The World Pool Championship is down to the last 64 after the conclusion of the double elimination group stage at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes, live on Sky Sports and DAZN.
Among the high-profile casualties of the group stage were USA’s two-time Mosconi Cup winner Tyler Styer, former US Open Champion Corey Deuel and former World Champion Mika Immonen, who suffered a 7-9 defeat to Ralf Souquet.
Three of the eight female entries have advanced to the last 64 including Women’s World Champion Kelly Fisher. Germany’s Veronika Ivanovskaia went through with wins over Nick Malia and Tim De Ruyter, while Jasmin Ouschan won a hill-hill thriller against Mark Gray from 7-1 down to beat the Brit to a place in the knockout stages.
US Open Champion Joshua Filler came through the losers side of the group brackets win a 9-6 win over Sergey Lutsker, and Mosconi Cup MVP Jayson Shaw also made it through thanks to a 9-6 win over fellow Brit Imran Majid.
Shaw will now face Shane van Boening in a mouth-watering Last-64 clash, which will follow Fedor Gorst against Skyler Woodward on the TV table.
The last 64 begins at 12:00 noon on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live. Away from the TV table, matches include Darren Appleton vs Joshua Filler, Alex Kazakis vs Naoyuki Oi and young Bosnian rising star Sanjin Pehlivanovic against Albin Ouschan.
Albin’s sister Jasmin will face Aleksa Pecelj, Fisher is up against Jeremy Sossei and Ivanovskaia will face Max Lechner.
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.
Roberto Gomez defeated Albin Ouschan 9-7 to advance to the last 64 of the World Pool Championship at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes, but only after a brilliant fightback from the Austrian, who had been 8-0 down.
Ouschan is still alive in the double elimination event and will now face a sudden-death play-off to qualify for the straight-knockout stage. After getting on the board at 8-0 down, Ouschan would have thought his fightback was brief until Gomez missed an 8, and from then the 2016 World Champion set to work on winning six consecutive racks before a missed 6 at just one behind gave his Filipino opponent the chance to win.
Also on the TV table on Sunday evening was US No.1 Shane van Boening, who got his tournament off with a 9-3 win over Petr Urban. He’ll now face fellow American Oscar Dominguez for a place in the last 64.
Germany’s Veronika Ivanovskaia shocked Greece’s Nick Malai with a 9-7 victory, the first win for one of the tournament’s eight female entrants. Ivanovskaia’s compatriot Joshua Filler also got off to a winning start, beating Belarsus’ Margarite Fefilova.
American female April Larson gave Chris Melling a scare before the Brit closed out a 9-7 victory, while Darren Appleton booked his place in the last 64 with a 9-2 success over Germany’s Christof Reintjes, who was on the winning side when the pair were on opposing teams in the World Cup of Pool final last month.
Defending champion Fedor Gorst is safely through to the last 64 after wins over Mark Magi and Mark Gray. Team USA’s Mosconi Cup star Billy Thorpe has also won through the groups stage, as had former World Champion Thorsten Hohmann.
The World Pool Championship continues at 12pm (UK) time on Monday, June 7 and is broadcast live on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live. Live scoring as well as complete tournament results and match schedule can be found at www.matchroompool.com.
ROUND TWO
Great Britain C 7-4 Greece
USA 5–7 Philippines
Estonia 7–6 Great Britain A
Great Britain A crashed out of the World Cup of Pool in the most agonising of circumstances as Jayson Shaw scratched with two balls remaining at hill-hill against Estonia.
Earlier in the evening Philippines had won seven consecutive racks to come from 5-0 down to beat USA in a match that had it all and will live long in the memory, while Great Britain C’s comeback continued with a 7-4 success over Greece to reach the quarter-finals.
Shaw and Chris Melling had beaten Belarus in the first round to face Estonia (Denis Grabe and Mark Magi) in the final second round fixture. Neither team were at their best in the first half of the match and after eight racks it was 4-4. The hosts looked set to move ahead until Melling scratched on the 6. Estonia did the rest and reached the hill in rack ten after some good safety play. Magi’s break wasn’t firm enough and to add insult to injury, not only did he fail to make a ball but he left a shot at the 1 for Shaw.
