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.
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.
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.
Today, the 10-ball competition started at the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2019 in Treviso, Italy. Some hot guns entered the stage since they have just flown in from the US Open in Las Vegas to make the total number of contestants 101 in the men’s division. That includes the winner, German superstar Joshua Filler.
Being the defending Champion in 10-ball as well, Filler was having a walk-over in his first round today. In the second round, he met Maximilian Lechner (AUT). The Austrian is also on fire at the moment and just took his first tournament as a pro, the Bunny Open in Rankweil. But Filler was again an obstacle too high for Lechner. 8:4 was the clear end result that puts Filler in the single elimination stage where his opponent will be drawn against him after all matches of the loser’s side have been played.
Also straight in from Las Vegas is Thorsten Hohmann (GER). The former World Champion from Germany who nowadays resides most of the times in the US did not get a good start into the tournament today. He encountered Bahram Lofty (DEN) in his first match. Lotfy won his first Gold Medal in the men’s division of the European Championships last year in Veldhoven, The Netherlands. Since then, the likeable player from Denmark has constantly practiced and even got back to the Championships in a better shape. That shape today was too much for favoured Hohmann. Lotfy took him down in the end with a clear 8:5 result and paved his way into the single elimination stage, leaving Hohmann the detour over the loser’s side. There, Hohmann wasted no time with Massimiliano Corso (ITA) and won his next match 8:2 to join Lotfy in the round of the last 64 players.
Earlier today, Nick Van Den Berg (NED) encountered Stefano Dellino (ITA). Van den Berg, who has stopped playing the Euro-Tour on a regular basis about a year ago, had a tough opponent in Dellino so it came to blows at 7:7. It was the break shot of the Dutchman. Van den Berg broke the rack and had a ball down. He also had a shot at the 1-ball but the 7-ball blocked the pocket. After a long period of thinking, van den Berg went for a two-way-shot. He attempted the 1-ball over two rails in the side pocket and put the cue ball in a position where it would be quite safe for him in case the 1-ball does not fall in the pocket. But van den Berg made the 1-ball with a brilliant shot and then ran the remaining balls to win the match with 8:7 over Dellino. This victory puts van den Berg in the round of the last 64 players single elimination in the men’s 10-ball division.
In the women’s division, 43 contestants step up in order to win the coveted title in the 10-ball competition. Defending Champion is Yana Shut (BLR). In her first round, she made light work of Jessika Nilsson (SWE), winning the match with a comfortable 6:2 result in the end. But in the next round a nightmare happened to Shut in the form of Silvia Lopez (ESP). The Spaniard handed a whitewash to Shut, sending her to the loser’s side with an impressive 6:0 score. What an upset for the women’s division that was! Shut will now wait for the winner of the match between Valeriia Trushevskaia (RUS) and Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) to try and get back on track in the single elimination stage. But that was not the only upset on the women’s chart. Multiple Champion Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) fell with 5:6 to Kristina Zlateva (BUL). What a huge disappointment for Ouschan so far. She could not achieve a medal in straight pool and already lost her match in 10-ball, needing another win on the loser’s side.
Also the wheelchair division kicked off today at the Best Estern Premium BHR Treviso Hotel. 19 players from 14 countries are doing their best to fight for the title in the wheelchair division. Defending Champion in the wheelchair division is Jouni Tahti (FIN). Today, he left no doubts that he is on a quest to defending his title. He smashed Matej Brajkovic (SLO) with 5:1 and never really left a chance for the Slovenian player. Two of his all-time rivals are Fred Dinsmore (IRL) and Henrik Larsson (SWE). While Dinsmore also got a good start into the event with a 5:1 win over Peter Selinga (SVK), Larsson struggled and lost 3:5 to Roy Kimberley (GBR).
The Dynamic Billard European Championships 2019 for men, women, U23 and wheelchair athletes will commence tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches in the 10-ball individuals competition men and women.
The Championships are played on 24 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.
The European pool championships kicked off here in Treviso Italy today with the straightpool discipline and we’ve had plenty of high runs to satisfy the crowds. A match that got everyone talking about was reigning men’s champion, Niels Feijen up against his old adversary, Nick Van Den Berg (pictured) in the winner’s qualifier. Arguably the best two players of this discipline over the past 17 years, winning a staggering 10 gold medals between them during this period, it was a match to savour.
