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Feijen takes Longoni Open on 6th attempt!

Feijen finally wins his sponsor’s own open!

Last night, we concluded the most spectacular Longoni Benelux Open to date. With 240 entries, this sixth edition of the event was the biggest in the series. An incredible field of superb pros, counting no less than seven world champions, in a fierce battle for the championship title, the coveted Longoni cup, the fame and the substantial prize fund.

Yesterday, the elite 'Final 32' lined up some amazing matches. In the early stages of the day, there were already quite some matches worthy of a final, to name but a few:

 
Nick Van Den Berg (NL) vs Huidji See (NL) [1st round]
Tony Drago (NL) vs Karl Boyes (ENG) [2nd round]
Nick van den Berg (NL) vs Niels Feijen (Official) (NL) [one loss side
Huidji See (NL) vs Andreas Roschkowsky (D) [3rd round]
Ralf Souquet (D) vs Oliver Oliver "the Machine" Ortmann (Official) (D) [3rd round]
 
By reaching the Final 32, a fantastic achievement in itself, Longoni junior pro Kamila Khodjaeva earned the status of Best Lady, including a prize money bonus.
 
In the end, eight die hards reached the Quarter Finals. Reigning world 9ball champion Niels Feijen escaped from elimination with hill/hill matches against fellow countryman Nick van den Berg and former world 8ball champion Karl Boyes. Tony Drago, dealt with his opponents in 'Tornado' mode, which put him in the quarters so fast that that he had to wait a long time for all the other matches to catch up. The double knock out stage resulted in the following Quarter Finals:
 
Andreas Roschkowsky (D) 8-7 Marc Bijsterbosch (NL)
Oliver Ortmann (D) 3-8 Daryl Peach (ENG)
Lars Kuckherm (D) 8-5 Kevin Becker (D)
Tony Drago (MLT) 4-8 Niels Feijen (NL)
 
Former Longoni Benelux Open Champions reached the first Semi Final. While the other saw two German '1. Bundesliga' teammates facing each other in battle:
 
Andreas Roschkowsky (D) 5-8 Daryl Peach (ENG)
Lars Kuckherm (D) 3-8 Niels Feijen (NL)
 
In the end, the conclusion of the event was a revanche match of the 2012 Final. This time, the pool gods favoured Niels Feijen, who had his more than eager eyes on nothing else but the prize. Eventually, 'The Terminator' had to win the Longoni Benelux Open. Everybody expected him to. After all, he is the event's MVP.
 
Daryl Peach (ENG) 3-8 Niels Feijen (NL)
 
((( Niels Feijen is the 2014 Longoni Benelux Open Champion )))
 
In the meantime, the 2014 Longoni Benelux Open Ladies Side Event's Final was still in progress. It became a double hill thriller. Martine Christiansencould have finished it. Instead, she left the 9ball rattling in the jaws of the corner pocket. The cool and collected Kamila Khodjaeva grabbed the opportunity with both hands and pocketed the last two balls for the win. Double success for the fresh new Longoni team member.
 
Martine Christiansen (NOR) 4-5 Kamila Khodjaeva (B)
 
There was no better scenario than this for Longoni cues. A double win, the most successful and fulfilling event in the series and smiling faces, throughout the long weekend.
 
And last, but not least, I want to thank all the players and spectators for attending in great numbers, Thurston Rotterdam and its great staff for hosting the event, Kem Sen and his www.ebillard.fr team for putting together a fantastic live stream, the tournament staff – Alain Desmet, Tom Penrose,Stefan Osnabrug and guest master photographer JP Parmentier – and the people who helped – Crelis Hogchem and Johan Bakermans – all our partners in this venture: Hotel One, King Kong Hostel, Sumo, KNBB, Kamui,Serge Das Billiards, Loontjens Biljarts, Iwan Simonis, Saluc for their Aramith pool balls and Rotterdam Topsport.