Great Britain A took that rack and the next to join Estonia on the hill, and though Grabe and Magi had a chance in the last, it was Shaw and Melling who were at the table when only the 5 and 9 remained. The two balls were tied close to each other and Shaw didn’t have great position. He cut the five in with pace, but the cue came off the side rail to scratch in the top pocket and Magi had a simple 9 to dramatically take a place in the quarter-finals.
Estonia will face Philippines in the last eight after Jeff De Luna and Roberto Gomez staged a dramatic comeback against America’s Skyler Woodward and Billy Thorpe.
At 2-0 down De Luna executed a great up-table bank on the 7, only to see the cue ball scratch and award USA hall-in-hand with only the 9 remaining on the table. The Americans ran the next rack for a 4-0 lead and the Filipino mountain was growing.
They had a chance in the fifth but the 7 rattled out of the jaws for Gomez, who was lucky not to scratch. That made it too tough for Thorpe to pot, but Woodward would then get a chance after De Luna’s hit-and-hope wasn’t executed. The drama wasn’t over yet though; this time the two-time Mosconi Cup MVP failed to remove the 7 from the table. It finally went to a Gomez cut, but position was tough for De Luna who couldn’t cut it to the corner; Thorpe knocked in the gimmie and USA had a 5-0 advantage.
But Philippines weren’t done, and began to climb the mountain. The ninth was the most dramatic as again both teams struggled with the stubborn 7, but Philippines came out on top after Thorpe left it in the jaws and in the tenth the Filipinos levelled up against the odds.
They didn’t have a shot after the next break but still managed to reach the hill, and USA didn’t return to the table. The match was one of the World Cup’s best; drama, top play, and in part a story of USA failing to close out from 5-0 up, while Philippines capitalised to run a seven pack to win the match from the jaws of defeat.
Earlier in the session, comeback kids Darren Appleton and Karl Boyes took advantage of a despondent Greece (Alex Kazakis and Nick Malai). Appleton and Boyes lifted the World Cup in 2014 and were returning as a late replacement for Canada, who had been blighted with travel issues. Having beaten South Africa in the first round, their task in round two looked harder against the 2019 quarter-finalists.
However, Greece struggled at the table and though Great Britain C weren’t faultless, they did enough, with Boyes in particular not looking like a player who officially retired in 2017. With Great Britain B having gone out to Philippines in round one, and the ‘A’ team succumbing to Estonia, GB C are now flying the flag alone for the hosts after completing a 7-4 win over Greece.
All four quarter finals will be played out on Thursday, with two in the afternoon session and two in the evening. The action begins at 12noon with Slovakia vs. Japan before Great Britain C face Netherlands. 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.
ROUND 1 Russia 7-4 Switzerland Greece 7-2 Serbia Estonia 7-5 Belgium
Seeded teams Russia, Greece and Estonia all advanced to the second round of the World Cup of Pool on Monday evening, the latter fighting back from 5-1 down to defeat Belgium 7-5 at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes.
Earlier in the session Russia had beaten Switzerland 7-4 to set up a second-round match against Japan, while Greece defeated Serbia 7-2.
Russia, featuring World Champion Fedor Gorst and new playing partner Sergey Lutsker, raced to a 5-0 lead with a combination of confident play and some poor Swiss errors. Russia, despite their strength in the sport, have suffered first round defeats in the last two World Cups. Gorst had yet to advance beyond round one in this event and was made to sweat by Switzerland (Ronald Regli and Dimitri Djungo), who won four consecutive racks to cut the deficit to 5-4.
However, Russia got another chance in the tenth and moved to the hill, before winning the next rack to book their place in round two, where Japan, who defeated Croatia earlier in the day, await.
In the evening’s second match Serbia (Aleksa Pecelj and Andreja Klasović) made a promising start against the Greek pair of Alexander Kazakis and Nick Malai, a pairing who reached the semi-finals last time out. However, the wheels soon came off for the Serbian pair and Greece pulled well clear, winning 7-2. They’ll meet the winners of Canada’s clash with South Africa in round two on Wednesday evening.
Estonia (Denis Grabe and Mark Magi) became the sixth team to advance on the first day of play, but only after surviving an almighty scare against Belgium (Serge Das and Kavin Lannoye).
