Melling 11-10 despite having missed an easy 9 to win a rack earlier.
The last 16 plays from midday on Wednesday, with Sanchez-Ruiz facing Oi on the TV table before Skyler Woodward plays Roberto Gomez, live on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live. The quarter-finals will then take place in the evening session from 6pm.
The full draw and brackets for the knockout stages can be found at matchroompool.com, along with live scoring throughout the event. For all the latest news and announcements follow Matchroom Pool on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
Fedor Gorst’s World Pool Championship defence came to an end at the hands of USA’s Skyler Woodward, who came from 8-4 down to win 11-8 at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes.
After a shaky start, Woodward was staring down the barrel of defeat but settled himself and won seven consecutive racks, keeping Gorst largely rooted to his seat and unable to stem the tide of the two-time Mosconi Cup MVP, who will now face Denmark’s Bahram Lotfy in the last 32.
“When I was 8-4 down I was waiting for a chance to take control and that’s what I did,” said Woodward. “I knew I couldn’t give him a chance because he was three games away so if I gave him a game off my break he was two away and I would be out of here.
“Having the race to 11 was nice, because at 8-4 if he was on the hill it would have been a little different thinking from me if it was race to 9. I have to keep focused, keep doing what I am doing and I can go deep.”
Jayson Shaw suffered a bruising defeat to Shane van Boening, who has been one of the best and most consistent performers of the tournament so far. The five-time US Open Champion looked in good rhythm as he dumped International Open winner Shaw out of the event.
The last 32 commences at 6pm this evening, live on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live. Among the standout ties is Germany’s former World Champion Thorsten Hohmann against Predator Championship League Pool winner Albin Ouschan. Team USA’s Billy Thorpe faces Dutchman Marc Bijsterbosch, while Karl Boyes’ comeback continues with the World Cup finalist in action against Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz after a 11-5 win over Moritz Neuhausen in the last 64.
Joshua Filler won an entertaining clash with Darren Appleton 11-8 and now faces Naoyuki Oi, who knocked out World Pool Masters winner Alex Kazakis 11-6.
The full draw and brackets for the knockout stages can be found at matchroompool.com, along with live scoring throughout the event. For all the latest news and announcements follow Matchroom Pool on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