Nick won the lag and sent Niels in to make the opening shot, this turned out to be his only shot of the match as Nick rolled back the years with a superb century break that sent Niels to the loser’s side with a score 100-0. While Nick could take a short rest, Niels found another Dutchman in Ivar Saris who wanted the champs scalp and duly took it with an emphatic win 100-65. Niels tried everything to stay in the match, including twice taking a deliberate minus 15 penalty while Ivar Saris was hovering high in the nineties, it was not to be though and Ivar joins Nick in the single elimination while the ex-champ has time to reflect before his quest of the 10-ball starts.
Finland’s Casper Matikainen also found his potting rhythm in the 1stround with some great shooting to defeat the experienced Serbian, Zoran Svilar 100-0. This may have got the better of the youngster as he came up short in his next match losing to Denmark’s Christopher Lentz. This sent Casper into the loser’s side of the draw where he won his next two matches and scraped into the single elimination starting Sunday.
Austria’s Max Lechner was looking to emulate these high runs and made it to 99 before a bad position meant he had to wait for the next visit to finish the match 100-0 against Slovenia’s Mitja Gradisnik. Another Gradisnik was sent to the loser’s side as Klemen Gradisnik lost out to Sweden’s Christian Sparrenloev-Fischer 100-8 with Christian running the final 77 to clinch a spot in the single elimination. Klemen eventually made it to the last 32 single elimination with a last gasp victory over Italy’s Tonini Gianmarco 100-92.
It was not all bad news for the Gradisnik family as over in the women’s division, Ana Gradisnik saw off last year’s bronze medallist, Switzerland’s Christine Feldmann with a comfortable score line 75-8 and then followed that with a tighter victory over the Netherlands Elise Qui 75-55 to book her spot in Sundays single elimination of 16 players.
Reigning women’s champion, Austria’s Jasmin Ouschan came through the preliminary rounds unscathed. First beating Russia’s Natalia Seroshtan 75-35 and then the Netherlands Tamara Peeters-Rademakers 75-32 which puts Jasmin into the single elimination slot as well.
Last year’s silver medallist, Russia’s Kristina Tkach has also booked her spot into the last 16 by beating Ukraine’s Viktoria Nagorna 75-26 and then Germany’s Tina Vogelmann 75-31 and will be back at the table on Sunday 11am local time.
Draw and results can be found at www.epbf.com with all matches streamed live via our media partners, www.kozoom.com
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.
Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP) at the table against David Alcaide (ESP)
The first day of the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships in NH Conference Centre Koningshof in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, came to an end with as many as 462 straight pool matches played on 60 tables. Expectations were met on some occasions while other athletes had to settle for second best. Some hopes came treu, some were brutally destroyed.
In the men’s division, two former Champions surprisingly met on the loser’s side in the qualification round. Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz and David Alcaide, both from Spain, met in a match where one of them had to go home. This was especially tough for them since they live in the same town and are good friends and training buddies for many years now, they normally even share a room when they go abroad on tournaments. But the pool gods had them meet in this do-or-die match. Sanchez had execute do the opening shot. He left an open shot on the 8-ball for Alcaide. But instead of pocketing the 8-ball, Alcaide scratched and allowed Sanchez back to the table with 0:-1. Sanchez cleared one rack and also pocketed the break shot for a 15:-1 lead. He was in a good shape and the balls were nicely spread out on the table in front of him. He pocketed another shot and then scratched on the following attempt which brought Alcaide to the table at 15:-1. With a few safety shots, Alcaide managed to get back to 15:13 with Sanchez Ruiz still being in the lead. At that score, Alcaide missed an easy cut into the side pocket. This time, Sanchez showed no more mercy for his long-time friend. he cleared the table and ran the match out with an inning of 85 points, winning the match with 100:15 to terminate Alcaide’s hopes for another straight pool medal this year.
Defending straight pool Champion Niels Feijen (NED) clearly won his opening match over Stefan Noelle (GER) with 100:0, running out in one inning after Noelle gave him a shot in his second visit at the table. Then, Feijen had to deal with Jaroslav Polach (SVK) in the winner’s qualification round. He did not quite find his rhythm as he did in the match before and Polach used his great chance, taking down the Champion with 100:26 after 3 visits to the table. Polach is now through to the single elimination stage of the last 32 players while Feijen needs another victory over Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL).
