With an impressive 7:4 victory over Austria’s powerhouse Jasmin Ouschan, Siming Chen from China won the Klagenfurt Women’s Open Euro-Tour!
It was an amazing final match between the World’s #1 player and World Games 2017 Gold Medallist Chen Siming and her opponent, Europe’s #1 and World Games 2005 Gold Medallist Jasmin Ouschan. The dream of the organisers came true with these two high class players clashing in the final match. Chen’s way into the final was totally straight. She defeated all her opponents with a convincing result. The player who got closest to giving her a challenge was Eylul Kibaroglu (TUR) in the 3rd round who received a 4:7 defeat against Chen. On the other hand, Jasmin had to fight her way into the final match. She had clear results until she met Ina Kaplan (GER) in the semi-final. There, Jasmin was already on the hill, leading 6:3 when her opponent got some momentum and used her chances. Actually, Kaplan even managed to take the score to 6:6 before Ouschan was able to finish the match in her favour with 7:6.
The final match between the two superstars was quite open in the beginning. After 4 races the score was all square at 2:2. Then, Siming shifted into overdrive and took 3 racks in a row, gaining a 5:2 advantage over Ouschan. The Austrian took her time-out and tired to get her things together a bit better but the tide did not change in this match. Though Ouschan was able to win two more racks, Siming also stayed focussed and took her points and finally won the match and the tournament well deserved with 7:4. „I am quite happy to have won this event her in Austria“, stated Siming after the match, „the atmosphere was superb and it was not easy for me to compete against Jasmin with all these spectators cheering for her here“. „I really enjoyed my stay here in Austria. Tournaments in China are organised very differently. We have no music in the background and I really enjoyed this setup here. Also, the digital information system connected to the internet provides an amazing for the players“.
That concludes the coverage from Klagenfurt. The Dynamic Billard Klagenfurt Open and the Klagenfurt Women’s Open have come to an end. The events were 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 visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Left to right: M. Soufi, D. Alcaide, C. Siming and M. Keidl
The Dynamic Billard Klagenfurt Open has begun with some major upsets and several huge surprises.
One of the biggest upsets was presented by Chen Siming (CHN). The lady from China who took the Gold Medal at this year’s World Games won her first two matches in the open event, defeating Bruno Ernst (GER) 9:6 and then European top player and former World 9-ball Champion Daryl Peach (GBR) 9:5 in the second winner’s round. She will go up against local hero Albin Ouschan (AUT) tomorrow at 13:30 local time in the winner’s qualification round for a seat among the top 32 players single elimination stage of the event.
Another major surprise took place in the match between David Alcaide (ESP) and Karol Skowerski (POL). Spain’s Alcaide desperately needs points in order to make it on to this year’s Mosconi Cup team. He just recently won the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Russia. Being the current #1 player of the Euro-Tour rankings, he could not get ahead of Skowerski. To the contrary, the Polish gave him a tough match and the encounter went to hill-hill at 8:8 after Alcaide had an 8:6 lead over Skowerski. Then in rack 17, Alcaide broke the rack. To his horror, he did not pocket any ball and left an easy 1-ball for Skowerski to the side pocket with a decent layout on the table. Skowerski played some good safety shots for Alcaide and managed to snatch the final rack off the Spaniard, winning the match by a hair’s breadth with 9:8. Skowerski will encounter Christian Sparrenloev-Fischer (SWE) in the winner’s qualification round.
Unheralded Marton Keidl (HUN) took care of the next surprise today. In winner’s round 1, he drubbed the winner of the last Euro-Tour in Leende, Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) with a clear result as high as 9:2. In the next round however, Keidl found his destiny and lost 4:9 to Alexa Pecelj from Serbia. He now joins Chinakhov on the loser’s side of the draw.
Mark Gray (GBR), long time Euro-Tour #1 player, lost more or less without a trace with 6:9 to Marek Kudlik (POL). He will have another chance coming through the loser’s side though.
One very interesting player is Mohammad Soufi (SYR). He played his first Euro-Tour last month in Leende and has an exciting story to tell. In 2013, he flew from the war in Syria and finally ended up in Germany where he is residing these days. The likeable 23-year-old from Latakia, Syria, started playing back home when he was 8 years of age. Since he visits school in Rostock, Germany, and plays for Schwerte (together with Joshua Filler) he can only practice very few times. However, it seems to be enough for the young man. His greatest titles include Asian Champion 2012, Syrian Champion, 2nd place German Tour 2017 and runner-up in the Leipzig Open this year. His dream is to become a pool professional and he is still looking for supporters these days. After finishing 17th in Leende last month, Soufi came to Klagenfurt today and took his first three matches again. In his opening match, he defeated Pia Blaeser (GER) 9:3. Then he took down Max Lechner (AUT) 9:8 after a fiercely fought over match. Finally, he knocked out Ivar Saris (NED) 9:6 in the second winner’s round. His opponent in the winner’s qualification round tomorrow will be underdog Marcel Willing (AUT) who overpowered Jan Van Lierop (NED) today.
