World class 9-ball pool is back on the calendar as the 9th season of the GB 9 Ball Tour gets under way at the Park Inn by Radisson Hotel in Telford.
After a three month break since Craig Osborne sealed his spot at the top of the standings for the 2015 season, the 2016 season is shaping up to be one of the biggest in years for the domestic game in Great Britain. Following on from another resounding success for Team EUROPE at the Mosconi Cup back in December, the buzz around 9-ball pool is at its highest in some time. This buzz has been backed up by a fully subscribed 2016 season on GB9 with all available spots being sealed well before the turn of the year. The popular tour format remains the same as ever, with a double elimination main event at each tour weekend plus a Challenge/Pro divisional event where the best professionals and amateurs battle out against one another in their class. The tour is brought to you by those with a genuine love of the game, and with your continued support we will endeavour to create excitement and enjoyment in equal measure.
A number of exciting new faces will be gracing the tour for the 2016 season. To name but a few, they include Andy MacDonald – English Pool Top 8 Professional, Edward Poultney -newly crowned UPC 9-ball champion winning his way onto the tour for the first time, and Chris Seville who has been playing well on the amateur circuit and is stepping up to the GB9 Pro division. Also returning to the tour after time away are some of the real big guns, such as Daryl Peach, Phil Burford, Damian Massey and Elliott Sanderson. It all adds up to one of the strongest fields ever to sign up to play on the tour, and backs up the well held belief that this is one of the toughest national pool tours in existence.
Our thanks must also go to the magnificent Park Inn by Radisson hotel in Telford and all the staff who work on site. Their support of the tour over recent years has been of special note; few hotels are able to hold American pool events and so their continued efforts to host events should not go without mention. It goes without saying that without a venue there would be no events, so it should be put on record how grateful the tour is for their support back since they first hosted an event back in 2013.
Following feedback from a number of players, in recognition of increased popularity in the 2016 tour, we have taken the decision to increase the total trophies (salvers) up for grabs at each event of the season from five to eight. The finalist of all divisional events will now also receive a salver to commemorate their successes, meaning that both the winner and runner-up of all 4 events (Main, Pro, Challenge Tier 1 & Challenge Tier 2) now receive a coveted Salver to keep in recognition of their achievement. The winner of the Main event also gets their name engraved on the main trophy which will be displayed at the event.
And of course as an extra incentive to all players this season the two players ranked No.1 & No.2 on the end of season Main rankings will receive an additional prize of £1000 and £500 respectively.
Entry to this event closes tonight but if you know of friends who are interested in having a go on the tour this season please ask them to fill in an application form to join our reserve list to be kept up to date with space availability.
Play begins as ever on the afternoon of Friday with the opening rounds of the Midlands Classic, with play right through the weekend up until the early evening of Sunday 31st January. Entry to spectators is free of charge as ever and, with so many big names taking part in competition this year, now is the perfect opportunity to come and watch some of the stars of our sport in action. This is a season not too be missed, so even if you can’t be at the venue you can once again keep up to date with GB9’s innovative scoring system GB9-Live, alongside the ever popular Live-Stream of the TV table to fans across the world. We look forward to seeing you all in Telford ready for another season of world class pool.
In 2016 GB9 is proudly sponsored by Simonis Cloth, Aramith Billiard Balls and Carlson Rezidor Hotels making the perfect combination of the very best equipment in the most outstanding venues.
In the US Open 10:30 am Thursday morning losers side match on the TV Table, Imran Majid (England) came back from the dead, after having to sit in his chair while Wan Can (China) ran the first five racks to put the score at 5-0.
But by the dint of some stellar play, bit by bit Imran got the score to 7-6 in his favor, then back and forth until Wan got the score to 10-9 in his favor. In what could have been Mr. Can’s final rack, Wan got himself hooked and managed to hit the object ball, but left a shot on for Imran.
Imran ran out to put the match on the hill, then broke for the win and to the dismay of the crowd came up dry. Wan potted the 1 ball, but hooked himself on the 2 ball, which started a safety battle that ended with a mistake by Mr. Can, which left Imran the run out to get the win.