Mosconi Cup USA Team Captain’s Report #1

The Team with Amir Pishdad

May/June 2014
 
In preparation for the PartyPoker Mosconi Cup XXI to be held December 1st through 4th in Blackpool, England, we assembled Team USA in San Diego, California for our very first team get-together. 
 
In our first team meeting we covered the tentative schedule for the year, and discussed what is expected of the team.  Honor, integrity, professionalism, and dedication to training were discussed as the goals for the team. 
 
We introduced Lieutenant Commander (retired) Amir Pishdad, a legendary Navy SEAL, who was our host for the weekend.  Amir is an extremely inspirational and motivational speaker, and he is expert in the principles of intense training, and the true meaning of honor, integrity, and teamwork. 
 
His assistance, inspiration, and motivation were such that by the end of the weekend, the team made him an honorary member of Team USA; and we hope to have him present to advise us during the Cup competition in Blackpool.
 
On May 23rd we were allowed the rare privilege of visiting the Navy SEAL training center in Coronado.  The team was able to see first-hand the extreme dedication and work ethic of our nation’s most elite warriors.  We exposed the team firsthand to the SEAL principles of “no excuses,” work harder today than yesterday, work harder than you thought you could, work harder than your opponent, be relentlessly positive, and honor above all else. 
 
We also gave them a powerful example of the real meaning of teamwork – as the SEALs know, it is not just cheering during a match, it is relentless and grueling training during the year so you do not let the team down. 
 
On May 24th we held a clinic for local players at On Cue Billiards in La Mesa with all proceeds donated to the CalDiego Paralyzed Veterans Association.  We wanted to assist the players in developing the expertise to give a polished, entertaining, and professional clinic – something that will help them in the future make a better living in the sport. 
 
There was a big community turnout and media coverage; and the participants were thrilled with the experience.

That evening, we held a Mosconi Cup style match against the best San Diego players the room could find.  We won 11-4 (Oscar’s father Ernesto Dominguez played for San Diego, and was responsible for two of their four victories). 
 
We had an excellent turnout of spectators; and a much younger audience than is usual for a pool competition.  Though the level of play was stellar; the behavior and sportsmanship of our players was exemplary – something everyone now realizes is essential if our team is to change the face of the sport and become a serious threat to regain the Mosconi Cup.
 
On Sunday May 25th we had four hours of “Challenge the Pro”, again at On Cue Billiards.  We called it the “I Should Have Been Chosen for the Mosconi Cup Challenge”.
 
For a donation, local players could challenge a team member to a game of 9 ball.  If they won, they received a nice Team USA T-shirt.  The turnout was huge and we raised $1800 for the designated charity.  There was tremendous goodwill in the local community for our charitable efforts.  The players behaved well, and were positive and engaged.
 
We believe that as a result of this visit, our players have a whole new appreciation for what it takes to be an elite player.  The Navy SEAL’s by their example, have given us a lesson in the real meaning of hard work and team work; and taught that proficiency in itself does not excuse bad behavior. 
 
We want our team to strive to be new and improved role models for the sport, and to strive to train harder than ever.  They are more unified in this goal, which bodes very well for a good performance in December.
 
Our thanks go out to, Amir Pishdad, all the officers and enlisted men at Phil Bucklew Naval Training Center, Matchroom Sport, the ownership and employees at On Cue Billiards, and all the members of the local pool community who so enthusiastically supported the events of this very memorable weekend. 
 
Mark Wilson – Captain
 
Don Wardell – Vice-Captain

Feijen takes the Main Event @ Deurne City Classic

A.Moussati, M.Sawicki, N.Feijen and H.Charalampidis

Saturday morning we started off with the MAIN 9ball EVENT…
 
1st four groups of 24 started off at 09:00h. All went well as nobody got sanctioned with a penalty, neither did anyone forfeit or no-show. 

Group A saw one of the favorites Ivo Aarts sail through to the 2nd Winners round with wins over Kaylash Persad, Olivier Vandenbohede. In the 3rd round however he got beaten by UK’s Tony Burton who did not lose a match to qualify for the last64. Marek Derek, Serge Das and Tobias Hoiß all did the same thing by defeating Kadir Turku, Hoa Nguyen, Nicolas Georgopoulos and Tom Penrose. Three of them eventually qualified for the Knock-Out stage themselves by winning their subsequent matches. So did Ivo Aarts in the end.

Group B’s 2nd Winners Round had some strong matches and some surprises as Luxemburg’s Sebastian Beuel beat German 1.Bundesliga playing Klaudio Kerec 8-4 and Karl Boyes did the same thing to Sixpocket’s admin Florian Scholl. Both losers redeemed themselves in the 3rd Losers Round by defeating Joerie van den Broeck and Stefan Sprangers, the latter one not being as slouch. Through the winners side Daryl Peach, Karl Boyes, Bartek Skoniecki and Konrad Juszczyszyn qualified for the Last64 without losing a match. From the Losers round Carlos Cabello, Raphael Keusen, Sebastian Beuel and Klaudio Kerec joined them. Unfortunately some good players went down, like: Alain Da Costa and Maurice Houben.

Group C had some strong players, winning their 1st matches with ease; Niels Feijen beat greek player Theodore Bitsaxakis 8-2, Wojtek Trajdos did the same thing to UK’s Tom Stavely. Aziz Moussati lost to strong playing Benji Buckley 3-8 and after that 7-8 to Peter Lau. This saw him drop out of the 9ball. He said he could not focus on playing because of all the things that went on regarding organization etc. I myself had the same problem. Further in this group’s losers side Matthias Blehs got rid of Walter Hottgenroth and Benjamin Baier. On the winners side Niels handed a donut to Trajdos and Stephan Cohen beat Marcel Fortunski to both qualify for the Last64. Tobias Bongers and Benji Buckley sent Kyle Van den Bosch and Martin Steinlage to the last losers round. 4 players took their last chance to qualify; Trajdos beat Peter Lau 8-4, Bitsaxakis – Steinlage 8-3, Fortunski did the same thing to Del Sim. Matthias Blehs handed out the second donut of the group to Kyle van den Bosch.

Group D featured some strong playing German Bundesliga players; Stefan Nolle and Valery Kuloyants who got rid of their opponents Gijs van Westebrugge and Edward Werlemann pretty quickly in the 1st round. 2nd Winners Round matches went pretty quickly as well when Mieszko Fortunski beat Lex Wellens 8-0, Tony Drago vs. Jan Van Lierop 8-1. Mieszko continued his strong form by winning 8-0 again in his following match against Michael Kasper. Other favorites did not have that same luck as Tony Drago lost to strong youngster Francisco Sanchez Ruiz. Ralf Souquet showed Stefan Nolle who’s boss with a score of 8-5 and Valery did the same thing to Konrad Piekarski. From the losers round the following players eventually went on to qualify for the Last64: Tony Dargo over Sean Dennis with a score of 8-1, Stefan Nolle beat Jan van Lierop 8-2, Konrad Piekarski against Lex Wellens 8-4.

In the afternoon the last 4 groups started their matches, some of the previous groups had to qualify the next morning some of them were done..

Group E surprised a bit when Micha Beuriot beat Guy Buss in the first round and one of the favs Imran Majid got beaten by Nicolas Baumanns. I got my donut handed to me by Noel Bruynooghe.. Couldn’t focus on my game with all the stuff happening around me and had to get comfortable with my new cue as well. Noel played a very good match though, missing maybe 1 ball the entire match. He later on went and qualified for the Last64 by beating Sebastian Fuhrmann. One of the other strong favorites Mateusz Sniegocki sailed through with a score of 8-0 in his 2nd and 3rd match as well. Fast playing Marko Vogel struggled a bit but in the end got through with a hill-hill against Mario Stahl, who himself also eventually got through by beating Lennaert Speijker 8-1 in the losers round. Imran Majid, Robin Cripps, Anthony Wever also went on to qualify winning their matches in the 4th losers round.