Tomorrow, the Dynamic Billard Klagenfurt Open will continue at 09:00 local time with matches from loser’s round 2.
Every day, one match from the events will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF for free. All Facebook users may check out the high standard of quality which is provided for all the events and see what the Kozoom members receive all the time. You can see all the matches live via www.kozoom.com who stream the whole event on 23 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page every day. Results and schedules can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Klagenfurt Open.
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 visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Ralf Souquet (GER), also known as „The Kaiser“, wins his 22nd Euro-Tour event Italy with an impressive 9:5 victory over „The Siberian Express“ Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) in the final match of the Dynamic Billard Italian Open in BHR Best Western Hotel in Treviso, Italy.
The single elimination started with a huge effort for Souquet. He met Ivar Sarin (NED) in the round of the last 32 players and barely made it with 9:8 over the young Dutch player. Then today, he marched on and eliminated Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) 9:7, surprise player Damianos Giallourakis (GRE) 9:6 and in the semi-final match he ousted Daryl Peach (GBR) with another 9:7 victory. Chinakhov’s way to the final match was not easier. He dealt with Wojciech Sroczynski (POL) 9:2, ousted his young teammate Sergey Lutsker (RUS) 9:4, ended Mario He’s (AUT) run 9:4 and finally took down Denis Grabe (EST) 9:3. The outcome of the final match could not have been predicted at all. Both players have made their way through one of the toughest fields of contestants that the pool World could imagine. They were the last two men standing. However, in the final match Chinakhov committed some mistakes. He miscued two times and allowed his opponent Souquet back to the table. Chinakhov really wanted this time since it would have been his first Euro-Tour win. But Souquet was too strong for him today and brutally punished each mistake that Chinakhov made without showing any mercy. The final score of 9:5 in favour of Souquet displays the supremacy that Souquet held in the whole match. A deserved winner after his last victory dates back to 2014 in Kyrenia, North Cyprus.
Earlier today, US superstar player Shane Van Boening suffered a defeat in the round of the last 16 players. Van Boening has entertained many people with his performance in Treviso. His last match against Mario He (AUT) however turned out to become a drama for him in the end. Leading 8:7, van Boening was at the table and had all balls in front of him for a nice run out. But he played a bad position for the 5-ball and consequently got a tough position for the 6-ball. He missed the 6-ball and left a thin cut for He. The Austrian got to the table and also missed the 6-ball but he got lucky in the end. He fluked it in into the corner pocket on the other side of the table and then fired the 7-ball over one rail into the side pocket to run out the rack and tie the match at 8:8. Rack 17 coming up with Mario He to break. Three balls flew in the pockets and He saw himself in front of an open table with an easy opening shot. He cleared the table and took the match with 9:8, sending an unlucky van Boening home after a great event from the American.
The Dynamic Billard Italian Women Open has also commenced today.
39 players have found their way to Treviso to try and conquer some prize money and important ranking points. Sara Rocha (POR) came up with the biggest surprise of the event so far, defeating European star player Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) 7:6 in the winner’s qualification round. Russia’s Kristina Tkach is also straight on track in the event. She won both her first matches against Vania Franco (POR) 7:5 and Monika Zabel (POL) 7:1 and advanced to the single elimination round of the last 16 players. Germany’s Pia Blaeser is also in a pretty good condition here in Treviso. She managed to overmaster Katarzyna Wesolowska (POL) 7:5 and Claudia Von Rohr (SUI) 7:5 to book her seat in the round of the last 16 players.
Tomorrow, the Dynamic Billard Italian Women Open will continue at 09:30 CET with matches from the round of the last 16 player single elimination. The final match is scheduled for 14:30local time.
The Euro-Tour is played on 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 purchased 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, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Joshua Filler (GER), the German wonderkid, just defeated Mika Immonen (FIN) in the single elimination round of the last 32 players of the Dynamic Billard Albanian Open in Tirana, Albania, with 9:7.