Imran took his time over the run out and won one of the best matches seen this week on the TV Table. Earning himself a 935 TPA in the bargain. (The highest of the week so far recorded)
Imran Majid (Nickname Maharaja) is 42 years of age, and lives in Twickenham, a suburb of London with his wife (no kids), and he plays and coaches out of “The Hurrricane Room” in Kings Cross, London, England.
Imran started playing snooker when he was 17 years old, and continued with snooker for ten years. Although never on the pro Snooker tour, Imran does have five 147’s to his credit and used to play all over London with Raj Hundal hustling a living playing snooker.
One day in the year 2000 Imran saw a sign up outside a pool room in the city for a Pool Tournament. This was on a Friday and the Tournament was on the Saturday, so Imran made a point of popping in just before the event started, to find out what the event was about!!
They explained that you have to pocket the balls in order of number, and a few other pointers. Here is my entry and can I use one of the house cues. Yes they said.
Imran picked up the idea pretty quick I guess, winning the Tournament, which turned out to be the UK National final of the year.
He was then advised that maybe this is the direction he should go, and he never played snooker again. Imran has played in the US Open 7 times since 2008, missing 2010. Last year, he lost in the first round to Lee Van Corteza, and then proceeded to win seven matches on the losers side.
Imran loves coming to the US Open for several reasons. It is still one of the most prestigious titles to own, and secondly it can be a stepping stone to a place on he Mosconi Cup, and finally the money. It could be two big paydays: $30,000 from the US Open and $20,000 from the Mosconi Cup.
Imran has been ranked #1 in the UK seven times, and is presently ranked 9th on the Euro Tour, and also won the last GB 9 event beating Phil Burford in the fina.
Good luck to Imran in his next match. If he plays like he did this morning we may be seeing him with a trophy raised over his head come Saturday evening.
Denis Grabe (EST) has just won the Dynamic Billard Slovenian Open Euro-Tour event in Portoroz, Slovenia. He defeated Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) with a clear 9:4 result.
Grabe took his first Euro-Tour title ever at the last Euro-Tour in St. Johann, Austria. Already there he defeated bis names like current 9-ball World Champion Niels Feijen (NED). Here again, Grabe got the better of players like Karl Boyes (GBR) 9:4, Albin Ouschan (AUT) 9:3, Marcus Chamat (SWE) 9:3 and in the final up and coming young Dutch player Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) 9:4. „I think I am really on a roll at the moment“, stated Grabe after the final match. „The victories do not come easy to me at all. They are hard work. But I am very confident at this point in time and I want to make use of it while it lasts“, added Grabe.
It could be witnessed in general at this Euro-Tour event that many young players were doing extremely well. Maybe a new generation is knocking on the door of the established players…
Earlier today, Karl Boyes’ (GBR) journey was cruelly stopped by said Grabe. Boyes managed to defeat BCA Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet (GER) twice yesterday and was full of confidence and good hopes for today. But Grabe put an abrupt end to that. After the match, Boyes and Carlos Cabello (ESP) were randomly drawn for an anti-doping test, conducted by the Slovenian Anti-Doping Association SLOADO.
Also remarkable is the fact that many nations were represented in the final stages of the tournament. In the quarter-finals, eight different nations had a player in the field left. This shows the tight level of competition in Europe as of current.
In the women’s division, the favorite players are in the winner’s bracket on their way to the single elimination stage of the event. Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) is playing Sandra Baumgartner (AUT), Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) battles it out with Kristina Schagan (GER), Ana Mazhirina (RUS) and Ine Helvik (NOR) are having a match and Martine Christiansen (NOR) plays against Monica Margeta (SWE) for a seat in the quarterfinals tomorrow. The last match is quite open. The first three matches clearly have heavily favored favorites in Ouschan, Czuprynska and Mazhirina.
The Women’s Euro-Tour Slovenian Open will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET. The final is scheduled for 15:00 CET.
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.eurotouronline.com
The event is hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.
The penultimate round of this season’s GB 9 Ball Tour hits town this weekend as the Southern Masters is contested at the Daventry Court Hotel in Northamptonshire.