Das and Lannoye fired themselves to a 5-1 lead, but after a fluid start lost their way with the finish line in sight. A string of errors allowed Estonia to fight back, though they themselves were far from faultless. At 5-4 up, Belgium looked set to reach the hill before a time foul was called against Das, giving Estonia ball in hand to level the match.
A dry break brought Belgium back to the table, but a Lannoye scratch on the 1 gave initiate back to Estonia, who from 5-1 down were now first to the hill and complete their turnaround by running the next to win 7-5. They’ll face either Great Britain or Belarus in the second round on Wednesday.
Round one continues on Monday with sessions at 12 noon and 5:30pm UK time. Matches include Finland vs. Iceland in the afternoon and Spain vs. Italy in the evening.
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.
Jeffrey De Luna and Roberto Gomez (Erwin Dionisio)
Philippines, Russia and Greece are the latest teams to be confirmed for the World Cup of Pool, while Italy and Switzerland will also be aiming for doubles glory at Stadium MK, England this May 9-14, live on Sky Sports and DAZN.
Philippines are three-time World Cup winners and joining forces in the hope of landing a record-breaking fourth Filipino title are Jeff De Luna and former World Championship runner-up Roberto Gomez.
Russia will be represented by reigning World Champion Fedor Gorst and 23-year-old Sergey Lutsker, who was silver medallist at the Junior European 10-Ball Championship in 2015. Gorst was part of the successful European team when he made his Mosconi Cup debut last December and is hoping to help lead Russia to their first ever World Cup title this May.
Greece will be represented for a third time by the pairing of Nick Malai and Alexander Kazakis, runner-up at the last World Pool Masters. Italian duo of Daniele Corrieri and former Mosconi Cup star FabioPetroni will also return, while Switzerland will be represented by RonaldRegli and DimitriDjungo.
The World Cup of Pool features 32 two-player teams and is played to a straight-knockout format, with a total prize fund of $250,000.
Team Austria (Albin Ouschan and Mario He) will defend their title in Milton Keynes, but competition will be tough with some of the biggest names in pool already confirmed. They include, Netherlands (Niels Feijen and Marc Bijsterbosch), Japan (Naoyuki Oi and Masato Yoshioka), and Great Britain A (Jayson Shaw and Chris Melling). Also confirmed are teams from Finland (Petri Makkonen and Casper Matikainen), Poland (Mieszko Fortunski and Wojciech Szewczyk) and Spain (David Alcaide and Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz).
As host nation, Great Britain has two teams in the World Cup and the combination of Women’s World 9-Ball Champion Kelly Fisher and BCA Hall of Famer Allison Fisher makes Great Britain B one of the most anticipated teams of the event.
Further teams will be announced shortly and the draw for the World Cup of Pool will be made soon after all teams have been confirmed.
The World Cup of Pool will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live, with further international broadcasters to be confirmed.
The Cuetec playoffs could not have ended any better! The first match between Fedor Gorst vs. Tyler Styer could not have been more entertaining. Tyler ran his first 5 rack and Fedor his first 4 racks. From there, Tyler missed his next rack and Fedor completed his next rack to knot the match back up at 6. Then Fedor makes his next 3 racks but Tyler makes his next 4 to get to 10-9 Tyler. Fedor makes his next point to get to 10-10 but since Tyler broke second, Fedor gave Tyler an opportunity to close the match. Tyler has a VERY fortunate bump on the 7 ball but then misses a very tough pot on that same 7 ball. This opens up the match from Fedor to get back into the match. Both players make their next point getting the match to 11-11 and into sudden death. Fedor has a tough layout and leave himself a length of the table straight in 6 ball bridging over the rail. He hanged the shot and opened the door for Tyler for his second match winning opportunity. Tyler gets a little funny along the way but finishes the run out for the win. If you are reading this WITHOUT watching the match, stop reading and go and watch the match. It is worth the watch!!!
Congratulations to Fedor for his great 3-4th finish and a cool $1,750. Tyler moves onto the finals.
The next match was also no disappointment. Albin Ouschan played Malaj Hill-Hill Nick in the second semi final. Albin starts out strong running the first rack. Nick misses the first rack to go down 1-0. The players flipped in the second rack to tie the match up 1-1. Both players make the next 4 points to get to 6-6. At that point, Albin missed 2 straight points but Nick breaks dry once while making the other point to give Nick a 7-6 lead. Then a miss and a dry break gave Albin the ability to run 2 point to get to an 8-7 lead which Nick then ran to tie the match up again at 8-8 with even games. Albin runs to get to 9 which Nick quickly follows. Both run again to get to 10-10. Both run AGAIN to get to 11-11 and the second straight Sudden death match. Albin runs and anti-climactically, Nick scratches for a disappointing ending to a great match.
Congratulations to Nick Malaj for his great 3-4th finish and a big $1,750 payday. Albin moves onto the finals.
The finals started off slow with Albin breaking dry and Tyler scratching on his first rack. It picked up from there with Albin making his next 7 points before scratching and Tyler making 6 of his next 7 to make the score 7-6. They hold serve from there to get to 9-8 Albin only missing 1 rack a piece. From there, the nerves start to play a roll in the match and both players start missing a few balls or breaks. Albin gets to the hill first at 12-9 but really struggles to get a good open rack from there. Tyler gets the match back to 12-10, but is unalbe to close the gap with a few missed balls and a dry break.
Albin plays GREAT from start to finish in the Poison VG10 to win the event and it’s $5,500 first place prize. Tyler struggled just a little bit down the stretch but all-in-all played like a monster and enjoys second place and a nice $3,500 payday.
Neight Mindham, with the Cue It Up Podcast, has continued to announce players for his upcoming virtual event. The event also has a title sponsor and will now be the “Poison VG 10-Ball Championship”.
The latest players to join the field for this 32 player virtual event are Jeffrey De Luna, Nick van den Berg, Wojtek Szewczyk, Nick Malaj, Danny Olson, Demetrius Jelatis, Chip Compton and Greg Hogue.
The event will kick off on September 29th and run until October 13th, with 32 players competing for a first prize that is expected to be $6000.
Mindham has also announced that his field is not full. Players interested in competing in this unique online event can contact him on his Facebook page to enquire about entering the event.
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.
Day one of the Dynamic Billard Leende Open 2019 already provided some high-class matches, drama and upsets.
One high-class matches with a close result took place between Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL) and Nick Malai (GRE). Both players ran racks and committed almost no mistakes. In the end, Malai was the happy winner with 9:7. Another amazing encounter happened between Michal Turkowski (POL) and Thorsten Hohmann (GER). Hohmann played his first Euro-Tour in years and travelled from the US, where he currently resides, to The Netherlands to participate. Turkowski gave him a hard time and the match went to 8:8. There, Hohmann was the more experienced player and played better safety shots in order to win the match by a hair’s breadth with 9:8. Still thrilling but not so close was the match between Alexander Kazakis (GRE) and Imran Majid (GBR). Both players belong to Europe’s elite and started out quite impressive. It was Kazakis who had some bad rolls, scratches and unforced errors on his side. That gave wind underneath Majid’s wings and the Brit capitalised from it, using his chances and punishing Kazakis’ errors in winning the match with 9:6.
An upset was brought to the event when local player Joey Haegmans (NED) pipped Chris Melling (GBR) to the post with 9:8. Melling, who also played his first Euro-Tour event after a long break, wrote on his facebook page: „Just lost 9-8 first round in eurotour to a young Dutch lad he played well but certainly had some form. I Broke and ran 7/8 games i won and snookered him in the decider for him to whack it fluke and land perfect lol.“ Well, there is another chance for Melling to make it to the single elimination stage through the loser’s side.
Today, two matches on Facebook Live were commented and Thomas Overbeck was joined by Damianos Giallourakis (GRE) and Joshua Filler (GER) in the commentator’s box. The matches were shown and questions were answered live. This interactive feature was very well received by a huge fanbase who came up with a lot of questions to their stars. This will be continued in the future in order to improve our service and entertainment for the viewers.
Friday through Sunday, EPBF will show up to two feature matches LIVE on the EPBF Facebook page. The entire tournament from the first round to the final match is shown on 11 tables LIVE on kozoom.com for premium pass holders.
