Finland’s Casper Matikainen takes down the defending champion in wild day in Doha as 32 players set for a sprint to the World 9-ball crown.
Casper Matikainen
Finland’s Casper Matikainen came into his round of 64 match at the World 9-ball Championship today versus the defending champion and world number 1 Joshua Filler feeling relaxed and ready for battle. He figured the German great would bring his usual fire, but he also knew that Filler might also take his eye off the proverbial ball. After all, the 23 year old Finn wasn’t exactly the most feared name in a field of absolute monsters.
So even when the self-described “King” of pool jumped out to a 4-1 lead, Matikainen never lost hope, as Filler had gotten a few lucky rolls and wasn’t playing all that great, while the Finn had a few rolls go against him.
The mental strategy soon started to bear fruit for the cool-headed blonde. Slowly, and increasingly surely, Matikainen crawled even, and then took the lead while at the same time Filler started to get sloppy, lose focus and even showed some signs of panic. From 4-1 down Matikainen calmly won 9 out of the next ten frames. After a brief hiccup on the hill that allowed Filler to claim two quick racks, the steady Finn held his nerve and closed out the biggest shock of the tournament so far, an 11-7 upset of the defending champion.
“He’s the world champion and he’s playing and I’m not there in the big tournaments and maybe he’s thinking it’s an easy win,” the 22 year old Matikainen said afterward. “I felt that Joshua had the pressure because he’s the world champion and I was really relaxed at the table and that helped me and I just got it done.”
Matikainen’s massive win was but one huge result on a dramatic day in Doha that saw some of pool’s biggest names dumped out, while others were taken to the absolute limits. With the field now down to the final 32, the next two days promises to be one of the most exciting and fascinating Battle Royale’s of 9-ball we’ve seen in years.
America’s Shane Van Boening had come to Doha a heavy favorite this year and for good reason. His last three starts here ended with two runner ups and a spot in the semis last year. But several early mistakes against Taiwan’s Liu Ri Teng was all it took for the Taiwanese to grab a commanding lead at 10-4. The American mounted a valiant fight back, but the alternate break format meant the hole was too deep. Liu sent Van Boening packing in the round of 64 with a humbling 11-8 defeat.
After his runner up finish at the US Open in Las Vegas last April, former champion Wu Jiaqing figured to go far here in Doha. But Wu came up against fellow compatriot Xu Xiaocong, who is one of a slew of quality young talents coming out of China. Xu has impressed all week here and against Wu he turned his game up several notches, crushing the former Boy Wonder 11-5.
The Taiwanese are almost sure to have one, possibly two players in the semis after tomorrow as Team Taipei looked absolutely marvelous today. It isn’t easy picking a favorite out of these world beaters but World 10-ball Champion Ko Ping Chung would probably be at the top of most punters betting sheets. The slightly built and painfully shy 22 year old is clearly at the top of his game but he even he barely escaped in a harrowing match against Hungary’s talented Oliver Szolnoki.
Szolnoki, another bright European prospect, played the match of his young career and had “Little” Ko on the ropes, shooting out to a 7-3, then 8-5 lead. The fresh-faced Hungarian reached the hill first, but Ko then displayed the courage and guts that only champions can pull off. In a nervy and tense sudden death rack, the Taiwanese made a series of surreal pressure shots to eek out the victory.
Little Ko’s older brother and two-time former world champion Pin Yi also won today, easily defeating Japan’s Yukio Akagariyama, 11-5. Fellow Taiwanese Chang Jung Lin, Chang Yu Lung, Lin Wu Kun and Kevin Chang all won their round of 64 matches today. In all seven Taiwanese made it through to the round of 32.
2016 World 9-ball champion Albin Ouschan of Austria looks to be in very fine form this year, as he easily defeated Taiwan’s Lin Ta Li 11-5. Fellow Austrian Max Lechner continued his rise this year with an 11-4 win over Lithuania’s Pijus Labutis.
The Russian contingent also put in solid performances today. Veteran Ruslan Chinakhov took down American Corey Duel 11-3, while youngster Fedor Gorst stayed alive with an 11-8 win over Slovakia’s Jakub Koniar.
2012 World 9-ball Champion Darren Appleton has been quietly playing himself back into game shape over the last few months and his solid victory today over Albanian star and European Mosconi team member Eklent Kaci could be a portent for the rest of the field. The Englishman battled back from a 4-0 deficit, and then turned the screws on the Albanian for a quality 11-6 win. In his remarkable heyday from 2008 to 2015, Appleton famously grinded out championships by the truckload and that bulldog mentality definitely was on display this afternoon.