As the 7th GB9 season draws ever closer to its climax, the fourth event of 2014 brings together once again some of the country’s finest cueists as they lock horns to see who will take home the next major British title. Having already gone past the halfway stage of this 2014 season, it’s fair to say that the dominance of Phil Burford and Mark Gray at the top of the rankings will take quite some stopping at this event. With 3rd placed Daryl Peach flying the flag for Great Britain at the WPA World Team Championship alongside Karl Boyes, Chris Melling and Allison Fisher, it will take nothing short of a tournament win for any of the chasing pack to close that gap. With some of the country’s leading amateur’s at the head of that pack including reigning Midlands Classic champion Chris Hall, Michael Rhodes, Craig Osborne and Darryn Walker, all of the top players will have to be on their toes. It remains to see whether any of those four, or any of the other exciting amateurs in the field, can stop Burford and Gray on their quest for yet more silverware.
The magnificent Daventry Court Hotel will host its 14th GB9 event to date, a run which stretches all the way back to the 2010 British Grand Prix. It has proven itself over the years to be a very popular venue with players, officials and all those involved with the GB 9 Ball Tour. The tour is also due to close the season out at the hotel with this year’s British Grand Prix between November 7th and 9th. We are sure that this event will be as smooth and enjoyable as those previous, and GB9 would like to extend its thanks and gratitude to the hotel and its staff for their tireless work to date in making tour events so memorable.
The Southern Masters is due to begin on the evening of Friday 1st August, with play across the weekend coming to a conclusion on the evening of Sunday 3rd August. Entry to spectators is free as ever. Players entries MUST be received by midnight on Tuesday 29 July. Live streaming will be available once again, alongside the innovative rack-by-rack live-scoring system, GB9-Live. High octane pool is guaranteed once again as the race to grab those crucial ranking points hot’s up, so get yourself down to Daventry to witness the cream of American pool players that this country has to offer.
In 2014 GB9 is proudly sponsored by Rasson Billiards, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Billiard Balls, OB Cues and Kamui Tips making the perfect combination of the very best equipment in the most outstanding venues.
In preparation for the PartyPoker Mosconi Cup XXI to be held December 1st through 4th in Blackpool, England, we assembled Team USA in San Diego, California for our very first team get-together.
In our first team meeting we covered the tentative schedule for the year, and discussed what is expected of the team. Honor, integrity, professionalism, and dedication to training were discussed as the goals for the team.
We introduced Lieutenant Commander (retired) Amir Pishdad, a legendary Navy SEAL, who was our host for the weekend. Amir is an extremely inspirational and motivational speaker, and he is expert in the principles of intense training, and the true meaning of honor, integrity, and teamwork.
His assistance, inspiration, and motivation were such that by the end of the weekend, the team made him an honorary member of Team USA; and we hope to have him present to advise us during the Cup competition in Blackpool.
On May 23rd we were allowed the rare privilege of visiting the Navy SEAL training center in Coronado. The team was able to see first-hand the extreme dedication and work ethic of our nation’s most elite warriors. We exposed the team firsthand to the SEAL principles of “no excuses,” work harder today than yesterday, work harder than you thought you could, work harder than your opponent, be relentlessly positive, and honor above all else.
We also gave them a powerful example of the real meaning of teamwork – as the SEALs know, it is not just cheering during a match, it is relentless and grueling training during the year so you do not let the team down.
On May 24th we held a clinic for local players at On Cue Billiards in La Mesa with all proceeds donated to the CalDiego Paralyzed Veterans Association. We wanted to assist the players in developing the expertise to give a polished, entertaining, and professional clinic – something that will help them in the future make a better living in the sport.
There was a big community turnout and media coverage; and the participants were thrilled with the experience.
That evening, we held a Mosconi Cup style match against the best San Diego players the room could find. We won 11-4 (Oscar’s father Ernesto Dominguez played for San Diego, and was responsible for two of their four victories).
We had an excellent turnout of spectators; and a much younger audience than is usual for a pool competition. Though the level of play was stellar; the behavior and sportsmanship of our players was exemplary – something everyone now realizes is essential if our team is to change the face of the sport and become a serious threat to regain the Mosconi Cup.
On Sunday May 25th we had four hours of “Challenge the Pro”, again at On Cue Billiards. We called it the “I Should Have Been Chosen for the Mosconi Cup Challenge”.
For a donation, local players could challenge a team member to a game of 9 ball. If they won, they received a nice Team USA T-shirt. The turnout was huge and we raised $1800 for the designated charity. There was tremendous goodwill in the local community for our charitable efforts. The players behaved well, and were positive and engaged.
We believe that as a result of this visit, our players have a whole new appreciation for what it takes to be an elite player. The Navy SEAL’s by their example, have given us a lesson in the real meaning of hard work and team work; and taught that proficiency in itself does not excuse bad behavior.
We want our team to strive to be new and improved role models for the sport, and to strive to train harder than ever. They are more unified in this goal, which bodes very well for a good performance in December.
Our thanks go out to, Amir Pishdad, all the officers and enlisted men at Phil Bucklew Naval Training Center, Matchroom Sport, the ownership and employees at On Cue Billiards, and all the members of the local pool community who so enthusiastically supported the events of this very memorable weekend.
Denis Grabe from Estonia just won the Dynamic Billard Austrian Open 2014 with a clear 9:1 defeat over Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) in the final match.
Ekonomopoulos had to deal with #1 ranked player in the semi-final, Nick Van Den Berg (NED). He played really strong and did not allow van den Berg to find his game even though it was van den Berg’s birthday today. To the contrary, the balls really rolled in Ekonomopoulos’ favor and the end result of 9:2 in favor of Ekonomopoulos showed how clear his victory was today.
Denis Grabe had tougher work ahead. In the second semi-final, he was already trailing 7:8 to #2 ranked player Niels Feijen (NED) when the Dutch missed a shot. He was disturbed by a fly but still tried to execute the important shot which he missed. Grabe ran two racks and took the victory by a hair’s breadth with 9:8.
The initial situation in the final match did speak for Ekonomopoulos since he did not have to come up with as much energy in the semi-final as Grabe had. But things were turned upside down in the final again. Grabe played a one-man-show and Ekonomopoulos was condemned to watch his opponent take point after point. In the end, 9:1 was a fair and just result in favor of Grabe. „I have never ever won a Euro-Tour event before“, stated Grabe after the match, „that’s why it means very much to me“. „I think I will celebrate the victory tonight with a glass or two“ added Grabe with a smile.
Top 8 finishers Men’s Dynamic Billard Austrian Open 2014
The Euro-Tour women’s event will continue tonight and morning at 09:00 am local time.
All results and more info can be found on www.eurotouronline.eu and www.eurotourwomenonline.eu . LIVEStream of 9 tables can be viewed at 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.eurotouronline.eu or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
A.Moussati, M.Sawicki, N.Feijen and H.Charalampidis
Saturday morning we started off with the MAIN 9ball EVENT…
1st four groups of 24 started off at 09:00h. All went well as nobody got sanctioned with a penalty, neither did anyone forfeit or no-show.
Group A saw one of the favorites Ivo Aarts sail through to the 2nd Winners round with wins over Kaylash Persad, Olivier Vandenbohede. In the 3rd round however he got beaten by UK’s Tony Burton who did not lose a match to qualify for the last64. Marek Derek, Serge Das and Tobias Hoiß all did the same thing by defeating Kadir Turku, Hoa Nguyen, Nicolas Georgopoulos and Tom Penrose. Three of them eventually qualified for the Knock-Out stage themselves by winning their subsequent matches. So did Ivo Aarts in the end.
Group B’s 2nd Winners Round had some strong matches and some surprises as Luxemburg’s Sebastian Beuel beat German 1.Bundesliga playing Klaudio Kerec 8-4 and Karl Boyes did the same thing to Sixpocket’s admin Florian Scholl. Both losers redeemed themselves in the 3rd Losers Round by defeating Joerie van den Broeck and Stefan Sprangers, the latter one not being as slouch. Through the winners side Daryl Peach, Karl Boyes, Bartek Skoniecki and Konrad Juszczyszyn qualified for the Last64 without losing a match. From the Losers round Carlos Cabello, Raphael Keusen, Sebastian Beuel and Klaudio Kerec joined them. Unfortunately some good players went down, like: Alain Da Costa and Maurice Houben.
Group C had some strong players, winning their 1st matches with ease; Niels Feijen beat greek player Theodore Bitsaxakis 8-2, Wojtek Trajdos did the same thing to UK’s Tom Stavely. Aziz Moussati lost to strong playing Benji Buckley 3-8 and after that 7-8 to Peter Lau. This saw him drop out of the 9ball. He said he could not focus on playing because of all the things that went on regarding organization etc. I myself had the same problem. Further in this group’s losers side Matthias Blehs got rid of Walter Hottgenroth and Benjamin Baier. On the winners side Niels handed a donut to Trajdos and Stephan Cohen beat Marcel Fortunski to both qualify for the Last64. Tobias Bongers and Benji Buckley sent Kyle Van den Bosch and Martin Steinlage to the last losers round. 4 players took their last chance to qualify; Trajdos beat Peter Lau 8-4, Bitsaxakis – Steinlage 8-3, Fortunski did the same thing to Del Sim. Matthias Blehs handed out the second donut of the group to Kyle van den Bosch.
Group D featured some strong playing German Bundesliga players; Stefan Nolle and Valery Kuloyants who got rid of their opponents Gijs van Westebrugge and Edward Werlemann pretty quickly in the 1st round. 2nd Winners Round matches went pretty quickly as well when Mieszko Fortunski beat Lex Wellens 8-0, Tony Drago vs. Jan Van Lierop 8-1. Mieszko continued his strong form by winning 8-0 again in his following match against Michael Kasper. Other favorites did not have that same luck as Tony Drago lost to strong youngster Francisco Sanchez Ruiz. Ralf Souquet showed Stefan Nolle who’s boss with a score of 8-5 and Valery did the same thing to Konrad Piekarski. From the losers round the following players eventually went on to qualify for the Last64: Tony Dargo over Sean Dennis with a score of 8-1, Stefan Nolle beat Jan van Lierop 8-2, Konrad Piekarski against Lex Wellens 8-4.
In the afternoon the last 4 groups started their matches, some of the previous groups had to qualify the next morning some of them were done..
Group E surprised a bit when Micha Beuriot beat Guy Buss in the first round and one of the favs Imran Majid got beaten by Nicolas Baumanns. I got my donut handed to me by Noel Bruynooghe.. Couldn’t focus on my game with all the stuff happening around me and had to get comfortable with my new cue as well. Noel played a very good match though, missing maybe 1 ball the entire match. He later on went and qualified for the Last64 by beating Sebastian Fuhrmann. One of the other strong favorites Mateusz Sniegocki sailed through with a score of 8-0 in his 2nd and 3rd match as well. Fast playing Marko Vogel struggled a bit but in the end got through with a hill-hill against Mario Stahl, who himself also eventually got through by beating Lennaert Speijker 8-1 in the losers round. Imran Majid, Robin Cripps, Anthony Wever also went on to qualify winning their matches in the 4th losers round.
Group F consisted of some great players like Oliver Ortmann and Juan Carlos Exposito, who met each other in the latter stages. Oliver first beat fellow countryman Michael Heinz with a big score of 8-0. Think Michael couldn’t get his rhythm going as he normally played way better than that. Norman Bakker surprisingly beat JCE 8-1, Greek fury Xrhstos Davetas beat Thomas Aschauer 8-4 and strong playing Marc Bijsterbosch beat Sven Wenkheimer with easy and a final score of 8-2. In the 3rd Winners round some big matches emerged like Ramazan Dincer vs. Ortmann (8-6), Elliot Sanderson vs. Marc Bijsterbosch (8-5) and Adrian Borowiec vs. Davetas (8-4). So now the losers qualification had some great thrillers going where Exposito met with Ortmann and beat him 8-5, which caused a bit of an upset. Also Hector del Amo Garcia who lost his 1st match got through to the last round and bear Sven Pauritsch to qualify. Marc Bijsterbosch also redeemed himself and beat Waikit Kwok after a hard battle. Davetas was the last one to set his score and got through.
Group G featured some big names like Mario He, David Alcaide and Phil Burford. But also strong formed Joshua Filler who had made a name for himself at DCC by winning the 9ball Banks against Nick v/d Berg in the final. 1st round saw no surprises and all big names went through to the next one. Then we had a big match-up when Mario He drew David Alcaide in the next round and beat him on the hill. David eventually got through to the last round and got through. Joshua showed that age does not matter and shot his way through Phil Burford at the arena with a score of 8-6. Marco Teutscher also went through over Jimmy Worung (8-5). In the 3rd winner round more surprises came when Daniel Kandi beat strong favorite Mario He. Furthermore Mark Lunn beat OC Chan, Teutscher beat Jelle Kijlstra and Joshua Filler knocked his countryman Clemens Phillipen to the losers round. Last chance to qualify for the Last64.. Phil Burford, Julian Kortüm, previously mentioned David Alcaide and Ralf Mrnka did so.
Group H was the final one and had 2013 Champion Nick Van Den Berg starting his journey to defend his crown. Started off with a bye and then went on to qualify for the Last64 by beating German Bundesliga player Kevin Becker and Belgian WCOP player Moritz Lauwereyns in his 3rd match. More strong players started off well; Huidji See beat Female player Vivien Schade 8-0, Jakob Belka vs. Olivier van Loteringen went down with 8-2. 2nd round winners side had some good matches when Dennis Jansen beat Hanno Bröcker on the Hill, Wojtek Szewczyk knocked his countryman Jakob Belka to the losers-side and youngster Aaron Vancoppenolle did the same thing to strong Female Chantal Manske. Last winners round saw all the favorites go through; NvdB, Szewczyk, See and Dennis Janssen, all with ease. Losers side saw Lars Kuckherm, Belka, Becker and Mauwereyns go through.
So that was it for the groups.. Now on to the Last 64 of the 9ball MAIN-EVENT and the 9ball DROP-OUT Challenge.
Around 10:00h on Sunday some matches of the Knock-Out stage began early, but most started around 12:00h.
Some noticeable wins were Moritz Lauwereyns beating his former WCOP team-mate Serge Das with a score of 9-5. Phil Burford beat his countryman Karl Boyes 9-7. Ivo Aarts beat Mateusz Sniegocki 9-8 after trailing 8-6. Konrad Piekarski beat Noel Bruynooghe with an easy 9-4. Norman Bakker got close with Matthias Blehs but beat him on the hill. Raphael Keusen beat strong playing Daniel Kandi on the hill as well. So did Carlos Cabello vs. Mark Lunn.
On to the Last32 where more surprises came along when Wojtek Szewczyk beat Huidji See with ease, final score of 9-5. Moritz Lauwereyns kept his form and beat last year’s Runner-Up Marek Derek 9-6. Konrad Juszczyszyn also shocked everyone when he kept his nerve on the hill against Phil Burford and beat him. More strong play by Ivo Aarts, Imran Majid, Ralf Souquet, Konrad Piekarski, Joshua Filler, Nick van den Berg, Niels Feijen, Tobias Hoiß who all went through to the Last16.
Surely now at this stage you would think only the strong favorites would emerge.. but no, Moritz Lauwereyns continued his form and beat Tobias Hoiß 9-7. Konrad Piekarski being the underdog against Ivo Aarts showed who’s who and beat him 9-5. Mario He did not disappoint and beat Juszczyszyn 9-5 as well. But the biggest surprises of them all was Wojtek Szewczyk taking his revenge on Nick van den Berg from last year at the quarter-finals. After trailing a couple of games Wojtek in the end prevailed and beat the struggling Nick 9-7. Fair to say Nick was dealing with some personal issues on the side. Nevertheless a great performance by the young Pole. More names that went through to the Last8 were Filler, Majid, Feijen and a player I would like to call the new ‘DARK HORSE’ ; Marcel Fortunski. Did not know Marcel had so much in him.. he went through to this stage by beating some big names in my book; Ramazan Dincer (5x 1.Bundesliga Champion), Normal Bakker (strong Dutch player), Elliot Sanderson (GB9 Tour) .. Well DONE!
At this stage our well prized DROP-OUT Challenge began, this tournament was created to let players have another change at some good prize-money and to let them enjoy our venue some more. Where at other tournament after losing twice you didn’t have a chance to redeem yourself.. @ DCC players still did! The Tournament had the same format and rules but shorter races and single knock-out.. so fast play and surprise results were expected. When people found out that the tournament was opened to more than 64 players, whey immediately signed up and the final field was 80.
Moritz again shocked everyone on the TV Table and beat strong favorite Mario He. Feijen showed who boss against Majid by beating him 9-5. Piekarski went on 6-1 against Marcel Fortunski in about 20 minutes but then lost focus and let the young player get back at him a little bit but in the end closed it off with a final score of 9-7. Joshua Filler kept cool against Szewczyk to beat him 9-5.
Semis both played on the TV tables, the match-ups were; Feijen vs. Lauwereyns and Filler vs. Piekarski. Both matches quickly showed who the better players was on Sunday. Even through the youngster match had a bigger score it was over pretty quick cus of fast run-outs and no safety battles. Niels and Moritz took a while longer as tactics came into play. Niels finally closed the deal with a 9-2 win.
So Holland vs. Germany in the FINAL! Niels quickly showed that the break in 9ball ET Style is mastered by those who regularly play the format and broke and ran most of his racks. Joshua struggled to get runs round because he lost his cue-ball a lot. Niels in front is unstoppable, I knew that from the get-go. Proved me right by winning and becoming the NEW 2014 ‘PREDATOR’ Deurne City Classic® CHAMPION !! Congrats Niels Feijen
Though "MASTER OF THE TABLE" title goes to Joshua Filler ! Winning the 9ball banks, 14.1 Shootout and becoming Runner-up in the 9ball MAIN-EVENT!
Around 14:00 we started the 1st round of the 9ball Bankpool, with a lot of entries who dropped out of the one-pocket we again had a full field of 32 players. No surprises there as the usual suspect all came thru this time.. Niels Feijen, NvdB, Ralf Souquet, Oliver Ortmann and Phil Burford all won their 1st round matches giving their opponent a donut! German “Young Gun” Joshua Filler also got thru to the 2nd round doing the same thing. After the re-buys the 2nd round also went on with a 32 field.
Again some of the frontrunners got rid of their opponent in a quick fashion in the Last 8, until the final;
Quarter finals Jelle Kijlstra 3 vs 1 Huidji See Nick Van Den Berg 3 vs 2 Phil Burford
Joshua Filler 3 vs 2 Niels Feijen
Ralf Souquet 3 vs 1 Karl Boyes
Semi finals
Nick van den Berg 3 vs 1 Jelle Kijlstra
Joshua Filler 3 vs 1 Ralf Souquet
Final
Joshua Filler 3 vs 1 Nick van den Berg
Great form shown by young Joshua Filler who really caught a gear and knocked off some big names in the end. He banked his way onto the Final where he beat NvdB losing only 1 game!
Memories from yesteryear will be rekindled in more ways than one as the GB 9 Ball Tour returns to Daventry for this year’s Paul Medati Trophy, the GB9 Pro Cup and the Rasson Billiards Challenge Cup.
Whilst not everyone on the tour will have played against or alongside Paul Medati in their careers, most will be aware of his dedication to cuesports and to GB9. A former snooker professional who made the hop over to American pool in later life, his was a warm and wonderful character who is missed on the tour to this day. His legacy lives on in GB9′s annual competition named in his honour, and the best pool players from across Great Britain and the continent will be doing battle to try and win the winner’s purse and beautiful Paul Medati Trophy itself.
This event also sees the tour return to arguably its spiritual home in the form of the superb Daventry Court Hotel in Northamptonshire. Previously known as the Barceló Hotel, this venue has hosted some of the most memorable matches in the tour’s history, and the combination of facilities and playing conditions made it one of the most popular venues in the tour’s portfolio. GB9 are delighted to be returning to the venue and hope that all competitors, both old and new, enjoy the tournament at the hotel.