Definitely one surprise today was the grandmaster Stephane Cohen (FRA) taking down David Alcaide (ESP) as clearly as 100:5. While Cohen had smooth sailing, Albin Ouschan (AUT) really needed all his power to defeat unheralded Lukas Kovac (SVK) 100:91.
Another well known face in the European pool world is former European Champion Nick Van Den Berg (NED). For private reasons, van den Berg stopped playing the Euro-Tour and international events since the end of 2017 but since this event was on his home soil, he wanted to find out whether he is still on top of his game. The first discipline straight pool was too much of an obstacle for him though. He really had a tough draw and faced Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP) in his first match. The Spaniard played well and won the match clearly with 100:19 over van den Berg. Then on the loser’s side, van den Berg ran into Konstantin Stepanov (RUS). After the break shot, van den Berg allowed Stepanov to see a shot…. and that was the end of the match and the straight pool discipline for him. Stepanov ran 100 and out on van den Berg and played a perfect match in one inning. Van den Berg must now hope to get better draws in the coming disciplines.
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In the women’s division, defending Champion Kristina Tkach (RUS) made short work of her opponents so far. After a walk-over in the first round, she smashed Melissa Kuys-Rademakers (NED) 75:40 and then Sara Iannini (ITA) even 75:9. Her toughest opponent in European pool is Jasmin Ouschan (AUT), last year’s runner-up in women’s straight pool and #2 seeded player this year. Ouschan also performed pretty strong today. She overpowered Nina Torvund (NOR) 75:18 and then Silvia Lopez (ESP) with 75:28. This means that Ouschan as well as Tkach is already in the single elimination round of the last 16 women. Though there are still several serious opponents „in the way“, they both left the impression that they want a rematch in the final from last year.
In the senior’s division, last year’s runner-up and #1 seeded player Dirk Stenten (GER) lost his opening match to a strong playing Marinus Gennissen (NED) with 46:75. However, Gennissen also could not make it into the round of the last 32 players single elimination yet since he fell to the sharp blade of Thomas Lindloff (GER) in the next round with 23:75. Another seeded player, Danilo Cipriani (ITA) lost in the first winner’’s round today with 37:75 to Sami Karttunen (FIN). The only seeded player in the senior’s straight pool division to make it to the single elimination stage yet is Reiner Wirsbitzki (GER). He took down Markku Toivonen (FIN) 75:23 and Riccardo Sini (ITA) 75:27. Portugal’s hopes Henrique Correia and Manuel Pereira are also among the players who made it over the winner’s round and can be regarded as hot title contenders.
The first day’s play also saw the future of European pool take to the stage with both the U17’s & the U19’s in action. The Straight-pool discipline has been a strong point for the Polish youth over the past few years and that looks to continue here in Veldhoven with 4 from the 5 entrants in the U17’s, still flying the Polish flag into the last 32. With Wiktor Zielinski moving up to the U19’s and running amok with his opponents, it’s time to shine for someone in this talented team. Szymon Kural, last year’s 8-ball bronze medallist is leading the way with some stern shooting earning him an elimination match against the Belarusian Mikita Paluyan starting Friday at 10 am local time.
The Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 will commence tomorrow morning at 10:00 CET with matches in the straight pool individuals competition men, seniors, U17 and U19.
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.
BCA Hall of Famer and worldwide Cuesports superstar Darren Appleton is the latest addition to the ground-breaking Supreme Pool Series that will take place throughout 2018.
A multiple World Champion in different disciplines, Appleton will return to his English 8 Ball Pool roots in at least four of this year's five events. The Supreme Pool Series boasts prize money never seen before in a structured circuit of competitions – the winner of December's Home Leisure Direct Grand Finals will bank a staggering £40,000.
Appleton is no stranger to winning big prizes. Before making his move onto the American Pool scene, he was a regular champion of major events on the smaller table in his native land. He topped the English 8 Ball IPA tour rankings and reached two WEPF World Championship finals.
His rise up the ranks Stateside was incredible; he quickly became an established star challenging for the sport's top honours.