The Philippines had only three players in the final 64 but all three made it through today. 2017 World 9-ball champion Carlo Biado got taken to the limit by Qatari veteran Bashar Hussein, before breaking and running the last rack for an 11-10 win. Also winning today for the Team Pinoy were Johann Chua and Jeffrey Ignacio.
The Polish contingent has been getting stronger by the year and they showed their quality today with three of their stars pushing through to the final 32. Mieszko Fortunski, Wojciech Szewczyk, and Mateusz Sniegocki all won handily.
Also advancing today were the USA’s Billy Thorpe, Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp, China’s Liu Haitao, Greece’s Alexander Kazakis, Spain’s Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, Estonia’s Dennis Grabe, England’s Chris Melling, Canada’s Alex Pagulayan, Qatar’s Waleed Majid, Vietnam’s Do The Kien, and Hong Kong’s young upstart Yip Kin Ling.
The penultimate day of the World 9-ball championship will be extremely busy as the field will be whittled down to the final four at the end of the days’ action.
Play on day 3, Monday, Dec. 16th will begin at 10am Doha time(GMT +3). All matches will be single elimination knockout race to 11, alternate break.
The winner of the 2019 World 9-ball Championship will receive $30,000. The total prize fund is $150,00.
*The 2019 WPA World 9-ball Championship takes place at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation in Doha, Qatar from December 10-17, 2019. The event is hosted by The Qatar Billiard and Snooker Federation(QBSF), and is sanctioned by the World Pool Billiard Association, the governing body of the sport of pool.
Fans around the world will be able to view live scoring, results, brackets and live streaming of many of the matches via the QBSF’s free live streaming platform at esnooker.pl. Multiple tables will be available to view online at no charge to the public.
Results Final 64
Casper Matikainen(FIN) 11 – 7 Joshua Filler(GER)
Yip Kin Ling(HKG) 11 – 5 John Morra(CAN)
If the first day’s play of the 2019 World 9-ball Championship is any indication–and by all measures it certainly is just that–then fans around the world better be prepared for a wild roller coaster ride over the next three days. Drama, upsets, nerves, revelations, suprises, excitement and downright brilliant 9-ball at the highest levels were all on display as play commenced in the 28th running of pool’s premier crown. And with a loaded field just getting warmed up, it’s only going to get better leading to the final on Tuesday.
With 64 matches played on 16 tables at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation in Doha, Day 1 saw 32 players book their spots in the final 64 knockout stage which begins Sunday. None of the 96 players have yet to see the exits, but there were plenty of upsets, near upsets, and upstarts making their mark on pool’s biggest stage.
The top 32 seeds were given a bye in the first round of their groups, so these players only had to win one match to reach the single elimination knockout rounds. Defending champion Joshua Filler of Germany did just that, but not before a shaky start which saw him tied at 4-4 in the race to 9 alternate break match against Qatari veteran Bashar Hussain. The World number one was never in trouble, though, and cruised to a 9-5 win.
2017 champion and runner up last year Carlo Biado of the Philippines didn’t fair as well as he got dumped over to the one loss side of his group with a shocking 9-3 loss to Chile’s Enrique Rojas. It was Rojas’ second straight victory of the day, the first coming over Kuwait’s Abdullah Alyusef. Rojas now books his well deserved spot in the Final 64 tomorrow.
The USA’s Shane Van Boening is one of the favorites here this week, but he looked a bit cold early on in his match with young talented Chinese player Xu Xiaocong. Xu is part of a large crop coming from China’s youth movement and he had the American down three quarters of the way through their match. But SVB pulled it together at the last minute and squeaked by the Chinese, 9-8. Xu will get one more chance on Sunday.
Fellow American and Mosconi teammate Billy Thorpe also booked his spot in the final 64 with a 9-5 win over Canada’s Stephen Holem.
It was a solid day for team Taiwan. World 10-ball Champion Ko Ping Chung went up against Myamar’s rising star Phone Myint Kyaw, who also goes by the moniker, Muang Muang. Kyaw is a player that pool fans will want to pay attention to. He’s a former snooker player who has been winning regularly on the brutally tough Chinese 8-ball circuit, and he just grabbed two gold medals in the Southeast Asian games in Manila. His stroke is one of the most solid in the game and anyone who watches him play instantly can see the potential in this young man.
