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Shaw Survives Day One Scare as Van Boening Cruises

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.

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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.

Mieszko Fortunski, Mika Immonen, Chris Melling, and Mario He was amongst the names to be placed onto the losers’ side of the bracket with opening day losses to Emil Andre-Gangflot, Gerson Martinez, Duong Quoc Hoang, and Sebastian Batkowski respectively.

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.

Thursday 2 February – from 12pm local

Table 1 Afternoon Session

Match No. 81 – Joshua Filler (GER) vs Alex Pagulayan (CAN) – WQ

Match No. 65 – Shane Van Boening (USA) vs Mats Schjetne (NOR) – WQ

Table 2 Afternoon Session

12pm – Match No. 89 – Wiktor Zielinski (POL) vs Roman Hybler (CZE) – WQ

NB 1:30pm – Match No. 155 – Karol Skowerski (POL) vs James Aranas (PHI) – LR1

NB 2:30pm – TBC

Table 3 Afternoon Session

12pm – Match No. 72 – Alexander Kazakis (GRE) vs Tyler Styer (USA) – WQ

NB 1:30pm – Match No. 140 – Mika Immonen (FIN) vs Marcel Price (GBR) – LR1

NB 2:30pm – TBC

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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.

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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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Blockbuster Final Day Set For Predator World Teams Championship

Chang Jung-Lin

Great Britain will face Chinese Taipei and Germany will take on Philippines in an all-star line-up for the semi-finals of the Predator World Teams Championship in Klagenfurt, Austria.

Friday’s quarter-finals saw Great Britain beat Japan 3-0, Chinese Taipei knock out hosts Austria 3-1, Germany overcome Spain 3-1, and Philippines defeat Poland, also by 3 sets to 1.

It means Sunday’s semi-final line-up is littered with World Champions, and three more will be crowned by the end of the weekend, as well as another in the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship.

Austria took center stage on the main feature table with a home crowd behind them. However, they lost the first set as ‘Rita’ Chieh-Yu Chou won 4-3 over Jasmin Ouschan; both players had earlier in the day qualified for the semi-finals of the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship, which take place on Saturday.

Mario He levelled for his country with a 4-1 singles win against Wu Kun Lin, but siblings Jasmin and Albin Ouschan then suffered a 4-0 reversal to Chou and Chang Jung-Lin, before Chang completed the win with another 4-0, this time against He.

“In the women’s singles I didn’t play very well but in the doubles Chang Jung-Lin gave me a lot of power, he made me feel very comfortable,” said Chou.

Chang added: “I played well today but so did Rita. We have to support each othjer, trust each other and enjoy the match. On Sunday we hope to play better.”

Great Britian’s progression to the semi-finals, where they will meet Chinese Taipei, was completed in straight sets. Kelly Fisher won a hill-hill women’s singles tie against Yuki Hiraguchi 4-3, and Jayson Shaw dispatched Masato Yoshioka 4-1 in the men’s singles match. Victory was completed with a 4-2 mixed doubles win for Fisher and Darren Appleton over Hiraguchi and Toru Kuribayashi.

For Fisher, she believes the experience of playing alongside two elite-level team-mates, who also happen to be close friends, is helping elevate her individual game too.

“We have known each other for years and we all get on so well,” said Fisher, who plays in the semi-finals of the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship on Saturday.

“They have so much testosterone between them, it’s no wonder they are champions. I think they might be helping me because they are gearing me up, they are really supportive and some of the shot selection, how men think compared to women, it is really amazing when you spend that time with them.

“I love teams, I wish we had more team events. We are here to win, and with the testosterone and ego you can see that, but win or lose we get on great and whatever happens we will give it 110%”

Sunday’s second semi-final will see Germany face Philippines after both teams registered 3-1 semi-final wins. Pia Filler got things started for Germany with a 4-2 win over Amalia Matas and Thorsten Hohmann continued the momentum by beating Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz, also 4-2. Matas and David Alcaide kept Spain in it with an emphatic 4-0 success over husband and wife pairing Joshua and Pia Filler, but Joshua put that behind him and turned the scoreline around on Sanchez-Ruiz to avoid the shootout and send Spain to the last four.