It wasn't long before he claimed his first world title in the Philippines in 2008 with glory at the World 10-Ball Championship. The following year he won the prestigious World Pool Masters in front of the Sky Sports cameras with victory over Nick Van Den Berg. Appleton will be playing in Gibraltar this coming weekend for the 25th edition of that invitational event.
The US Open 9 Ball Championship – arguably the most famous tournament in American Pool, was next to be conquered by Dynamite' in 2010. The Englishman then continued to create history, taking down the 2012 World 9 Ball Championship in Doha, Qatar via a dramatic deciding rack victory over Li Hewen in the final.
One of his proudest moments was winning 9-Ball Gold at the 2013 World Games for Great Britain in Columbia, where he again held his nerve in a concluding hill-hill finish.
Further World titles would be added to his glittering CV – successive World Straight Pool Championships in 2013 and 2014, and then the inaugural World Chinese Pool Championship in 2015 where he ousted Mark Selby in a gripping finale to avenge his loss to him in the 2006 WEPF final.
Alongside partner Karl Boyes whilst representing England A, Appleton also won the World Cup of Pool title in 2014.
Appleton is perhaps most well-known for his heroics during the annual Mosconi Cup, where he has been a seven-time champion with Team EUROPE, scoring the coveted MVP award in 2010 too. He will join fellow Mosconi Cup winning teammates Chris Melling and Boyes during the Series at the Players Pool and Snooker Lounge in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
As recognition of his accolades within the sport, Darren was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame in 2017. Appleton is the latest in a galaxy of talent to sign up for the Series, which is highlighted by World Champions from various Cuesports disciplines and rule-sets, past and present.
After an absence of 11 years from playing English 8 Ball, the temptation to be part of this historic concept was too great for Appleton to resist.
The opening event of the campaign will be the Jason Owen Open between the 4th-6th May.
Following a Day of high tension, Europe are now just one win away from once again retaining the partypoker Mosconi Cup as they shared the session 2-2 with the Americans. That increased their lead to 10-4, with 11 points being the magic number.
In front of a passionate crowd at the Mandalay Bay, Europe needed three wins to seal victory but after taking a pasting over the first two days, the American squad came out fighting.
Firstly, the pairing of Hatch and Dominguez overcame all manner of nerves to edge past Ralf Souquet and Jayson Shaw and give the American fans a moment they had been waiting for.
In the next clash, Billy Thorpe, who has looked excellent in his Mosconi Cup debut, got the better of Nick van den Berg for take the score to 8-4 and give the crowd some hope. The nervy Dutchman missed the 7 ball with ball in hand and Thorpe took advantage. However, Van den Berg recovered well from his glaring error to take the match to hill-hill but the American prevailed.
The big USA surge of momentum came to an end in the next as David Alcaide and Ralf Souquet put on a superb show to beat Dominguez and Woodward, who has yet to win a point. That made it 9-4 and set the stage for the final match of the session – Jayson Shaw v Shane Van Boening. An American win would leave the overnight score at 9-5 and offer a glimmer of hope, while a win for Europe would effectively leave the Americans dead and buried.
Once again it came down to the final rack as both players struggled with the pressure and atmosphere. It was Van Boening who cracked, missing a simple 8 ball to hand the match to Shaw who celebrated wildly, aiming his joy at the American team.
“Unbelievable, what a match – when I was down 4-2 I tried to dig deep and take my chances,” said a delighted Shaw.
“I scratched on the first ball and Dennis Hatch is clapping, shouting good shot so that’s why I acted like that, to give it back to him.
“This is crazy, you can’t hold yourself together but I couldn’t believe he missed that ball. One more match tomorrow, and we’ve got it. It has been a big day, they took the first two games 5-4 so the last two matches were real big,” he added.
For European captain Marcus Chamat, the end is in sight after a strong showing this week, although like many others he was disbelieving of Van Boening’s error.
“Everybody is still shocked; how do you see that from a player of his calibre? This is what this tournament does to you. Any other tournament, it doesn’t happen.
“Between Shane and Jayson, they are under pressure. They are the top guns at the moment for both teams so it is pressure for them, but Jayson handled it better than Shane van Boening for sure.
“I had good faith in Ralf and David because they play in the same league in Germany and they are good friends. I was so confident in that team and they played brilliantly.
“10-4 instead of 9-5, we all know that is a huge different – if it is 9-5 and they win the first two tomorrow it would be 9-7 and it’s up in the air.”
For American captain Johan Ruijsink, it was a different story, “We are 10-4 down. We made mistakes earlier in the Mosconi Cup but now everybody is in shock about a big mistake from Shane. It is a ball he would never miss again but that happens, even the best players in the world get the tension, something happens and they don’t make the ball.
“Tomorrow we will take it one by one and every match we survive we will be happy. I was proud of how the guys came out and fought and we won two hill-hill matches. Then Souquet played really good, really solid, and that was hard.
“In the end it was the second time Shane could have beaten the guy everybody considers to be the best in the world but it didn’t happen and it is 10-4.
“We have lost the Mosconi Cup already, obviously. We are absolutely not likely to win this one. It is like in basketball being 40 points behind and three minutes to play – it is impossible for everybody. However, we will play six singles tomorrow, six times an American guy against a European guy and if we show our A-game we can prolong it. We are very unlikely to win this one but we will try to win every single match from now on.”
Play continues with singles matches on Thursday.
Follow the Partypoker Mosconi Cup on www.mosconicup.com and @mosconicup across social media.
2017 partypoker Mosconi Cup is also sponsored by Rasson Billiards who supplies the Official Table; the cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith by Saluc. Predator is the Official Cue of the event and Ultimate Team Gear provide all Mosconi Cup apparel. APA are the Official Team Sponsor of Team USA.
The partypoker Mosconi Cup has hit the halfway stage and it’s already looking all over as the Europeans home in on their eighth successive victory following another easy day on the table against a miss-firing American side.
With the Euros leading 4-1 at the overnight stage anything other than US overall victory would be a huge setback and so it turned out as the European’s once again decimated their opponents 4-1 to carry an 8-2 lead into the third day.
In fact, Marcus Chamat’s Team EUROPE now need only three more wins to seal the deal with a maximum five matches scheduled for Wednesday.
“The way the first match was, I was thinking if we could win two matches today I would be happy because we would still have the lead. Winning 4-1, I am way over the moon,” said a delighted Chamat.
“The second match could have gone either way. The eight ball that Oscar missed, we might look back at a big swing in the event. It is far from over but that could be a big swing. This is sport and we saw today that one mistake can turn things around,” he added.
Things started off so brightly for the USA as Dennis Hatch and Billy Thorpe squandered a 4-1 lead before hanging on in the deciding rack to record a 5-4 victory over Nick Van Den Berg and David Alcaide.
That momentum didn’t last long as Oscar Dominguez lost a 3-2 lead to fall to veteran Ralf Souquet by 5-3. After that it was a total collapse as the USA managed to win just three racks in the final three matches as Joshua Filler ran rampant.
The 20-year-old German looks set to be one of the game’s brightest stars his shot-making and positional play look to be up there with the best. First, he teamed up with Jason Shaw to dispatch Van Boening and Dominguez 5-1 and then, alongside Nick Van den Berg, they crushed Van Boening and Thorpe 5-0.
Commented Marcus Chamat, “I get goose bumps just talking about Joshua. When you see him play, you know he will run out and go around smiling. He makes the game look so easy. Once in a lifetime you get these players.”
For American captain Johan Ruijsink, it was more misery after the experience of Monday; “We are not happy. We didn’t look confident today, we broke better, I really felt that we broke better but we missed balls that we shouldn’t have, and that is disappointing.
“It is hard to win if you get bad racks and in the last match we didn’t do much wrong but they played very good shots and broke well. We got a couple of terrible, difficult shots, which we didn’t make.
“Even the 5-4 win was not confident – we should have beaten them 5-1, 5-2. We should have put our foot on the gas pedal but we didn’t and that stayed there for the whole day.
“I truly felt that we broke better and if we had played as we did yesterday we would have got more points, but we didn’t. It is a learning curve and we will try to combine the better play from Monday and the break from today, but we cannot lose the day tomorrow – that is obvious.”
Play continues with a scheduled four more games on Wednesday – two doubles and two singles matches.
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2017 partypoker Mosconi Cup is also sponsored by Rasson Billiards who supplies the Official Table; the cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith by Saluc. Predator is the Official Cue of the event and Ultimate Team Gear provide all Mosconi Cup apparel. APA are the Official Team Sponsor of Team USA.