But of course, Ko is a young prodigy who has already proven his metal in American pool with his recent win at the World 10-ball in July in Vegas. Little Ko didn’t have much trouble with Muang Muang, winning handily, 9-4.
Little Ko will join his older brother Pin Yi in the final 64, who defeated the always stingy Jalal Al Sarisi of Venezuela, 9-4. Other Taiwanese cruising into the final 64 include Chang Jung Lin, Chang Yu Lung, and Kevin Cheng.
The Philippines is surprisingly unrepresented in Doha this year with only four players in the field. With Biado losing early it was up to Johann Chua and Jeffrey Ingacio to save the day for the Pinoys. Both looked the goods and nabbed spots in the final 64.
It was a mixed bag for the European Mosconio Cup team. Greece’s Alexander Kazakis is one of Europe’s top bets here this week and he qualified for the knockout round with an easy 9-5 win over Qatar’s Waleed Majid. But Albania’s Eklent Kaci and former World 9-ball Champion Niels Feijen of the Netherlands weren’t so fortunate. Kaci lost big to the Netherlands’ Ivar Saris, who had earlier looked solid in a 9-6 win over Poland’s Karol Skowerski. Feijen went down to upstart Hong Konger Yip Kin Ling, 9-7, who took his spot in the Final 64 with his second win of the day.
The surprises kept coming throughout the day. Lithuania’s Pijus Labutis first squeaked by Peru’s Gerson Martinez, 9-8. Then he took on former World 9-ball Champion Wu Jiaqing, and shocked the Chinese great with a 9-7 upset, and a spot in the knockout rounds.
Also booking a spot in the final 64 was Canada’s John Morra, who continued his return to fine form with a 9-8 win over Poland’s Mateusz Sniegocki. Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp showed that he’s clearly a dark horse to watch here in Doha with a 9-4 drubbing of China’s talented Dang Jinhu. England’s Chris Melling came back from 6-2 down to defeat Vietnam’s Do The Kien, 9-7. Also advancing today were Japan’s Naoyuki Oi, Austria’s Max Lechner, China’s Lui Haitao, Estonia’s Dennis Grabe, Finland’s Petri Makkonen, Germany’s Ralf Souquet, and Spaniards David Alcaide and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz.
Play on day 2 on Sunday, Dec. 14th will begin at 10am Doha time(GMT +3). The field will be whittled down to 64 players playing single elimination knockout race to 11. The round of 64 will be completed in the first two session, and by the end of the day, the field will be down to the final 32.
The winner of the 2019 World 9-ball Championship will receive $30,000. The total prize fund is $150,00.
*The 2019 WPA World 9-ball Championship takes place at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation in Doha, Qatar from December 10-17, 2019. The event is hosted by The Qatar Billiard and Snooker Federation(QBSF), and is sanctioned by the World Pool Billiard Association, the governing body of the sport of pool.
Fans around the world will be able to view live scoring, results, brackets and live streaming of many of the matches via the QBSF’s free live streaming platform at esnooker.pl. Multiple tables will be available to view online at no charge to the public.
Konstantin Stepanov discussing with EPBF referee Johny Vanrijkel
At the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 in NH Conference Centre, Veldhoven, The Netherlands, Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) defeated Christian Sparrenloev-Fischer (SWE) in 8-ball with the closest of all score 8:7.
The match was close from start to finish. The largest gap between the two contestants was an interim 5:3 lead for Stepanov. Apart from that, both players always took racks in turn and did not allow the opponent to get a comfortable advantage. The match consequently went to a 7:7 hill-hill situation with Sparrenloev-Fischer being on the hill first. He executed the break in rack 15. He had a ball down and an open table in front of him. All lights were green for the victory for Sparrenloev-Fischer. He examined the situation very carefully and decided to go for the stripes. When pocketing the 3rd ball of his group, he turned out to be in an awkward position with the cue ball which forced him to play a very difficult shot. Consequently, he missed the shot and allowed Stepanov back into the table. Stepanov, who was already with one foot in the grave, thankfully accepted the unexpected chance and cleared the table to take the match with 8:7 and advance into the single elimination stage of the 8-ball individuals.
Other remarkable results in the men’s division include Alexander Kazakis (GRE) winning his first two matches in the 8-ball competition. He overpowered Huseyin Borankan (TNC) 8:5 and then wiped the floor with David Zalman (CZE) 8:1. He is now in the round of the final 64 players single elimination which will be played tomorrow at 14:30 CET. In the same round is David Alcaide (ESP). He took consecutively took down Saki Kanatlar (TUR) 8:4 and Andreas Madsen 8:5.