The result of the match is definitely a surprise but not yet the biggest story about the match. Also the pure fact that Filler won against Immonen in itself is not the biggest upset here. The major surprise of the match is the fact how Filler managed to triumph over Immonen. After eight racks played, Immonen was leading 7:1 (!) over Filler and just needed two more racks to waltz into the round of the last 16 players tomorrow. But then the match turned 180 degrees. Filler did not miss any more shots while Immonen started making mistakes. He scratched while playing a push-out, ran out of position and hooked himself up behind the wrong ball and left safety situations for Filler that the young German was able to run-out. What could hardly be believed became bitter reality for Immonen in this match. Filler succeeded in turning the match around, tore eight consecutive racks off Immonen and left the slate as the winner with a final result of 9:7. Filler will now face Nick Van Den Berg (NED) in the round of the final 16 players tomorrow morning at 10:00 CET. The Dutch just managed to stay alive in the field in squeaking past Maximilian Lechner (AUT) 9:8.
More surprising results happened in the round of the last 32 players tonight. Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH) who already eliminated Ralf Souquet (GER) one round earlier got the better of Mats Schjetne (NOR) and sneaked through with 9:8. The last remaining Albanian player, Eklent Kaci (ALB), out of the blue ousted EPBF Player of the Year 2015 Francisco Diaz-Pizarro (ESP) 9:6 and keeps his hopes alive for a high finish in the tournament on his home soil. 15-year-old Polish player Wiktor Zielinski (POL) continues his good performance from last week at the Youth European Championships. He sent former Mosconi-Cup player Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) home with 9:5 and will now face Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) in the next round. Spanish stellar player David Alcaide (ESP) made short work with former World 9-Ball Champion Daryl Peach (GBR) and took him down with 9:3 in a single sided match. Tomorrow Alcaide will be up against Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) who eliminated Joao Grilo (POR) from the event with 9:8
Tomorrow, the Dynamic Billard Albanian Open will continue at 10:00 local time with matches from the last 16 single elimination. The Women Albanian Open will commence at the same time with matches from the loser’s qualification round.
The Euro-Tour is 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 purchased 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, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Bern, the capitol city of Switzerland, hosted the Mezz Women’s Swiss Open, the country’s largest women’s tournament of 2016. The women’s pool scene in Switzerland has been steadily dwindling over the past years and the Swiss Championship qualifying tournaments reached very low numbers in the 2015 season. Tournament organizers, Cristina Tschudi and Daniel Schneider, wanted to hold an event that would inject some life into women’s pool in this region and raise the level of competition.
With 58 players representing 11 different nationalities, the tournament featured a star-studded field with multiple Swiss and European medal holders. This two-day 9-Ball event paid a prize fund of 5200 CHF and over 3000 CHF in additional prizes including products donated by Turtle Rack, Zan Tips, Shot Pad and the event organizers. In addition to the main event and the men’s side event, players competed in one-on-one shoot outs and break and run contests to win the additional prizes like Swarovski jewelry sets and pool equipment.
Day one had many close matches and tough competition. Top European players came out strong on day one with Kristina Zlateva (Bulgaria), Claudia Von Rohr (Switzerland), Pia Blaeser (Germany) and Veronika Ivanovskaia (Germany) advancing to day two on the winners side. Other notable results were Swiss players, Noc Steiner and Franziska Jakob, who placed 9th which is their highest finish in a large international women’s event. The four local favorites, Christine Feldmann, Yini Gaspar, Claudia Von Rohr and Cristina Tschudi, did not disappoint as all four advanced to day two and the final 8.
On day two, Zlateva squeaked past Swiss Champion, Yini Gaspar, with a 7-6 win in the first round sending Gaspar to the one loss side. Gaspar made a good run eliminating the other Swiss Champion, Von Rohr in another hill-hill match but the junior German sensation, Blaeser, was too much for her in the next match and Gaspar went out in 5th place. Blaeser faced her road partner, Ivanovskaia, in the first round of the final 8 and lost with a score of 4-7. Blaeser then won over Gaspar but would have to settle for 3rd place as Zlateva ousted her with a decisive 7-1 win in the semifinals. Also finishing in 3rd place was American 8-Ball Champion Cristina Tschudi who lost in the first round of the final 8 to Pia Blaeser but fought her way back with 7-3 and 7-5 wins over Christine Feldmann and Yvonne Ullmann.
Zlateva dominated throughout the weekend losing only 15 games in the entire race to 7 tournament. She steadily ran through the winners’ bracket going undefeated to eventually win the tournament with a dominant 7-3 win in the finals. Also reaching the finals was Veronika Ivanovskaia with wins over Feldmann, Blaeser, and Tschudi. The 22 year old Bulgarian, Zlateva traveled from her home in Madrid, Spain to capture this title. Congratulations to her on this impressive win.
