Thorsten Hohmann (Taka Wu – Matchroom Multi Sport)
The inaugural European Open Pool Championship in Fulda, Germany at Hotel Esperanto hit the midway point as the field was reduced to the Last 64 live on the Matchroom Pool Facebook/YouTube and Matchroom.Live.
Joshua Filler‘s encounter with wife Pia was the talk of the tournament as the pair met on the biggest stage for the first time live on the Matchroom Pool Facebook page. Joshua started out strongest to take the opening rack before Pia came back with her own rack to level at 1-1. The contest was played out in great spirit as the pair embraced before lagging with various applause and fist bumps keeping the atmosphere light-hearted despite a spot in the Last 64 resting on the match. It was Joshua who did steal the advantage though as he settled it in a 9-1 win.
Joshua and Pia Filler (Taka Wu – Matchroom Multi Sport)
Pia was back out in the Losers’ Qualification where she ran Chris Melling close up to 6-6 before Melling pulled through to book his place in the Last 64 and send Pia home. Other casualties included US Open runner-up Aloysius Yapp who lost out to Tyler Styer who had taken the inital initiative before Yapp pulled it back to 7-7. Mika Immonen was on the end to a 9-3 defeat to Dimitri Jungo to exit whilst Skyler Woodward faltered in a 9-4 loss to Bader Alawadhi. Alawadhi had been sent to the losers side by Jayson Shaw who came up trumps in a 9-1 win to book his own place in the Last 64.
“I played really good in that match a 9-1 win over a really good player. I tried to stay focused and I did just that. I prepared for about two months for this event. I prepared like I was going for a boxing fight really. I’ve been putting in a lot of time in on and off the table. I feel mentally a lot tougher than I did in previous events and I wasn’t really with it i if I am being honest. I am enjoying it so far.” – Jayson Shaw speaking to Phil Yates after beating Alawadhi
“It’s a really nice place (Fulda), the venue is super nice. The city is really nice too. It’s a good mix to have that around. You can go out and have a walk around. All in all it’s been a good start to the event,” Shaw added.
World Champion Shane Van Boening was made to sweat my Finland’s national champion Jani Uski as Van Boening ensured he remained blemish-free on the way to the Last 64 9-7 whilst it was a similar set of circumstances for Naoyuki Oi who side-stepped past Jan van Lierop 9-6. US Mosconi Cup hopeful Oscar Dominguez progressed with a 9-4 win over Daniel Maciol and 2021 World Pool Masters winner Alexander Kazakis overcame Tyler Styer in a hill-hill thriller to avoid the Losers side of the draw.”
Thorsten Hohmann‘s bid for hometown glory was ended by Karol Skowerski in a whitewash loss for the former World Champion. Hohmann had been left on the losers side of the draw early on after defeat to Senharip Azar and the German was up against it ever since before coming against Skowerski who was in no mood in letting the local man take a hold of things.
The Last 64 draw was made at the completion of play today – see the draw above.
The final two days are available on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland as well as on Viaplay in Scandinavia and the Baltics and various other broadcasters worldwide including Matchroom.Live in relevant countries. See the full where to watch list here.
Thorsten Hohmann (Taka Wu – Matchroom Multi Sport)
The opening day of the inaugural European Open Pool Championship at Hotel Esperanto, Fulda in Germany live on the Matchroom Pool Facebook/YouTube and Matchroom.Live is complete.
256 players headed to Fulda with hopes and dreams in Thorsten Hohmann’s hometown of becoming the first-ever European Open winner as they look for their name to be etched into the record books and a share of the $200,000 prize fund as the Opening Round, Winners and Losers Round 1 got underway with 36 players heading home.
Hohmann got action underway live on the Matchroom Pool Facebook match in front of a raucous home crowd looking to see their man get off to the best of starts but it wasn’t to be as Senharip Azar upset the apple cart to secure an unlikely victory. The 9-5 defeat for Hohmann meant he faces the gruelling task of four matches to make it through to the last 64 and he ticked one of those off to defeat Muhummed Daydat 8-2 and keep hometown glory alive.