In the senior’s division, long-time Dutch team member Jimmy Worung (NED) lost a heartbreaker in the first round with 6:7 against Joakim Gunnarsson (SWE). He then went up against Christian Messerli (SUI) on the loser’s side and quickly found himself trailing with 2:4 after six racks. But then Worung got himself together and played much better and more solid than in the beginning of the match. He did not allow Messerli to win one more rack and won the encounter with 7:4, eliminating Messerli from the 8-ball individuals.
In the women’s division, Sara Rocha (POR) got off to a good start. She played her first 8-ball match against Helen Nyberg (SWE). The match was expected to be quite close but Rocha completely dominated the encounter and in the end, 6:1 was displayed on the scoreboard in favour of Rocha. In the next round, the Portuguese faced favoured Ina Kaplan (GER). Kaplan soon had a 5:2 lead over Rocha and things looked quite promising for her. But then Rocha struck back and found momentum. She pulled back rack after rack from Kaplan and even managed to tie the score at 5:5, hill-hill. Kaplan broke the final rack but no ball went in. She left an open table for Rocha. The Portuguese selected the high numbered balls and started clearing the table. She finished her group and left a long and tough shot on the 8-ball to win the game and the match. Rocha focussed on the ball, took her time and pocketed the 8-ball in the center of the corner pocket, snatching the match with 6:5 from Kaplan. Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) remained victorious against yesterday’s 10-ball Champion Yana Shut (BLR). After having trailed 0:3 already, Czuprynska launched a great comeback. She played stronger and that obviously confused Shut a lot. The athlete from Belarus started committing mistakes which seemed to be quite unusual for her, having her strong performance from yesterday still in mind. Czuprynska got on a roll and used her chances and took 6 racks in a row from Shut, winning the match 6:3 to advance to the single elimination stage.
In the girls’ division, #1 seeded player Darya Siranchuk (UKR) is right on track. She became 3rd last year but since last year’s Champion Kristina Tkach (RUS) grew out of the girls’ division and nowadays plays in the women’s division, and last year’s runner-up Weronika Karwik (POL) has not been nominated for this year, Siranchuk got the #1 seed. And she justified that seed already, having a walk-over in round one and then taking down Milena Murha (BLR) 5:1. The same seeding situation was given in the Under 17’s division where last year’s bronze medallist Szymon Kural (POL) was seeded #1 for the competition. Unlike Siranchuk, Kural lost his opening match quite clearly with 3:6 to unheralded Alexandar Georgiev (BUL).
No seeded players are attending the 8-ball individuals in the Under 19’s category. The „big guns“ from last year have advanced to the men’s division. On the other hand, the medalists from last year’s Under 17’s are now probably the favourites in this division. Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH), Wiktor Zielinski (POL), Mustafa Alnar (TNC) and Dmitrii Shkudov (RUS) all won their first matches and booked their seat in the single elimination already. Any Champion in the Under 19’s would probably be a surprise.
In the new Under 23’s division, the reigning Champion Joshua Filler (GER) is playing in the men’s division and therefore cannot defend his title this year. However, with Pijus Labutis (LIT), Aleksa Pecelj (SRB), Vitaliy Patsura (UKR) and Casper Matikainen (FIN), there are still some high profile name in the field. All of the ones mentioned won their matches on the winner’s side so far and are now playing for a seat in the quarter-finals.
In the wheelchair division, two of the strongest players met in the first round match. Kurt Deklerck (BEL) faced Fred Dinsmore (IRL). Both of them have titles under their belt. Today, Dinsmore was the luckier player in the end, winning the match 5:4 over Deklerck. In the upper half of the draw, defending Champion Jouni Tahti (FIN) will play his all-time rival Henrik Larsson (SWE) tomorrow for a spot in the quarter-finals.
In the ladies’ division, defending Champion Susanne Wessel (GER) got smashed by newly crowned 10-ball Champion Ine Helvik (NOR) with 2:5. Wessel will get another chance over the loser’s side but needs to win three consecutive matches now. Last year’s runner-up Karin Michl (GER) showed no weakness and won her match with 5:3 over Gum Zwijnenburg (NED).
The Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 will commence tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches from the 8-ball 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.
The first day of the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair athletes brought several surprises in all divisions. 102 men, 40 women and 14 participants in the wheelchair division have entered the discipline in order to see who will take the titles in the end.
