Joshua Filler survived being knocked to the loser’s side by Alex Pagulayan on day two of the World Pool Championship 2023 in Kielce, Poland as only 64 remain after two days of action live on Sky Sports, Viaplay, DAZN, Matchroom.Live and TV networks worldwide.
Filler faced Pagulayan early on for a spot in the Last 64 to avoid an extra match in Losers’ Qualification round this evening. The Killer fell to a 9-7 defeat, his second defeat to the Canadian in a matter of days after a loss at the Derby City Classic. It left Filler having to beat Daniele Corrieri to ensure his hunt for a second world title would continue and he did so in emphatic fashion in a 9-1 dismantling. Crucially, defeat to Pagulayan meant Filler lost his seeded position in the bracket ahead of the Last 64 redraw.
Last year’s semi-finalist Abdullah Alyousef suffered a 9-3 defeat to USA hotshot Shane Wolford to be sent home at the first major hurdle whilst Oliver Szolnoki suffered the same fate in a hill-hill finish against Ajdin Piknjac. 2021 runner-up Omar Al-Shaheen struggled for his groove against Denis Grabe as the Estonian came good to knock the 2021 runner-up out the competition. There was frustration for 1996 champion Ralf Souquet also, the Kaiser well beaten by Pole Daniel Maciol in Winners’ Qualification before defeat at the hands of Dimitri Jungo. Home favourite Mieszko Fortunski was also knocked out with the World Pool Masters semi-finalist knocked out by Lars Kuckherm.
The 32 players who qualified through Winners’ Qualification were seeded in the Last 64 redraw against an unseeded player who came through the Losers Qualification matches with Karl Boyes completing the draw with Rachel Casey on the Matchroom Pool YouTube page. Pagulayan and Filler will have to dance again after being drawn against each other whilst defending champion Van Boening will come up against Uski.
Action returns from midday local time tomorrow on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia, the Baltics, and the Netherlands, DAZN in the USA and Italy as well as on Matchroom.Live and broadcasters worldwide. Table 2 and Table 3 are on the Matchroom Pool and Multi Sport YouTube Channels respectively and Viaplay in above listed territories. See where to watch here.
Shane Van Boening (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)
Shane Van Boening will begin the defense of his World Pool Championship title against Japan’s Masato Yoshioka in Kielce, Poland from February 1-5 live on Sky Sports in the UK, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia and the Baltics, DAZN in the USA as well as Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide.
The American will look to become only the second player in history to defend the title following in the footsteps of Earl Strickland in a packed arena at Targi Kielce. 46 countries will be represented in the 128-player field as it is whittled down to the Last 64 over the first two days of action before it’s straight knockout to the end where one will claim the $60,000 first-place prize and the world crown.
The draw was completed with the top 64 players from the Nineball World Rankings against an unseeded player from the other 64 in the hat. Standout first-round ties include 2015 world champion Ko Pin Yi facing James Aranas of the Philippines whilst 2022 semi-finalist Abdullah Alyousef faces the tricky prospect of Johann Chua. 2004 world champion Alex Pagulayan was unseeded and will meet Michael Schneider.
World Cup of Pool winner David Alcaide takes on Billy Thorpe and Shane Wolford‘s mission for a spot on Team USA at the 2023 Mosconi Cup takes on Pia Filler. Francisco Sanchez Ruiz had a year to remember last year and will begin his Nineball campaign against So Shaw of Iran.
Double elimination matches are all race to 9, with all matches from the Last 64 a race to 11 except the final, which is a race to 13.
Table 1 will be live on broadcasters worldwide including Sky Sports in the UK, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia, Baltics, and the Netherlands, DAZN in the USA, Canada, and Italy, as well as on Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide. See where to watch here.
Table 2 will be live on Viaplay in selected territories as well as on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel.
Table 3 will be live on Viaplay in selected territories as well as on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom Multi Sport YouTube channel.
The Longoni 9 Ball League reconvenes at the end of this month in Lasko in Slovenia and is now down to the semi-finals which both take place on 30th September. The event got underway in February at the same Slovenian venue and the event has featured 12 nations playing in four groups of three teams. The format is scotch doubles and the two representatives of each country have been the two highest ranked players on the Euro Tour prior to each round of matches.
With group play complete, there are four teams remaining and they compete in two semi-finals with the prize of a spot in the title match which takes place in Italy prior to the final Euro Tour event of the year. The opening match will see Spain take on Bosnia & Herzegovina in the first Longoni 9 Ball League semi-final which gets underway at 20:00 local time.
With the EuroTour rankings determining the players in each team during the course of season, the ever-reliable Spanish duo of Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz and David Alcaide have stayed at the top throughout. Ranked No.1 and No.8 respectively, they are, understandably, hot favourites for the title.
Standing in their way are Bosnia’s young talented team of Sanjin Pehlivanovic and Ajdin Piknjac who are currently ranked at No.25 and No.45. The pair have played all matches together and, in the process, have defeated two strong teams already in Greece and Norway. That means the Spaniards will need to come with their best to negotiate the tie.
With its scotch doubles format, the Longoni 9 Ball League now becomes a race to 9 for the semi-finals with alternate break and alternate breaker. The second semi-final, scheduled at 21:30 local time, features Poland against Germany.
Germany’s top ranked player, with a host of titles to his name this year including gold at the World Games, is Joshua Filler (ET ranked No.3) and he will be partnered by the improving Tobias Bongers (ET No.20) as they attempt to overcome the strong Polish pairing of Wiktor Zielinski and Wojciech Szewczyk.
Zielinski (ET No.2) and Szewczyk (No.10) have gelled perfectly over the two matches they’ve played, beating Austria and Italy in the group stage. Germany, however, have seen a change of personnel, as Filler and Thorsten Hohmann started the campaign but Bongers produced the better results on the EuroTour to take the spot and has not looked back.
Each team, having won their respective group, will now play for a place in November’s final and a shot at the first prize of 3900 Euro. Add that to the group earnings and the eventual champions will collect a cool 4500 Euro for playing four matches. The runners-up receive 2500 Euro plus group earnings and as with all the teams, the total prize money will be divided into match shares with one share for each team appearance.
Following the semi-finals, the final will take place on Friday 25th November in Treviso, Italy.
Matches can be viewed live on the free Kozoom platform, TV.kozoom as well as on the Longoni 9 Ball League & EPBF Facebook pages.
With the semi-final line-up now determined in this year’s Longoni 9 Ball League, it’s now down to the players to perform well in Petrich this weekend on the Euro Tour in order to retain their places in their respective teams for the semis which take place in Lasko, Slovenia on the 30th September.
Spain will take on Bosnia & Herzegovina while Poland face Germany and it’s these last pairings where the two-man teams can really change. The players are chosen via their current rankings on the Euro Tour prior to the League matches and Poland’s Radoslaw Babica is hot on the heels of ever-present Wojciech Szewczyk.
Wojciech, currently ranked No.7, has partnered Wiktor Zielinski (No.2) in the group stages but Babica can gate-crash the party with a better result at this week’s Euro Tour stop in Petrich, Bulgaria. Currently ranked No.12, the veteran Pole needs a good result, and additionally needs Szewczyk to come a cropper in order to overturn a 130- point deficit.
Players earn an equal share of the prize money when they participate in the team so the results on the EuroTour are important. Commented Babica, “I never want my fellow countrymen to fail or have a bad time, I’ve just got to perform better than Wojciech here in Petrich and earn my place in the team. It will be difficult but I’m always ready for a challenge. I wish him well but I’m determined to do my best and partner Wiktor in the semi-finals in Lasko”.
The German team has already changed in the group stages with Thorsten Hohmann partnering Joshua Filler in the first group match. Then Tobias Bongers, who is currently ranked No.18, overtook Hohmann to play the second group match, and he now looks safe to continue that into the semis barring a disaster here in Petrich.
Hohmann is not competing this week, so it’s down to Ralf Souquet to give chase. Sitting in 29th spot, Souquet is 210 points adrift of Bongers and realistically needs to finish in the top four here, and rely on Bongers to leave the field early.
The semi-final line-up is:
Bosnia & Herzegovina v Spain
Poland v Germany
Following the semi-finals, the final will take place on Friday 25th November in Treviso, Italy.
Matches can be viewed live on the free Kozoom platform, TV.kozoom as well as on the Longoni 9 Ball League & EPBF Facebook pages.
The Predator Germany Open has reached the single elimination stage after players battled through the last double elimination rounds of the Pro Billiard Series event on Thursday.
Austria’s Jasmin Ouschan had to win through three rounds and will now face two-time Pro Billiard Series champion Kelly Fisher in the quarter-finals of the Women’s Division.
The Open division moves to single elimination for the last 32 and Germany’s World Junior Champion Moritz Neuhausen won 4-3, 4-1 against Hong Kong’s Ip Tung Pong to make it five players from the home country to reach the second stage. Ralf Souquet had won through the winners’ side of the bracket and will now face Mahmut Sami Koylu of Turkey. Can Salim also came from the winners’ side and will face German countryman Tobias Bongers, who scored a win against Vincent Gomez to reach the single elimination phase. Yuma Dorner is the fifth German into the last 32 and will play Mateusz Sniegocki.
Both divisions of the Predator Germany Open have added money of €45,400 and both champions will earn €20,000, along with a spot at the 2023 World 10-Ball Championship for the Open winner and a spot in the 2022 World Women’s 10-Ball Championship for the Women’s Division winner.
In the Women’s Division, Ouschan won a shootout against Kim Witzel and then defeated Angeline Magdalena Ticoalu to meet Amalia Matas for a place in the quarter-finals. Matas already has a Women’s EuroTour title this year but her run in Germany was ended with a straight-sets defeat to Ouschan. Germany’s Veronika Ivanovskaia is drawn against Bojana Sarac.
Among the players to reach the final 32 of the Open division is Finland’s Petri Makkonen, a winner on the EuroTour in 2015. He had been defeated on the first day of play by Saudi Arabia’s Khalid Alghamdi and the Finn then had to battle through three rounds on the losers’ side, which culminated in a shootout against Alex Montpellier of France.
Makkonen won the first set 4-2 but France’s Montpellier, who came to the losers’ qualification round after a shootout defeat against Pijus Labutis, took advantage of Makkonen’s struggles in the second set to win 4-1. That was the end of the tournament for Montpellier, as Makkonen regrouped and didn’t miss in the shootout while his French opponent missed on each of his last two innings.
Play resumes at 9am local time in Bremen, Germany, and Friday’s play on the TV table will commence with Nick van den Berg facing Mickey Krause.
The Longoni 9 Ball League, a brand-new scotch doubles tournament, continues in Sankt Johann Im Pongau, Austria with the final group matches. Playing out on the 23rd June at 20:30h, the evening will feature matches between Norway & Bosnia Herzegovina and Poland v Italy, followed at 21:30h by Spain v Albania and finally Serbia v Germany.
The top-ranked athletes from the current EPBF EuroTour standings compete in a team scotch doubles format. 12 teams compete in four groups of three teams, with the group winners progressing to the final stage and the team finishing bottom, relegated from next year’s competition.
With the EuroTour rankings determining the teams, Germany’s Tobias Bongers moves ahead of Thorsten Hohmann, after his 5th place finish in Italy, and will partner Joshua Filler in their match with Serbia. Having beaten Estonia in the first round, the German duo will seal a semi-final berth with a victory over Serbia’s Aleksa Pecelj and Andreas Klasovic.
Francesco Candela remains the top Italian on the EuroTour rankings and he will again be partnered by Fabio Petroni who just bettered Daniele Corrieri with a 33rd place finish in Italy. Petroni sits just one place and 15 points above Corriere in 37th place on the overall ranking. The Italians have a tough match they need to win against Poland’s hot properties, Wiktor Zielinski and Wojciech Szewczyk, who eased past Austria in the opening round 7-3.
With the group winners advancing to the semi-finals, it’s all to play for and a few groups could end with a tiebreak if the results go that way. For this to happen in their respective groups, Albania would need to beat Spain, Serbia beat Germany and Italy conquer Poland. This scenario would force a tiebreak in their respective groups.
That would see all three teams in the group go head-to-head at the next EuroTour stop in Bulgaria in August in a race to 7 racks with both advancement and relegation determined.
Greece are the only team already relegated from next year’s Longoni 9 Ball League having lost their opening two matches. This leaves Bosnia & Herzegovina and Norway in a straight shoot-out for a place in the semi-finals which take place on Friday 30th September in Slovenia.
The Longoni 9 Ball League, promoted by the Longoni Group is a team event consisting of the two highest EuroTour ranked athletes from 12 nations competing in a scotch doubles group format. Matches can be viewed live on the free Kozoom platform, TV.kozoom as well as on the Longoni 9 Ball League & EPBF Facebook pages.
Fedor Gorst survived a huge scare in the opening match of his World Pool Championship defence as he fought back from 5-1 and 6-2 down to defeat Estonia’s Mark Magi 9-7 at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes.
Jayson Shaw found himself 6-0 down against World Under-17 champion Moritz Neuhausen of Germany. But the former US Open champion and current Mosconi Cup MVP, being watched by European captain Alex Lely, wasn’t going to lie down and began a confident fightback, winning eight racks without reply. The German youngster cut the deficit to 8-7 with Shaw on the hill but the Scot wrapped up the match 9-7.
There were also opening session wins for Predator Championship League Pool winner Albin Ouschan, who beat Fabio Petroni 9-5, and Finland’s Mika Immonen who beat Kristina Tkach 9-4 having been 3-1 down early on.
The World Pool Championship opens with a double elimination group stage, so those who have already won one match are one away from reaching the last 64. Those who lost their opening fixtures play again on Monday, against another player who has suffered defeat and the loser will be eliminated.
Former World Champion Thorsten Hohmann came through a hill-hill finish against German compatriot Tobias Bongers, and World Under-19 Champion Jonas Souto Comino of Spain inflicted a 9-3 defeat on Karol Skowerski.
Alex Kazakis, who was recently crowned World Pool Masters champion, was up against his mixed-doubles partner Kelly Fisher, the Women’s World Champion, and the Greek star was a 9-1 winner.
Gorst had twice been four racks down on the TV table at the start of the session, but took five in succession to lead Magi 7-6. The defending champion missed a 9 to reach the hill, but having levelled at 7-7 Magi didn’t take another rack and Gorst won 9-7. He’ll face Mark Gray for a place in the last 64.
The World Pool Championship continues at 6pm (UK) time on Sunday, June 6 and is broadcast live on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live. Live scoring as well as complete tournament results and match schedule can be found at www.matchroompool.com.
In a tight match, Mark Gray (GBR) overcame Daniel Maciol (POL) in winner’s round 2 of the Dynamic Billard Veldhoven Open 2019 with 9:7.
The match started out much better for Maciol than it did for Gray. After three racks, the Polish was leading 3:0 with Gray not having much to say in the match. But then he seemed to find his rhythm and pulled back some racks from Maciol, tying the match at 3:3 after 6 racks. Then the match went along with both players winning their respective racks until the scoreboard displayed 6:6. At that time, Maciol went fir his time out. Maybe he should not have done that because he seemed to struggle with his break shot afterwards. Gray made use of that and capitalised from Maciol’s weakness and went on the hill with 8:6. Maciol managed to pull another rack from Gray before the Brit was able to finish the match with 9:7 over Maciol. That puts Gray into the winner’s qualification round while Maciol needs to go over the loser’s side now.
Another remarkable match was the encounter between Mario He (AUT) and Tobias Bongers (GER). The Austrian was the definite favourite in the match though the German did have some promising appearances in the past. However, He performed totally flawless while Bongers struggled with his break shot. Therefore, Mario He was able to gain an early advantage in the match which he was bale to keep and secure it to the end of the match. 9:4 was the final result which put Mario He through to winner’s round 2 while Bongers went to the loser’s side.
Some female contestants started their day quite strong this morning. Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) defeated Mats Schjetne (NOR) 9:3 while Valeriia Trushevskaia (RUS) took down Krystian Cwikla (POL) 9:6. Elise Qiu (NED) won 9:6 over her opponent Remy Penmellen (FRA). Kristina Tkach (RUS) was a bit unlucky in her match when she scratched with only the 8-ball and the 9-ball left on the table at a score of 8:8. She attempted to play the 8-ball over one rail with the cue ball remaining safe in case the ball would not go in. but she drew in straight into the corner pocket. So she suffered a narrow 8:9 loss against Johannes Gehe (GER).
Every day, up to two matches will be streamed LIVE over the EPBF Facebook page. Check for updates and announcements.
The Dynamic Billard Veldhoven Open are played in the NH Conference Centre Koningshof in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, on up to 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.eurotouronline.com or visit us on Facebook for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Left to right: Mario He, Wiktor Zielinski, Eklent Kaci, Denis Grabe and Albin Ouschan
The first day of the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open 2018 did not provide too many surprises.
#1 of the Euro-Tour rankings Eklent Kaci (ALB) had a walk in the park today. Smooth and easy victories over Finish young talent Micke Strom (FIN) with 9:0 and Wilhelm Georg (GER) 9:3 did not take too much of an effort from Kaci. The Albanian will meet Mariusz Skoneczny (POL) tomorrow at 14:00 in the winner’s qualification round.
Just like Kaci, Mario He (AUT) was not really challenged today. He played Germany’s Thomas Lindloff and delivered almost perfect pool. „I’ve barely seen such perfect pool“, stated Lindloff on his facebook page after the match. „Mario has not missed any shot until he was 7:0 ahead of me, including 4 jump shots.“ „What a performance from Mario!“ He will play Daniele Corrieri (ITA) tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time in winner’s round 2.
Albin Ouschan (AUT), Mario He’s teammate and friend, also did not undergo too much pressure today. He wasted no time against Eric Geppert (ITA) 9:1 and Michele Bianchi (ITA) 9:3 and will now join Kaci in the winner’s qualification round. His opponent there will be Radoslaw Babica (POL).
Wiktor Zielinski (POL), currently ranked #4 in the Euro-Tour rankings, was the exception to the rule today. The young Polish lost his opening match surprisingly clear against Germany’s Tobias Bongers with 4:9. On the loser’s side, Zielinski took down Jere Virtaranta (FIIN) 9:3 and is now up against Giovanni Di Martino (ITA). Zielinski will need to win many more matches to make his way to the round of the last 32 players single elimination. However, last year in November he demonstrated almost perfect pool here in Treviso so everyone knows that Zielinski is capable of coming back and far from being eliminated yet.
Denis Grabe (EST), who is currently on 5th place in the rankings, had two tough opponents today. In his first match, he had to deal with Henrique Correia (POR) who is always good for a surprise. Today, Grabe remained the upper hand and took the match 9:7 against the Portuguese senior player. Then Grabe went up against Imran Majid (GBR) in winner’s round 2. He quickly gained the lead in that match and achieved a 7:3 advantage over „The Maharaja“. Majid tried to come back but his attempt failed. After 13 racks, the match was over with a clear 9:4 victory for Grabe. The Estonian will now be up against Mieszko Fortunski (POL).
Friday through Sunday, EPBF will show two feature matches LIVE on the EPBF Facebook page. The complete tournament is shown on kozoom.com for premium pass holders.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organised by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). Play starts Thursday at 09:30 local time, for further information and reference please go to the federation website eurotouronline under the Eurotour tab. You can also visit us on our Facebook page or check out the EPBF YouTube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Nick Malai (GRE) ended all hopes of Rene Peeters (NED) at the Dynamic Billard Dutch Open by winning 9:5 in the loser’s round, eliminating Peeters from the event.
Malai has just recently changed his nationality from Albanian to Greek. This tournament is the first occasion where he plays for as Greek and he is still a hot candidate for surprises at anytime and any event. Today, Dutch senior player Rene Peeters was his victim. However, after ten racks the match was still square with a score of 5:5. Then Malai went for a toilet break. When he came back, he managed to get a small advantage over Peeters. The match suddenly slid to Malai’s side and Peeters couldn't do anything against it. He was only able to watch Malai snatch rack after rack from him, winning the match with 9:5.
Other remarkable results from tonight’s losers round matches include Can Salim-Giasar (GER) winning with 9:3 over Juan Carlos Exposito (ESP). „The Terminator“ Niels Feijen (NED) ousted Pierfrancesco Garzia (ITA) with 9:4 and will now face „The Lion“ Alex Pagulayan (CAN) in the loser’s round 3 at 10:30 CET. Mark Gray (GBR) is still fighting his way through the loser’s round. Today, he won over Dave Sel (BEL) and Kevin Becker (GER), both matches 9:1. He will meet German junior player Tobias Bongers tomorrow morning at09:00 CET. Euro-Tour’s Nr. 1 player Nick Van Den Berg (NED) also still has a word to say in the tournament. His first loser’s side match went 9:6 in his favor over Sweden’s Daniel Tangudd.
The tournament will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET.
Three out of 11 tables can be watched LIVE throughout the event on www.kozoom.com. The event will be hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion, IBP. For further information, please check the event website at www.eurotouronline.com or contact the EPBF press office at press@epbf.com