“I can only give my best. I would’ve liked to have won my first match with all my Fulda people behind me. It was amazing to see. My opponent played well, and I made a few mistakes. I wasn’t as relaxed as I should’ve been. I didn’t feel nervous but there’s always a tightness, so you’re not relaxed. We have some history in Fulda for pool, we used to play in the German Bundesliga. We always had 100 spectators there are some pool fans here. We hope to mobilise some of the Fulda crowd who are perhaps not pool fans.” – Hohmann after progressing to Losers Round 2.
Compatriot Ralf Souquet had the home backing against Juri Pisklov in an all-German affair that saw the latter take the victory 9-5 no part down to a huge 4-rail kick on the four ball in one of the shots of the year let alone day or tournament. That defeat for Souquet appeared to spur him on though as he whitewashed Rafał Stępnik 8-0 to keep his tournament going.
Two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Jayson Shaw survived an early scare in the morning against Ingo Lamberti to win 9-7 before making light work of Cristian Surdea of Romania 9-1 to book his spot in Winners Qualification on Thursday. There wasn’t such fortune for US Open runner-up Aloysius Yapp who was pushed onto the losers’ side of the draw by German Valery Kuloyants.
Finland’s Jani Uski announced himself onto the big stage at the recent World Cup of Pool alongside Mika Immonen and his stock is ever-growing after booking his spot in Winners Qualification thanks to wins over Tobias Hirt and Chris Melling 9-1/9-4 respectively.
Melling is not the only big name to be alongside Yapp on the losers’ bracket with Dimitri Jungo, Robbie Capito, and Matt Edwards all facing the prospect of Losers Round 2 tomorrow.
Action continues tomorrow morning from 10 am – see the full list of matches upcoming below
The final two days are available on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, DAZN in the USA, Canada, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland as well as on Viaplay in Scandinavia and the Baltics and various other broadcasters worldwide including Matchroom.Live in relevant countries. See the full where to watch list here.
Lechner, Ouschan, He (Austria) and Weiss, Sparrenloev-Fischer and Azar (Sweden)
In an exciting and thrilling encounter, Team Austria defeated Team Sweden in the Men’s team quarter-final at the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2019 in Treviso, Italy, with 2:1.
Before the match, Team Austria consisting of Albin Ouschan, Mario He and Maximilian Lechner was the favourite to win the match. Team Sweden with Christian Fischer-Sparrenloev, Adrian Weiss and Senharip Azar was the clear underdog. However, the course of the match was different to what the expectations were. All three matches were quite close. Mario He was up against Fischer in 9-ball, Ouschan played Weiss in 10-ball and Lechner fought with Azar in 8-ball. All matches went quite even. When Fischer pocketed the final 9-ball to win 9:6 over Mario He, Lechner was on the next table pocketing the 8-ball to win his match 8:5. The intermediate score was 1:1 in the match and the 10-ball was the decider- Since Ouschan and Weiss both played quite slow, the tournament management decided to bring a shot-clock in. The scoreboard displayed 5:5 at the time. Ouschan managed to get another rack and led 6:5. Weiss tried to level the match again but he allowed Ouschan back to the table and the Austrian took the rack, getting on the hill with 7:5. Austria only needed one more point for the victory. Adrian Weiss was far from giving up. He played rock solid and used his chances and got to 6:7. Rack 14 brought the decision. Weiss was clearing the table and played some enormous shots to run the rack but he missed an easy 9-ball in the corner pocketed. The audience, especially the Swedish fans were shocked. It looked like Weiss could have made the match a hill-hill thriller but with this mistake, he lost this chance. Ouschan pocketed the two remaining balls and took the match with 8:6. That brought the 2:1 victory to Team Austria.
The other tram results were Team Spain winning 2:0 over Team Czech Republic, Team Poland defeating Team Germany with 2:0 and Team Russia won 2:1 over Team Portugal. The semi-finals are Spain versus Poland and Austria against Russia. They will be played on Monday evening at 18:30 with the finals to be played at 20:30 CET.
In the women’s team competition, the team semi-finals will be played between Portugal and Russia and Germany versus Poland.