In the winner’s qualification round of the men’s division 10-ball, Stephan Cohen (FRA) defeated Nick Van Den Berg (NED) surprisingly clear with 8:3. There is a story behind both of the two opponents. Cohen just today received his luggage after being here already for three days. He had to borrow cue stick and equipment and went through the straight pool with stuff from his fellow players. Probably he was very happy today to play in his own clothes with his own cue stick and equipment. On the other side, Nick van den Berg needs a good finish during these European Championships. Just like Niels Feijen who achieved his A-status yesterday by winning the title in straight pool, Nick van den Berg has the chance to get funding through his national olympic committee if he gets among the top eight players in a discipline. So the mindset of the two contestants were quite opposite before the match. Maybe that was the advantage that Cohen had over van den Berg. The Dutch never got into gear and had to watch Cohen snatching rack after rack from him. After six racks, the score was all square at 3:3. But then Cohen overtook on the left side and left van den Berg no other choice but watching him run away. In the end, 8:3 was the justified result for Cohen. The French advanced to the round of the last 64 players single elimination. Other remarkable results in the men’s division include Saki Kanatlar (TUR) pipping Denis Grabe (EST) to the post 8:7. In his loser’s qualification round match, Grabe wasted no time with Karim Belhaj (FRA), smashing him 8:1 out of the 10-ball and grabbing his seat among the final 64 tomorrow. Ivar Saris (NED) came up with the next upset, defeating Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) 8:6. Finally, Evgenii Buslaev (RUS) overpowered Mario He (AUT) 8:6.
One huge upset occurred in the women’s division today. Defending Champion Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) is already out of the 10-ball competition after having played only two matches. In her first match, she fell to the sharp blade of Ana Gradisnik (SLO) 5:6. She had to go to the loser’s side where she unfortunately met Kristina Tkach (RUS). Tkach, newly crowned straight pool Champion, lost to Tina Vogelmann (GER) earlier today and was also on the loser’s side, as unexpected as Ouschan. In their encounter, Tkach played rock solid and did not leave many chances for Ouschan. She proved to have nerves of steel and ousted Ouschan 6:2 from the 10-ball competition. Another remarkable result in the women’s division includes Claudia Von Rohr (SUI) beating Amalia Matas (ESP) 6:3. Matas missed too many balls in deciding situations and von Rohr was cool enough to benefit from it so the result is perfectly in order with the way the match went.
In the wheelchair division, two long-time rivals met in the first round. Kurt Deklerck (BEL) took on Henrik Larsson (SWE) in winner’s round one and snatched the victory by a whisker with 5:4.
Tomorrow, the tournament will continue at 09:00 GMT with matches from the 10-ball individuals competition.
Every day, one match from the events will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF. 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 24 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page around noon every day. Results and schedule can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair Athletes starting Saturday 18th March at 09:00h GMT.
The event will be 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.
This first week-end of september marks the second edition of the Predator "Dynamite" Open in Brasov, Romania. The man himself after whom the event has been name – Darren Appleton – has brought along with him many international players who are on their way to the World 9-Ball Championships next week in Qatar. These top stars are treated like royalty and Romanians' passion for pool is here for all to see. Most of the international players are in Brasov for the first time and fell in love with this beautiful city.
During day one, we witnessed packed crowds from the 64-player double elimination round. With players from 14 countries at the start of the even, Romanians made their countrymen and themselves proud by placing 4 players into the final 16. Romanian champion Ladanyi Ioan looked very solid, along the way he beat Russian star Ruslan Chinahov to qualify. Euro tour regular Babken Melkonyan came through beating the former european star Sandor Tot and last year's runner up Ciprian Gandac. Later on Gandac did make it from the losers' bracket in a hard thought battle (7-6) against Ferdi from Turkey. Alexandru Cotescu, after losing to Darren Appleton 8-1 bounced back to qualify with a 7-1 scoreline.
The biggest surprise of the tournament so far was Turkey's player Saki Kanatlar beating the likes of Jason Klatt to get his place into the final 16. In the end, 13 out of the 16 seeded players qualified besides the two Marian from Romania and Jason Klatt Canada.
Today promises to be a great day for Romanian pool and the invited starts. 16 players remain representing 10 countries to make this a true international field. Exciting match-ups today. The single elimination rounds will be played to a finish, with races to 10 and a race to 11 for the final match.
Here's the line-up for the last 16 starting at 11am CET:
