Shane Van Boening (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)
Jayson Shaw survived a hill-hill scare in his opening match of the World Pool Championship 2023 in Kielce, Poland as defending champion Shane Van Boening cruised through to Winners Round 1 unscathed live on Sky Sports, Viaplay, DAZN, Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide.
Van Boening stepped out at Targi Kielce looking to do what only Earl Strickland has ever achieved in defending a world title with Masato Yoshioka offering the first test. The South Dakota Kid was barely troubled by his opponent in a strong showing that saw Yoshioka restricted to few opportunities as Van Boening rattled in a 9-2 opening win. Mats Schjetne awaits tomorrow afternoon for Van Boening in Winners’ Qualification.
Shaw meanwhile had a far from the ideal start being pushed to the final four ball against Italy’s Francesco Candela. Two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Shaw, got off to a comfortable start to lead 5-3 but Candela hit back forcing it all the way to the hill. It was the case of Shaw making plenty of balls off the break but misfortune awaiting at his feet with several in-offs to claw Candela back into the contest. Candela forced a hill-hill finish and looked to have an out after a nervy safety exchange only for the four to be left hanging to allow Shaw in to complete a 9-8 win.
“I played well throughout the match. It was a weird one. Funny little things happened, I am exhausted and can barely keep my eyes open with a lot of pool being played in the last week. I need a good sleep and I will be back tomorrow. I got here at 5 pm yesterday and woke up at 5 pm today! 24 hours, I didn’t know where I was! Hopefully, tomorrow I can be back to where I need to be. I am playing well, there are a lot of good players out here. Hopefully, luck is on your side and you play well. It’s one match at a time for me. Everyone is here to win, we will see what happens.” – Jayson Shaw after beating Francesco Candela 9-5.
Wojciech Szewczyk (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)
13 Polish players started their journey on home soil with Wojciech Szewczyk getting the honours of playing the first match on Table 1 with the Warsaw native up against Bashar Hussain Abdul Majeed in front of a packed home crowd.
Nineball World No. 1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz beat So Shaw in a whitewash before coming from 5-2 down to defeat Wu Kun Lin and book a spot in the Last 64 and a day off tomorrow. Joining Sanchez Ruiz in the Last 64 is two-time winner Albin Ouschan who got the better of SVB Junior Open winner Khalid Alghamdi in Winners’ Qualification whilst Niels Feijen, Ko Ping Chung and Max Lechner also made it through early doors. It was also a delight for Nick Van Den Berg on a triumphant return to the Nineball Arena with back-to-back wins.
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.
The first day in Antalya of the Dynamic Billard Antalya Open 2019 started sunny as expected. Most players of the first round matches were on time for the beginning of their competition. In the first round, Nick Malai (GRE) and Marcel Price (GBR) had the toughest challenges. Both of them won their opening matches with 9:8 over their respective opponents which took a lot of energy out of them at such an early time of the day.
As the day continued, more remarkable matches could be witnessed. In the first winner’s round, Nick Malai took down Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) surprisingly clear with 9:1 and sent him to the loser’s side of the bracket. Jan Rempe (NED), young player from the dutch contingency, managed to overpower Fedor Gorst (RUS) with 9:5 in the same round. Jani Siekkinen (FIN) wasted no time with Alex Montpellier (FRA) wiping the floor with him with 9:0. Siekkinen’s teammate Jani Uski (FIN) also won his match against Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) with 9:7. One of the two big clashes in the first winner’s round was the all British match between Mark Gray and Darren Appleton. Both players have earned their merits in the past and it was clear that the one with the better daily form would probably succeed over the other. Additionally, Appleton had been absent for a long time and just started his Euro-Tour play again last tournament in Klagenfurt, Austria, while Gray has been a regular on the tour for many years now. Today, the match went in favour of Appleton since Gray had no break at all. Appleton took him down 9:5 and Gray stated on his facebook page later: „Horrible game that lost 9-5 to Darren Appleton. Better player undoubtedly won. Break killed me but didn’t feel good so good luck to Daz… Granite back to the beach!!“ The other „big match“ in that round was the encounter between Pijus Labutis (LTU) and Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP). That match was controlled by the Spaniard and won with 9:6 by Sanchez-Ruiz.
The Dynamic Billard Antalya Open 2019 will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time with matches from winner’s round 2.
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 Antalya Open are played in the Limak Atlantis Resort in Belek, Turkey, 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.