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 9-ball individuals competition in the Men’s and Women’s division.
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.
Barbara Bolfelli (ITA) and Senharip Azar (SWE) have just won the Dynamic Billard European Championship titles in the 8-ball individuals.
Bolfelli met Susanne Wessel (GER) in the final match. Bolfelli, being the defending Champion, played more self-confident from the very beginning. It seemed as if Wessel could not get a foot on the ground. She either missed balls or ran out of position. In the end, the final match turned out to be a disaster for Wessel. Bolfelli destroyed Wessel’s hopes for the title with a more than clear 5:0 victory.
In the senior’s division, newcomer Senharip Azar played his first year in the seniors Championships. He came to the final with an amazing 7:1 victory over Dino Cerimagic (BIH) in the semi-final. In the other semi-final, Dirk Stenten (GER) overpowered Csaba Nagy (HUN) 7:3. The final between Stenten and Azar turned out to be a one-man show from Azar. Stenten could not finish his racks and almost always left a chance for Azar to take over the table. That’s what cost him the title in the end. Azar was the better player today and rightfully won the final match with 7:3.
The Dynamic Billard European Championships for Seniors and Ladies will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches of the 9-ball individuals competition. At 21:00 CET, the team finals will begin.
All matches can be viewed LIVE at www.kozoom.com. Up to 24 tables in HiRes quality are providing you with all the action of the event. You do not miss out one single match! Join today!
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.epconline.eu
The event is hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.
The defending Champion in senior’s straight pool, Reiner Wirsbitzki (GER), won the straight pool division at the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Seniors with a 100:54 victory over Vegar Kristiansen (NOR).
The final match was packed with action. The early stage saw both players playing at an equal level. After 30 minutes, the score was 36:35 for Kristiansen. But then Wirsbitzki shifted into overdrive. He was about to run the match at with a very convincing and amazing performance. But when he played his last ball, he scratched with the cue ball, giving another chance to Kristiansen. The Norwegian could not believe what he just saw but he tried to do the best he could in order to get back into the match, trailing 36:98. He ran 18 balls but after that, he left enough balls on the table for Wirsbitzki to make the necessary two points and defend his title.
The Dynamic Billard European Championships for Seniors and Ladies will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches of the 10-ball division. The final match in the 10-ball individuals will begin at 20:30 local time.
All matches can be viewed LIVE at www.kozoom.com. Up to 24 tables in HiRes quality are providing you with all the action of the event. You do not miss out one single match! Join today!
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.epconline.com
The event is hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.
Since March, Karen Corr has allowed opponents on the J. Pechauer Northeast 9-Ball an (unscientific) average of between two and three racks in match races to seven. Until two weeks ago, and on the weekend of August 1-2, only one opponent had chalked up more than four against her. China's Jia Li, the two-year reigning champion of the WPBA's Regional Tour Championships, pushed Corr to the double hill limit in the second round of the tour's fifth stop (July 18-19). Though she would go on to win six on the loss side, Li was defeated by tour director Linda Shea and denied a second shot at Corr.
On the weekend of August 1-2, in a $2,000-added event, hosted by Raxx Billiards in West Hempstead, NY (24 entrants), Li fought back through five matches on the loss side to face Corr in the finals. Corr won it to chalk up her sixth straight on the tour, but not before Li had brought her to the brink in their race to nine.
Corr gave up only seven racks over four games to get into the hot seat; starting with Borana Andoni (2), Fran Crimi (1), and, in a winners' side semifinal, Kia Sidbury (3). Briana Miller, in the meantime, having sent Jia Li to the loss side, double hill, in the third round, was giving up an average of three racks per game, and gave up just that many to Morgan Steinman in the other winners' side semifinal. Corr then sent Miller packing 7-1 and sat in the hot seat, waiting for Jia Li.
Li, in the meantime, started out in cruise control on the loss side, defeating Borana Andoni and Linda Shea by an aggregate score of 14-3 (all three to Andoni). She drew Sidbury, while Steinman drew Fran Crimi, who was coming off her own loss-side, cruise control performance 14-2 against Tina Scott and Nancy Kim (with the two).
Li's cruise control continued with a 7-1 victory over Sidbury. Crimi's came to a stop with a shutout by Steinman. Li's final two loss-side opponents tightened the screws a little bit. She gave up five racks to Steinman in the quarterfinals that followed, and then, Miller, for the second time this season, challenged her in the semifinals. Back in June, Miller had defeated Li 7-5 in the semifinals. This time, they hit double hill before Li prevailed for a shot at Corr.
It was the closest anybody had come to dethroning the undisputed 'queen' of the JPNEWT. But Corr held off a double hill challenge by Li to lock up her 6th win on the tour, her 11th, overall in two years.
First matches played at Dynamic Billard Castelbrando Open
Cison di Valmarino, Italy: In a tough first round match, Mario He (AUT) defeated Stephan Cohen (FRA) with 9:5. As expected, the two contestant both began their performance quite impressive. Cohen could not pocket a ball on his first break shot and He ran out two racks on him. Cohen ran rack number 3 and the score was 2:1 for He with no mistakes played yet. In the fourth rack, He was forced to commit a foul and Cohen used his chance to tie the match at 2:2. Then Cohen’s misery started. He could not capitalize from his break shot anymore and played a few poor safety shots which led to a 6:2 lead for He. It looked like the odds had turned in favor of He. But Cohen did his best to stay in the match. He won two racks to turn the score to 6:4 for He. In rack 11, Cohen broke and got no ball pocketed. He ran the rack but dogged a relatively easy 9-ball. Luckily enough for him he left a tough shot for Cohen who missed as well.
Being given a second life in the rack, He pocketed the 9-ball to take a 7:4 lead over his opponent. Cohen took the next rack. After that, luck became a factor in the match. In the 13th rack, He attempted to pocket the 1-ball but missed. However, he left an absolutely impossible shot for Cohen. Cohen obviously struggled with the situation. He tried all he could but the balls just did not roll in his favor. To the contrary, he even left an easy 2-9 combination shot for He to get on the hill with 8:5. He was on a roll now. He broke the 14th rack, being on the hill. He ended up having pocketed a ball but with no shot on the 1-ball. He executed a jump-shot, pocketed it and got position for the next object ball. While clearing the table, he almost scratched after pocketing the 5-ball. Things just seemed to go his way. In the end, He won with 9:5 over Cohen which was a bit too high.
Other notable results form the first round include Senharip Azar (SWE) surprisingly defeating Dominic Jentsch (GER) with 9:7. BCA Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet (GER) added another safe victory to his record book, smashing Pierfrancesco Garzia (ITA) with 9:1. Evangelos Vettas (GRE) won his first round match over Artem Koshovyi (UKR) with 9:4.
All 12 tables will be streamed LIVE throughout the event. Join in on www.kozoom.com/en/pool-billiard/ and become a premium member in order to enjoy all features of the site.
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 http://www.eurotouronline.eu or contact our press office.
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina: At the maximum level of excitement, Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) defeated Senharip Azar (SWE) with 8:7.
In the third loser's round, Stepanov had to enter the ring against Azar. The Russian received a tough defeat from Romanian Viziru Augustin in his first match so he was forced to seek his fortune on the loser's side. His opponent, Senharip Azar does not regularly play on the Euro-Tour. In the recent 12 months, he has attended only three out of seven tournaments. That is part of the reason why he is only ranked 101 in the current rankings. But Azar is a regular for Sweden at the European Championships and should not be underestimated. The match with Stepanov was a living testimony for that. It was actually Azar who took control over the match from the beginning and dominated the happenings on the slate. He was ahead 3:0 and 5:2 before Stepanov managed to get back a bit. The top ten player from Moscow tied the match even after 10 racks at a score of 5:5. It looked like the favorite had found his rhythm and everything would turn to normal with Stepanov winning the match easily from then on. But one should never count one's chicken before they are hatched! Azar took the next two racks and got on the hill with a nice 7:5 lead. That put all the pressure of the World on Stepanov. It was time now to show whether he was a top ten player. And he proved it. He got back, and with excellent positional, safety and shotmaking skills he managed to turn the match around and win it with 8:7. Stepanov will now face Mark Magi (EST) in his next round while Azar will have to settle for 65th.
Other notable results from today's loser's side matches include Tommy Wolff (NOR) eliminating "the dark horse" from Turkish North Cyprus, Berk Mehmetcik, with 8:7. Mats Nygren (SWE) ended all hopes for local junior hero Alen Muratovic (BIH), creaming him with 8:5.
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 http://www.eurotouronline.eu or contact our press office.
In a match that can definitely be regarded as a high class thriller, Tony Drago (MLT) ousted Jayson Shaw (SCO) 9-8 at the Eurotour’s Treviso Open.
The match was a classical showdown between two players who are known to play fast and aggressive pool. Both players performed on a very high level. Since they do execute their shots quite quickly, some errors could be observed on both sides. However, since they both are excellent shotmakers, the match went along with no player being really able to create a distance between him and his opponent. The drama started to unfold in the 13th rack. Drago was looking like the winner of the rack when he missed an easy 6-ball. Shaw came to the table and pocketed the 6-ball and the remaining balls. When playing position for the 9-ball, he almost scratched and left himself a relatively tough shot. However, he made it and took a 7:6 lead over Drago. After that, Shaw broke dry and Drago ran the balls in about one minute, tying the score at 7-7 and the match really started to heat up. Drago broke in the 15th rack and scratched. What a catastrophe for the Maltese “Tornado”. All balls were spread wide open and Shaw ran the rack, climbing on the hill and taking an 8-7 lead over Drago. If worse would have come to worst, Drago would not have another visit to the table, but the story of the match continued differently In the 16th rack, Shaw broke the balls and made a ball but had a very tough shot on the 1-ball. After thinking about it for a long time, he played a push-out and left a hell of a shot on the table for Drago who passed it back. “That shot had a percentage of about 5% for Jayson and 95% for me. It was so hard to make, it was almost unbelievable. When Jayson fired that one in, I thought ‘That was it for me’ “, commented Drago after the match. But the match was not yet over. Shaw fired an unbelievably tough 1-ball in and ran the balls until he got to the 6-ball. He ran out of position and snookered himself behind another ball. He tried a jump shot but the cue ball jumped off the table. That was a key situation in the match and it gave a second life to Tony Drago. In the final rack with both players being on the hill, Drago came up dry on the break shot. After a push out and safety shots were exchanged, Shaw played a safety shot but left a thin cut for Drago. The “Tornado” went for it and ran all balls, winning the match by a whisker 9-8.
The lesson here is clear: It was a great match, very entertaining to watch and both players would have deserved to win but Drago had the better roll on his side in the end. One who is definitely happy to see this result is number 1 ranked player Ralf Souquet since Shaw would have been the only player to have a chance to stop him from winning the Euro-Tour rankingsbattle, but only if Shaw would have won this tournament. “I need opponents like Jayson in order to play my best game”, mentioned Drago, “when you see the energy and the precision with which Jayson played, I really find my best game against opponents like him.”
Other notable results from this morning loser bracket rounds include Huidji See (NED) handing a doughnut on Robert Kovacs (ALB), smashing him 9-0. Senharip Azar (SWE) ousted Jonni Fulcher (GBR) who defeated Ralf Souquet yesterday, 9-6. Fulcher had lost to Ruslan Chinakhov 8-9 and went into the loser’s bracket, just to get his second consecutive loss in a row. Niels Feijen (NED), another name who would not be expected to appear in the early stages of the loser’s rounds, kicked out Albin Ouschan (AUT) from the event 9-7. Ivo Aarts, a young talented player from the Netherlands, overcame Poland’s star player Mateusz Sniegocki 9-7. Sniegocki will join Fulcher and Shaw on the way home today. Mark Gray (GBR) keeps his foot still in the door. He is actually on the one-loss side, but after defeating Stefano Bazzana (ITA) 9-5, he needs only two more wins in order to make it to the round of the last 32 men standing.
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 , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.