The Dynamic Billard Leende open 2019 will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time with matches from loser’s round 1.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organised by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). Play starts Thursday at 09:00 local time, for further information and reference please go to the federation website www.epbf.com under the Eurotour tab. You can also visit us on our Facebook page or check out the EPBF YouTube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Ralf Souquet (GER), also known as „The Kaiser“, is still alive and kicking in the single elimination stage of the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships in NH Conference Centre in Veldhoven, The Netherlands. With two victories in the single elimination stage of the 8-ball individuals, he is right on track in his quest for another title.
Souquet’s working day started with the match against Nick Malai (GRE). The Greek player is known to be really good at times but he is not as consistent as Souquet is. Today, Souquet did not face too much of an obstacle in the Greek. he clearly won this match 8:3. He then advanced to the next round to face Konstantin Stepanov (RUS). That match was definitely much more work than the previous one. After 8 racks, Souquet found himself trailing 3:5 to the Russian. He needed to find some momentum in the match. And he did! Following Souquet for many years, it is well-known that he never gives up before the match is not over. Today, he managed to tie the match at 6:6. Then, „The Kaiser“ went on the hill first and got to 7:6. Stepanov had the break shot in rack 14 and achieved a good result. He had some balls down and a doable in front of him. He ran the rack and made the match a hill-hill affair at 7:7. Souquet’s break shot was up next. He also had a good break with balls down and a nice layout in front of him. However, the pressure was unbelievably high at that time. But Souquet is a second to none when it comes to experience and performing well under fire. He cleared the table in his typical „surgeon“ way with perfect positioning and won the match with 8:7 over a disappointed Stepanov who has to settle for 17th place now. Souquet will be up against Poland’s Mieszko Fortunski in the next round.
Other remarkable results include Germany’s wonderkid Joshua Filler eliminating Sergey Lutsker (RUS) 8:5 and Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) 8:6 back to back. He will go up against Ivar Saris (NED) in the round of the last 16 players which is scheduled for 11:30 CET tomorrow morning. The Dutch men did not have their best day today. In the round of the last 64 players, most of their top athletes lost. Niels Feijen (NED) fell 4:8 to Fedor Gorst (RUS). Match Bijsterbosch (NED) had a tough struggle against Alex Montpellier (FRA) and succumbed 7:8 in the end. The only two Dutch players advancing into the round of the last 32 athletes were Ivar Saris and Alex Lely. While Saris is still in for the battle for the title, having defeated defending Champion Jani Uski (FIN) 8:6, Lely got eliminated by Bahram Lotfy (DEN) with 7:8.
The women only had one round of play today in the 8-ball individuals. The toughest match was definitely the encounter between Sara Rocha (POR) and Yana Shut (BLR). They also went all the way to 5:5 when Rocha had the better outcome in rack 13, winning by a whisker with 6:5.
The senior’s division saw a huge surprise today when Joakim Gunnarsson (SWE) ended the run of defending Champion Enrique Correia (POR) with 7:4. The other favourites Sandor Tot (HUN) and Reiner Wirsbitzki (GER) are also still in the race for the title.
In the girls’ division, the four athletes who have qualified for the quarter-finals already are Aleksandra Guleikova (RUS), Palina Chernik (BLR), Alina Brummer (GER) and Valeriia Trushevskaia (RUS). They are awaiting their opponents from the loser’s qualification round which is played tomorrow at 11:30 CET.
The four athletes who are in the quarter-finals of the Under 23’s are Johannes Schmitt (GER), Pijus Labutis (LIT), Aleksa Pecelj (SRB) and Casper Matikainen (FIN). They will get the winner’s from the loser’s qualification round which is filled with good names like Mark Magi (EST), Kevin Schiller (GER), Samuel Santos (POR) and Vitaliy Patsura (UKR), just to name a few. The division is open for surprises.
In the wheelchair division, Henrik Larsson (SWE) delivered the upset of the day in defeating defending Champion and long time rival Jouni Tahti (FIN) with 5:4.
The Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 will commence tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches from the team competition.
The Jubilee Championships are played on 60 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.epconline.eu or visit us on Facebook for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.