The 2014 Paul Medati Trophy is also the first competition in GB9′s history to carry aGUARANTEED prize fund of £9,250 (11,300 Euro), with £1,300 (1,600 Euro)guaranteed for the winner of the main event. We hope that this guaranteed prize money will attract more players from across Great Britain and the rest of Europe to play on the tour and experience for themselves the tournament conditions that GB9 prides itself on.
GB9 are also delighted to announce that former US Mosconi Cup team member and US Open 9-Ball champion Corel Deuel will be competing in his first GB9 event. Corey is the reigning US snooker champion after having made a crossover to the 15-red cuesport in recent years. He has been nominated this season to represent the United States Snooker Association at the World Snooker Q-School event in Gloucester later this month. He will compete in the Paul Medati Trophy whilst over in England and we wish him the best of luck in both competitions during his time across the Atlantic.
Alongside the main event this weekend will also play host to two other events: The elite 16 man Pro division which at this event will see a number of familiar names from the Eurotour such as Stephan Cohen, Denis Grabe, and Bruno Muratore compete alongside the best the UK has to offer in Karl Boyes, Daryl Peach, Imran Majid, Phil Burford and Mark Gray. The less proficient pool enthusiasts will all compete in the Rasson Billiards Challenge Cup which uniquely to GB9 sees the field split into two equal sections with the lowest ranked participants playing each other for a ring fenced prize pool whilst the top ranked amateurs and players entering on a single event basis play each other for a slightly larger chunk of the prize money on offer.
With the arrival of our very own Rasson Victory table which will be used for all live-streamed matches, we are now in the enviable position to have seventeen tables available to us at tour events. This will allows us to continue to run the event on sixteen tables whilst we also run some exciting side action competitions and challenge matches in another room.
Play in Daventry will begin on the evening of Friday 16th May, with competition continuing right the way through to the evening of Sunday 18th. Entry to spectators is free all week and live-streaming will be available throughout the Paul Medati Trophy to compliment the unique rack-by-rack live-scoring service. Competition is sure to be as fierce as ever with the spirit of GB9′s most loved and respected players living on.
Entry to this event closes at midnight on Tuesday 13 May and so if you want to get involved do not delay and fill in the event entry form NOW.
In 2014 GB9 is proudly sponsored by Rasson Billiards, Simonis Cloth, Aramith Billiard Balls, OB Cues and Kamui Tips making the perfect combination of the very best equipment in the most outstanding venues.
Ralf Souquet (GER) and Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) have won the titles at the Dynamic Billard North Cyprus Open Euro-Tour.
In the men’s division, Ralf Souquet played at his best. He took down great names like Ivo Aarts (NED) 9:0, Imran Majid (GBR) 9:3, Mieszko Fortunski (POL) 9:3 and in the final match Karl Boyes (GBR) with 9:4. The final match was dominated by Souquet from start to finish. A bit scrappy in the beginning, Souquet turned out to have the far better break shot than Boyes. He pocketed almost every time a ball on his break and ran out 4 racks without even allowing Boyes into the table. The Brit however had to struggle with his break shot. Most of the time, he came up dry with no ball down or not enough balls crossing the kitchen line. This situation was taken advantage of by Souquet without any mercy. The BCA Hall of Famer played up to his standard and rightfully took the final match with 9:4. "I did not have the best two weeks before at the European Championships", stated Souquet after the match. "I won a bronze Medal in 9-Ball and one in the team competition. Normally, I am aiming for more", he added. "I am happy that I found my game in the Euro-Tour and that I was able to perform on that level", mentioned the likable German.
These names are subject to confirmation by the EPBF.
In the women’s final, Jasmin Ouschan demonstrated her superiority over all other players. In a total of six matches, she only lost seven (7!) individual racks! She defeated Katrine Feijen (DEN) 7:1, Monika Margeta (SWE) 7:1, Katarzyna Wesolowska (POL) 7:1, Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) 7:3, Monica Webb (USA) 7:1 and Kristina Tkach (RUS) in the final match even with 7:0. "I always try and play my best game", said Ouschan after the match. "This time, I was really feeling good and I think that was the reason why I could perform with my best game".
The event was 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.eu or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