Group F consisted of some great players like Oliver Ortmann and Juan Carlos Exposito, who met each other in the latter stages. Oliver first beat fellow countryman Michael Heinz with a big score of 8-0. Think Michael couldn’t get his rhythm going as he normally played way better than that. Norman Bakker surprisingly beat JCE 8-1, Greek fury Xrhstos Davetas beat Thomas Aschauer 8-4 and strong playing Marc Bijsterbosch beat Sven Wenkheimer with easy and a final score of 8-2. In the 3rd Winners round some big matches emerged like Ramazan Dincer vs. Ortmann (8-6), Elliot Sanderson vs. Marc Bijsterbosch (8-5) and Adrian Borowiec vs. Davetas (8-4). So now the losers qualification had some great thrillers going where Exposito met with Ortmann and beat him 8-5, which caused a bit of an upset. Also Hector del Amo Garcia who lost his 1st match got through to the last round and bear Sven Pauritsch to qualify. Marc Bijsterbosch also redeemed himself and beat Waikit Kwok after a hard battle. Davetas was the last one to set his score and got through.

Group G featured some big names like Mario He, David Alcaide and Phil Burford. But also strong formed Joshua Filler who had made a name for himself at DCC by winning the 9ball Banks against Nick v/d Berg in the final. 1st round saw no surprises and all big names went through to the next one. Then we had a big match-up when Mario He drew David Alcaide in the next round and beat him on the hill. David eventually got through to the last round and got through. Joshua showed that age does not matter and shot his way through Phil Burford at the arena with a score of 8-6. Marco Teutscher also went through over Jimmy Worung (8-5). In the 3rd winner round more surprises came when Daniel Kandi beat strong favorite Mario He. Furthermore Mark Lunn beat OC Chan, Teutscher beat Jelle Kijlstra and Joshua Filler knocked his countryman Clemens Phillipen to the losers round. Last chance to qualify for the Last64.. Phil Burford, Julian Kortüm, previously mentioned David Alcaide and Ralf Mrnka did so.

Group H was the final one and had 2013 Champion Nick Van Den Berg starting his journey to defend his crown. Started off with a bye and then went on to qualify for the Last64 by beating German Bundesliga player Kevin Becker and Belgian WCOP player Moritz Lauwereyns in his 3rd match. More strong players started off well; Huidji See beat Female player Vivien Schade 8-0, Jakob Belka vs. Olivier van Loteringen went down with 8-2. 2nd round winners side had some good matches when Dennis Jansen beat Hanno Bröcker on the Hill, Wojtek Szewczyk knocked his countryman Jakob Belka to the losers-side and youngster Aaron Vancoppenolle did the same thing to strong Female Chantal Manske. Last winners round saw all the favorites go through; NvdB, Szewczyk, See and Dennis Janssen, all with ease. Losers side saw Lars Kuckherm, Belka, Becker and Mauwereyns go through.

So that was it for the groups.. Now on to the Last 64 of the 9ball MAIN-EVENT and the 9ball DROP-OUT Challenge.
Around 10:00h on Sunday some matches of the Knock-Out stage began early, but most started around 12:00h. 
Some noticeable wins were Moritz Lauwereyns beating his former WCOP team-mate Serge Das with a score of 9-5. Phil Burford beat his countryman Karl Boyes 9-7. Ivo Aarts beat Mateusz Sniegocki 9-8 after trailing 8-6. Konrad Piekarski beat Noel Bruynooghe with an easy 9-4. Norman Bakker got close with Matthias Blehs but beat him on the hill. Raphael Keusen beat strong playing Daniel Kandi on the hill as well. So did Carlos Cabello vs. Mark Lunn.

On to the Last32 where more surprises came along when Wojtek Szewczyk beat Huidji See with ease, final score of 9-5. Moritz Lauwereyns kept his form and beat last year’s Runner-Up Marek Derek 9-6. Konrad Juszczyszyn also shocked everyone when he kept his nerve on the hill against Phil Burford and beat him. More strong play by Ivo Aarts, Imran Majid, Ralf Souquet, Konrad Piekarski, Joshua Filler, Nick van den Berg, Niels Feijen, Tobias Hoiß who all went through to the Last16.

Surely now at this stage you would think only the strong favorites would emerge.. but no, Moritz Lauwereyns continued his form and beat Tobias Hoiß 9-7. Konrad Piekarski being the underdog against Ivo Aarts showed who’s who and beat him 9-5. Mario He did not disappoint and beat Juszczyszyn 9-5 as well. But the biggest surprises of them all was Wojtek Szewczyk taking his revenge on Nick van den Berg from last year at the quarter-finals. After trailing a couple of games Wojtek in the end prevailed and beat the struggling Nick 9-7. Fair to say Nick was dealing with some personal issues on the side. Nevertheless a great performance by the young Pole. More names that went through to the Last8 were Filler, Majid, Feijen and a player I would like to call the new ‘DARK HORSE’ ; Marcel Fortunski. Did not know Marcel had so much in him.. he went through to this stage by beating some big names in my book; Ramazan Dincer (5x 1.Bundesliga Champion), Normal Bakker (strong Dutch player), Elliot Sanderson (GB9 Tour) .. Well DONE!

At this stage our well prized DROP-OUT Challenge began, this tournament was created to let players have another change at some good prize-money and to let them enjoy our venue some more. Where at other tournament after losing twice you didn’t have a chance to redeem yourself.. @ DCC players still did! The Tournament had the same format and rules but shorter races and single knock-out.. so fast play and surprise results were expected. When people found out that the tournament was opened to more than 64 players, whey immediately signed up and the final field was 80.

Here are the results:

Last 16 and onwards:

Klaudio Kerec 6 vs 5 Benjamin Baier 
Mateusz Sniegocki 6 vs 1 Stefan Nölle 
Sigi Hegde 6 vs 3 Chantal Manske 
Tony Drago 6 vs 3 Sebastian Fuhrmann 
Raul Martin 6 vs 3 Cyriel Ledoux
Thomas Aschauer 6 vs 3 Marc Glatz
David Alcaide 6 vs 1 Ramazan Dincer 
Can Salim 6 vs 3 Christos Davetas

Quarter finals 
Klaudio Kerec 6 vs 4 Mateusz Sniegocki 
Tony Drago 6 vs 0 Sigi Hegde 
Raul Martin 6 vs 0 Thomas Aschauer 
David Alcaide 6 vs 1 Can Salim

Semi finals 
Tony Drago 7 vs 2 Klaudio Kerec 
David Alcaide 7 vs 2 Raul Martin

Final 
David Alcaide 8 vs 2 Tony Drago

Quarter Final TIME of the MAIN-EVENT!


Moritz again shocked everyone on the TV Table and beat strong favorite Mario He. Feijen showed who boss against Majid by beating him 9-5. Piekarski went on 6-1 against Marcel Fortunski in about 20 minutes but then lost focus and let the young player get back at him a little bit but in the end closed it off with a final score of 9-7. Joshua Filler kept cool against Szewczyk to beat him 9-5.
Semis both played on the TV tables, the match-ups were; Feijen vs. Lauwereyns and Filler vs. Piekarski. Both matches quickly showed who the better players was on Sunday. Even through the youngster match had a bigger score it was over pretty quick cus of fast run-outs and no safety battles. Niels and Moritz took a while longer as tactics came into play. Niels finally closed the deal with a 9-2 win.
So Holland vs. Germany in the FINAL! Niels quickly showed that the break in 9ball ET Style is mastered by those who regularly play the format and broke and ran most of his racks. Joshua struggled to get runs round because he lost his cue-ball a lot. Niels in front is unstoppable, I knew that from the get-go. Proved me right by winning and becoming the NEW 2014 ‘PREDATOR’ Deurne City Classic® CHAMPION !! Congrats Niels Feijen
 
Though "MASTER OF THE TABLE" title goes to Joshua Filler ! Winning the 9ball banks, 14.1 Shootout and becoming Runner-up in the 9ball MAIN-EVENT!

NEXT YEAR WE WILL HAVE A PRIZE FOR THIS!