Philippines are also guaranteed a medal after they defeated Poland 3-1. Rubilen Amit scored a 4-1 success over Oliwia Zalewska in the women’s singles set, but men’s World 10-Ball Champion Wojciech Szewczyk beat Carlo Biado 4-2 to level for Poland.

Szewczyk’s racks were the last won by Poland, however, as first Zaleska and Tomasz Kaplan and then Szewczyk suffered 4-0 defeats, to Amit and Johann Chua in doubles and Chua in singles.

“We are very happy that we are into the semi finals now,” said Amit. “I am glad that the boys played very well and we didn’t have to go through another shootout, because my heart couldn’t bare another shootout.”

Chua added: “Tomorrow we will practice, rest well and on Sunday we will come for you guys!”

The semi-finals and final all take place on Sunday, beginning at 9am local time. Matches will be streamed live and free on the World Billiard TV YouTube Channel, watchbilliard.tv and on Kozoom.com.

The draw and brackets for the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship can be seen here: https://probilliardseries.com/event/1677/.

The draw and brackets for the Predator World Teams Championship is at https://probilliardseries.com/event/1678/.

Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter to follow the next events.

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Winning Start For Ouschan In Predator Women’s World 10-Ball Championship

Jasmin Ouschan

Jasmin Ouschan, organizing two WPA World Championship events in her hometown, reverted to her familiar playing role and won through the first round of the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship with a confident 7-2 win over Kristina Grim at Sportpark Klagenfurt on Tuesday.

Three-time Pro Billiard Series champion Kelly Fisher was a 7-1 winner against Seo Seoa, while the current Women’s 10-Ball Championship – who won her title when the event was last staged in 2013 – also got off to a winning start, registering a 7-0 victory against Yi Yun Su.

Ouschan has been heavily involved in the organization of these events but more recently has switched her focus to preparations for competing, and she had plenty of support as she got her tournament underway against Grim.

Ouschan took the first rack after Grim gave herself a tough cut on the 10, which she hit too thin. The match was levelled when a dry break and subsequent foul from Ouschan allowed Grim back in with ball in hand. The Slovakian, who has previously represented Germany, couldn’t capitalize on her own break, however, and hit a tough 9 too full and Ouschan’s lead was restored at 2-1. The following two racks also went against the breaker, but Ouschan made it 4-2 from her own break.

That lead was extended further after Grim left an opening from a 1-ball safety. Ouschan completed another run out on her own break to reach the hill 6-2 up, and her progression to the next round was confirmed the next rack when the hometown hero cleared after Grim missed a long 1 under shot-clock pressure.

“The first match is always a big question mark, how it will feel,” said Ouschan. “But it went well and I’m totally happy with the set up in general, the whole team did great and of course I am proud to have such an event in my hometown.”

The World Women’s 10-Ball Championship was last held in 2013, when the Philipinnes’ Rubilen Amit won the title for a second time, beating Kelly Fisher in the final to add to her 2009 success. Amit has had a long time to wait to defend her title but made a perfect start with a 7-0 win over Yi Yun Su of Chinese Taipei.

Elsewhere, three-time Pro Billiard Series champion Kelly Fisher eased into the winners’ side of the brackets with a 7-1 win over Korea’s Seo Seoa, and there was a win for Austria’s 17-year-old rising star Lena Primus, who defeated Laura Saarinen 7-6.

Before the start of the World Teams Championship, players and officials paid tribute to Molrudee Kasemchaiyanan, who sadly died on Tuesday. Kasemchaiyanan fell ill after representing New Zealand at The World Games in July and was remembered by her billiard family with a minute of silence in Klagenfurt. Kelly Fisher paid tribute, saying: “She was a sweetheart who did a lot for the billiard world and was very passionate about the game, and was part of our billiard family. She is going to be missed very much.”

Matches in the World Teams Championship are a best of five sets and teams are made up one two male and one female player. The first set is between the two female players, before teams nominate a player for mens singles. All four players must have played by the third set, which is mixed doubles. Players can then nominate a singles player of their choice for the fourth set, and if scores are tied at 2-2 then all team members participate in a best-of-four shootout.

With Austria ‘A’ among eight teams seeded through the first round, it was left to the B team to fly the flag on the feature table. However, they were up against a USA team in no mood to be gracious to their hosts. April Larson set the tone for a defiant victory, defeated Lina Primus 4-0.

The momentum was carried into the second set by Tyler Styer, who defeated Daniel Guttenberger 4-1. Guttenberger’s rack was the only one won by Austria, however, as Joey Tate teamed up with Larson to send Austria B to the losers’ side of the brackets, winning the set 4-0 against Primus and Max Lechner. That sets up a mouth-watering clash between Great Britain (Jayson Shaw, Darren Appleton and Kelly Fisher) and USA tomorrow evening.

Japan (Yuki Hiraguchi, Masato Yoshioka & Tatsu Kuribayashi) won a thrilling encounter against Serbia (Bojana Sarac, Aleksa Pecelj & Andreja Klasovic). Japan took the first two sets by close scorelines of 4-3 for Hiraguchi over Sarac and 4-2 for Yoshioka over Pecelj. Serbia fought back strongly as Sarac and Klasovic won from hill-hill in mixed doubles against Hiraguchi and Kuribayashi but Yoshioka took his team into the next round with an emphatic 4-0 win against Pecelj.

Canada won the first shootout of the event to advance at the expense of Costa Rica, and a short while later Switzerland also advanced by shootout, sending Finland to the losers’ side.

The draw and brackets for the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship can be seen here: https://probilliardseries.com/event/1677/. Play continues at 9am on Wednesday.

The draw and brackets for the Predator World Teams Championship is at https://probilliardseries.com/event/1678/. Play continues 4pm on Wednesday.

The event is broadcasting two tables with full live coverage and commentary every day. One will be available on the World Billiard TV YouTube Channel and another will be at watchbilliard.tv. All tables can be viewed live at Kozoom.com.

Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter to follow the next events.

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Ko Pin Yi Rises Into World’s Top Ten After APF Asian 9-Ball Open Win

Ko Pin Yi (Photo courtesy Asian Pool Federation)

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.

UPDATED NINEBALL WORLD RANKINGS

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.

Current Nineball World Ranking Schedule

PRP Nineball Open – PRP – Spain – September 14-19

Slovenia Open – EuroTour – Slovenia – October 1-3 

Sandcastle 9-Ball Open – NBL – New Jersey – October 6-8

US Open Pool Championship – Matchroom – Harrah’s Resort, Atlantic City – October 10-15 – Tickets are available here

International Open – Accu-Stats – Virginia, USA – October 30 – 5 November

EuroTour Treviso Open – EuroTour – Treviso, Italy – November 25-27

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Spain And USA Reach Quarter-Finals Of World Cup of Pool

Skyler Woodward and Shane Van Boening (Taka Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)

Spain and the USA have become the first sides to reach the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup of Pool at the Brentwood Centre, Essex live on Sky Sports Arena in the UK, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Viaplay in Scandinavia, the Baltics, Netherlands, and Poland. Matchroom.Live in territories without a broadcaster.

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One of the best matches of the first round came last as Japan’s Naoyuki Oi and Masato Yoshioka battled away with the unseeded but lethal duo from Switzerland of Dimitri Jungo and Ronald Regli. Japan had gotten off to the ideal start after winning the lag to take the opening two racks but that was only the start of an epic contest. Yoshioka dry broke in the third and from there, Switzerland pieced together a five pack, crafted like a fine Swiss watch.

Japan was staring down the barrel going into the eighth rack, but they were handed a lifeline when Regli scratched on the break. A neat bit of play later and Oi/Yoshioka’s hopes were renewed with the deficit cut to two. The break in the ninth wasn’t great from Oi and it led to Switzerland playing the pushout with Jungo at the table. The pushout was played well but Japan turned the needle with a safety of their own which put Regli in a tough postion. Kicking out on the one, Regli opened the table up to allow Japan in and cut the Swiss advantage to one.

Regli provided another opportunity for Japan in the next rack as he jumped on the one but made it leave the table in the process. It was another rack for Japan, and they were back in it. Oi and Yoshioka were back in the mood after initially being frozen out for five racks and they did their best to see things through as they reached the hill first at 6-5 after a 2-9 combo from Oi had brought them level.

Oi was unlike his regular self at times, and the costliest moment of the match came when he missed the one ball when trying to screw the cue ball back. With the one firmly hooked by Switzerland, Japan was back at the table but again it was the case of too much power and a lack of table speed judgment that led to Switzerland forcing a hill-hill decider.

The break proved key in the end of this contest, Japan’s meager 0.7 balls off the break in comparison to Switzerland’s 1.6 proving testimony to a superb victory for Jungo and Regli who meet Hungary next.

The Last 16 began with a European heavyweight clash between Spain and Albania for a spot in the quarterfinals and it was the latter who won the lag with a team of Eklent Kaçi and Besar Spahiu.

Spain’s David Alcaide and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz didn’t have to wait too long for their first opportunity after Kaçi’s error when kicking the three ball opened the door. Rack two was again down to Spain’s expert safety, so often seen in three cushion, a game both know well. Kaçi was hooked on the one and he proceeded to scratch giving Spain ball in hand inevitably a second rack. At the commercial break, it was 3-0 Spain, no small part down to a golden break from Sanchez Ruiz, the first of the week.

It wasn’t the case in the match of Albania playing badly, Spain were just too good as they racked up an unassailable lead. In the fifth, at 4-0 down, Spahiu tried a six cross bank only for it to not come off and give the Spaniards another easy win to go 5-0 ahead.

Sanchez Ruiz’s cue power on the break was working well but a dry break in the next rack gave Albania their chance to get on the board at 5-1. It was evident it wasn’t going to be Albania’s evening though and after conceding position in rack seven, Spain was on the hill. The job for Alcaide and Sanchez Ruiz was soon wrapped up inside 45 minutes to become the first nation into the quarterfinals.

“We played really well. We’re happy with our performance. Let’s see what comes next for us. Both players are good but when we play like that, we are so strong. We’re happy with our showing. I have a feeling in the next round, we are not thinking anything further. We played good though and broke much better than in the last round.” – Alcaide and Sanchez Ruiz after beating Albania.

The final action of the evening came in the form of a mighty clash between the USA and Poland. Both sides fancied for the title come Sunday evening in Brentwood. The USA’s Shane Van Boening broke in the first rack but didn’t leave many positions for compatriot Skyler Woodward giving Poland their first opportunity in the match. The pair of Mieszko Fortunski and Wojciech Szewczyk did the rest and they led early on 1-0.

Fortunski had a run to the World Pool Masters semi-finals just last month and alongside Szewczyk they were proving to be good value at 2-0 up. A ‘safety’ on the two in rack three could’ve been enough for them to make it 3-0 but with World Champion Van Boening at the table, the South Dakota Kid had other ideas and the USA made it 2-1. A straightforwards fourth rack brought the USA level.

From then on, the United States took control of the contest and loved every moment of it to switch it up with five racks on the spin to be two away from the quarters. Woodward came close to messing that one up when the nine rattled both sides of the pocket in the seventh.

Into the eighth, Woodward played a big safety shot to keep Poland tied up. Fortunski went airborne but he left the three in a good position. Woodward missed the resulting cut which left to a brief safety exchange where the USA came out on top, no thanks down to a fluke from Van Boening on the four and eight. The USA were on the hill.

Woodward brought his A1 game and that came in clutch as he laid the safety that would prove to be Poland’s final moment of the game as they fouled to give Van Boening and Woodward the table to complete victory. They face Hungary or Switzerland next.

Action returns from 11 am tomorrow with Round 2 continuing live on Sky Sports Arena at 11 am as well as live on DAZN in the USA, Canada, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Viaplay in Scandinavia, the Baltics, Netherlands, and Poland. See the full list of broadcasters here including Matchroom.Live if no broadcaster is available.

Friday 17, June – Morning Session – 11am

Friday 17, June – Evening Session – 5pm

Saturday 18, June – Morning Session – 11am

Saturday 18, June – Evening Session – 5pm

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Efren Reyes To Represent Philippines at 2022 World Cup Of Pool in Essex, England

One of the games’ greatest, Efren “Bata” Reyes will represent the Philippines alongside US Open champion Carlo Biado at the 2022 World Cup of Pool this June 14-19 at the Brentwood Centre, Essex, England with tickets available from £10.

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The 2022 World Cup of Pool line-up is now complete with all 32 countries confirmed as they do battle for the lucrative prize pot of $250,000 plus the pride of representing their country in one of the sports most unique format with Germany looking to defend their title led by newly crowned World Pool Masters champion Joshua Filler and BCA Hall of Famer Thorsten Hohmann.

Great Britain’s charge for a first World Cup of Pool crown on home soil will see Great Britain A form a new pairing of two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Jayson Shaw and debutant Elliott Sanderson who was selected based on performances so far this year on the Live Nineball World Rankings. Mosconi Cup winner Imran Majid and 2012 Mosconi Cup MVP Chris Melling will represent the red, white, and blue for Great Britain B.

The USA’s assault on the title will come in the form of Nineball World No.1 and World Champion Shane Van Boening with two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Skyler Woodward whilst Austria, two-time winners of the World Cup of Pool, will see Albin Ouschan partner with Nineball World No. 5 and close friend Max Lechner.

Reyes will compete at the World Cup of Pool for the first time since 2012 when the tournament was hosted in the Philippines. The Magician is a two-time winner of the cup claiming the inaugural title in 2006 with Francisco Bustamante before repeating that result three years later on home turf.

Along with the launch of the Nineball World Rankings, the WPA received x16 allocations for various federations seeing countries make their debut this year including Peru with Christopher Tevez and Gerson Martinez as well as Argentina with Ariel Casto and Sebastian Rodriguez for a strong South American contingent. Chinese Taipei return to the fold after missing out last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will look to replicate its success of 2015 with the Ko Brothers of Pin Yi and Ping Chung pairing up.

The first 16 countries were decided by WPA federations from around the world before eight countries were selected based on the 2022 Nineball World Rankings. The final eight came as wild cards from Matchroom. Players have been selected based on both the 2022 and live 2023 Nineball World Rankings. The final team will be revealed during the final day of the UK Open Pool Championship this May 22 at the Copper Box Arena, London.

 

WPA FINLAND Mika Immonen Jani Uski
WPA POLAND Mieszko Fortuński Wojciech Szewczyk
WPA SERBIA Andreja Klasović Aleksa Pecelj
WPA CZECH REPUBLIC Roman Hybler Petr Urban
WPA ITALY Daniele Corrieri Francesco Candela
WPA KUWAIT Omar Al Shaheen Bader Al Awadhi
WPA CHINESE TAPEI Ko Pin Yi Ko Ping Chung
WPA SINGAPORE Aloysius Yapp Toh Lian Han
WPA QATAR Waleed Majid K Alars Ali Nasser Al Obaidli
WPA VIETNAM Duong Quoc Hoang Dang Thanh Kien
WPA ARGENTINA Ariel Casto Sebastian Rodriguez
WPA PERU Gerson Martinez Cristopher Tevez
WPA AUSTRALIA Justin Sajich Ivan Meng Li
WPA SOUTH AFRICA Jason Theron Craig Bouwer
WPA MOROCCO My Cherif Zine El Abidine Imad lagnaoui
WPA CYPRUS Anthony Brabin Christos Meligaliotis.
RANKING USA Shane Van Boening Skyler Woodward
RANKING AUSTRIA Albin Ouschan Max Lechner
RANKING SPAIN David Alcaide Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
RANKING PHILIPPINES Carlo Biado Efren Reyes
RANKING JAPAN Naoyuki Oi Masato Yoshioka
RANKING GREECE Alexander Kazakis Nikos Ekonomopulous
RANKING GERMANY Joshua Filler Thorsten Hohmann
RANKING HUNGARY Oliver Snolnoki Vilmos Földes
WILDCARD NETHERLANDS Niels Feijen Marc Bijsterbosch
WILDCARD CANADA Alex Pagulayan John Morra
WILDCARD SWITZERLAND Dimitri Jungo Ronald Regli
WILDCARD HONG KONG, CHINA Lo Ho Sum Robbie Capito
WILDCARD NEW ZEALAND Matthew Edwards Simon Singleton
WILDCARD GREAT BRITAIN A Jayson Shaw Elliott Sanderson
WILDCARD GREAT BRITAIN B Imran Majid Chris Melling
WILDCARD TO BE DETERMINED

Tickets start from only £10 per session and £15 for an all-day ticket to both the afternoon and evening sessions. Fans can also enjoy the whole week of action for only £85.
Tickets

The World Cup of Pool brings 32 nations together as two-player teams compete for national pride, the title, and their share of a $250,000 prize fund from June 14 to 19. The tournament is a straight-knockout format leaving no room for error. Germany are the reigning champions with one of the world’s best in Joshua Filler spearheading their defence. The likes of World Number One Albin Ouschan of Austria, the USA’s finest Shane Van Boening, and Great Britain’s two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Jayson Shaw will all look to lead their sides to the title over six action-packed days.

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Van Boening Pulls Off Historic Comeback To Book Last 16 Spot

A drained Shane Van Boening (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)

Shane Van Boening produced a comeback for the ages as he came from 10-3 down to defeat Hall of Famer and former World Champion Mika Immonen 11-10 to reach the Last 16 of the 2022 World Pool Championship at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes. Coverage live on Sky Sports in the UK/Ireland, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria as well as Viaplay and networks worldwide.

Scores and Bracket

Van Boening will face Chinese Taipei’s Ko Pin Yi who downed Mosconi Cup MVP Jayson Shaw in a hill-hill finish as action heated up dramatically. Shaw had taken the early lead, but it was Pin Yi who hit back to lead 8-6 before reaching the hill first at 10-7. The Brit was never down and out though after a huge fluke on the 9 ball after he kicked the 2 ball into it and in. Pin Yi though is a former World Champion, and he showed the qualities that won him that title in 2015 to beat Shaw by a slender margin to meet Van Boening next.

Elsewhere, last year’s runner-up Omar Al Shaheen made a remarkable comeback from 10-1 down to beat Daniel Guttenberger in the last rack in the Last 32 before making lightwork of Masato Yoshioka in the Last 16 to set up a clash with Oliver Szolnoki who reached the semi-finals in 2021.

Two-time champion Thorsten Hohmann will meet fellow two-timer Albin Ouschan in the opening Last 16 match tomorrow morning on Table 1 after Hohmann knocked out Live 2023 Nineball World No.1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz in the afternoon and Ko Ping Hang in the evening. Ouschan meanwhile got the better of Nicholas De Leon and Norweigan Mats Schjetne who gave Ouschan one of his toughest matches of the tournament so far sneaking through 11-8.

Darren Appleton keeps rolling back the years overcoming Tomasz Kaplan and Lo Ho Sum only dropping three racks in the process. The former World Champion will face his sternest test to date though tomorrow against the Killer, Joshua Filler. There was drama wherever you looked at the Marshall Arena and Naoyuki Oi‘s match with Oscar Dominguez for a place in the Last 16 delivered.

Oi had cantered in front against Oscar Dominguez at 8-1 before it was the American who reached the hill first with Oi trailing by two racks at 10-8. The Japanese stalwart though showed why he renowned as one of the world’s best to book a Last 32 spot against the last remaining Pole, Konrad Juszczyszyn. Juszczyszyn proved no match for Oi who had found his groove though and now meets Chang Jung-Lin who slew Niels Feijen.

Feijen, a previous winner of the tournament himself, was frozen to his chair and 6-0 before he knew it after losing the lag, but he fought back to 6-4. It did prove to be all in vain though as Jung-Lin pushed back to make it two Chinese Taipei players in the Last 16.

SATURDAY 10, APRIL 11 am 

Table 1 – Where to Watch 

Albin Ouschan vs Thorsten Hohmann

Shane Van Boening vs Ko Pin Yi

Table 2 – Live on Matchroom Pool YouTube 

Joshua Filler vs Darren Appleton

Naoyuki Oi vs Chang Jung-Lin

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64 Remain At 2022 World Pool Championship | Alcaide And Woodward Out

Skyler Woodward (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)

David Alcaide and Skyler Woodward became two of the biggest exits so far as the 2022 World Pool Championship field was whittled down to the Last 64 at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes. Coverage live on Sky Sports in the UK/Ireland, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria as well as Viaplay and networks worldwide.

LAST 64 BRACKET

Losers’ Round 1 saw the first few scalps of the day as both Woodward and Alex Pagulayan were punished as they exited without a win to their name. Woodward lost out to Daniele Corrieri in the opening match, and he went hill-hill with Qatar’s Ali Al Obaidli who fluked the 9 in the penultimate rack to hold the break in the final one. Elsewhere, Pagulayan was much fancied heading into the tournament, but he faltered against former EuroTour winner Craig Osborne of Great Britain to exist early on the second day.

Rolling into the evening, it was Losers’ Qualification with 32 final players set to join the Last 64 and 32 going home. On Table 1, Jayson Shaw demolished Jakub Koniar 9-3 to see the two-time Mosconi Cup draw Finland’s Petri Makkonen in the Last 64. Alcaide was a World Pool Championship semi-finalist just under 12 months ago and his cueing suggested it would be straightforward’s against Hong Kong’s Lo Ho Sum who was knocked into the losers’ bracket by defending champion Albin Ouschan. Ho Sum though, held his nerve in some cagey early moments to pull through and find himself in the Last 64.

Pia Filler put in a stellar day to beat Ivan Meng Li in the afternoon and Bashar Hussein Abdulmajeed 9-6 to make the Last 64 for the first time and set up an enticing Table 1 match with Mario He at 11 am.

Things didn’t get much better for Mosconi Cup captain Jeremy Jones as he witnessed Billy Thorpe, Chris Reinhold, and Tyler Styer all exit on day two, but positives were taken from seeing Nicholas De Leon beat So Shaw and Toh Lian Han by 9-2 and 9-7 scores respectively. De Leon will now face Ouschan. There was also no such luck for Chris Melling who exited at the hands of Bahram Lotfy who will now meet Shane Van Boening tomorrow.

From now, it is single elimination with matches becoming Race to 11 up until the final. The draw saw the 32 players who won in Winners’ Qualification drawn against the 32 players who won in Losers’ Qualification this evening.

Mosconi Cup USA hopeful Shane Wolford has been drawn against Masato Yoshioka whilst Live (2023) Nineball World Rankings No.1  Francisco Sanchez Ruiz faces two-time World Champion, Thorsten Hohmann. Elliott Sanderson overcome a hill-hill finish with fellow Brit Tom Staveley to set up a clash with Chinese Taipei’s Chang Jung-Lin tomorrow.

FRIDAY 8, APRIL 11 am 

Table 1 – Where to Watch 

Mario He vs Pia Filler

Shane Van Boening vs Bahram Lotfy

Table 2 – Live on Matchroom Pool YouTube 

Darren Appleton vs Tomasz Kaplan

Joshua Filler vs Sanjin Pehlivanovic

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Great Britain Demolish Dutch To Face Slovakia In World Cup Semis

QUARTER-FINALS
Slovakia 9
-8 Japan
Great Britain 9-1 Netherlands

Great Britain’s Karl Boyes and Darren Appleton rolled back the years with an emphatic 9-1 World Cup quarter-final victory over Netherlands to advance to the semi-finals, where Slovakia lie in wait after a hill-hill win over Japan.

Boyes and Appleton, winners in 2014 when they beat Netherlands in a dramatic final, were late call-ups to the event after Canada suffered from travel issues. After beating South Africa and Greece, the pair originally called Great Britain ‘C’ were the only host nation team remaining.

An enthralling opening-rack safety battle finally ended when an Appleton jump untied the 3 and 8 from the side rail, and Bijsterbosch’s subsequent jump removed both the 1 and the 3. That wasn’t the end, though, and when Feijen missed a bank on the 4, it was Great Britain who were able to clear to take the lead.

A break and run doubled the hosts’ advantage and they moved 3-0 up in the third. Netherlands had a chance in the fourth but when Feijen missed a 4, Great Britain pulled further away. A break and run took them to 5-0, and rack six also went the way of the 2014 champions.

The Dutch returned to the table in rack 7 after Appleton played poor position to the 4, leaving Boyes no option but to go safe. It was Britain’s first error of the match and they were made to pay when Appleton’s next shot, a cut on the 4, failed to find the pocket and Netherlands cleared to finally get on the board.

But that proved to be the only miss of the match from Great Britain, who took the next three racks for an unlikely place in the semi-finals.

“It is unbelievable,” said Boyes. “The deeper these events go, even though it’s been a long time, we have plenty of experience together and you can smell blood.

“We know how well the Dutch have played this week but it’s a quarter-final and they knew how much experience we had. Our game plan and the way we communicated, it was spot on.”

“Except for one rack, I’m absolutely over the moon with the way I played,” added Appleton. “I came into the match with no confidence but because Karl played so well yesterday, I knew I had to pull my weight.

“I am so happy to be here and even though he hasn’t played for four years, I couldn’t pick a better partner. We have perfect chemistry, we gel perfectly together, understand each other’s mind and each other’s game and that’s what it is about in doubles.”

Great Britain will meet Slovakia (Jakub Koniar and Jaroslav Polach) on Friday afternoon after they turned around a 7-3 deficit to defeat Japan (Naoyuki Oi and Masato Yoshioka) 9-8.

The pressure of a World Cup quarter-final was evident from the first rack as Polach and Oi both missed 9s before the confident Koniar concluded the rack. In the second, Oi again showed he hadn’t settled when he missed a 2 after Yoshioka had fluked the one playing a safety, but the rack ended in similar fashion to the first; Polach missed a tough 9, Yoshioka this time guilty for Japan, and again Koniar was able to role it in for a 2-0 lead.

Japan settled and pulled back to 2-2 and despite scratching on the fifth break, were able to take that rack to lead. Slovakia looked sure to level in the sixth but Polach missed another 9 and this time Oi had no problems in making it 4-2.

Oi and Yoshioka were beginning to look much more settled at the table, and extended their lead to 7-3. But then came the Slovakian fightback. They won five consecutive frames to find themselves first to the hill at 8-7.

A failed 1-ball bank brought Japan back to the table and they were able to run the rack to fittingly tie the match at hill-hill for a place in the semi-finals.

It was fist pumps all round before the decisive rack. Oi had the break and the 4 went down, but Yoshioka undercut the 1. Not only that, but he scratched. Koniar took ball in hand. The key ball was the 6, just off the side rail above the middle pocket. Koniar called extension and rolled it to the bottom pocket. Polach took the 7 to the middle and his partner then sent the 8 down table, leaving Polach a 9 from the spot. He made it, and an explosion of relief followed from the Slovakian pair.

The remaining two quarter-finals take place on Thursday evening as Denmark face Germany before Philippines take on Estonia. 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.

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