Spanish pool fans were delighted to see Dutch player Rico Diks who made a welcome return to tournament play at the Spanish event.
Rico, former European 9 Ball Champion is one of the most stylish players around and it is always a pleasure to watch him play.
During the last three years he has rarely been seen in tournaments as he has been dedicating his time to music and the development of his band, “The Pressure Room”.
The Spanish fans will be looking forward to his return to the Iberian Peninsular.
In the preliminary rounds of the International 9 Ball event Rico flew through the three matches necessary to advance to the final phase with victories over Spaniards Alejandro Castro 8 — 1, Miguel Angel Lopez 8—2 and Francisco Javier Lopez 8—0.
In the final phase of 32 participants, Diks carried on as before with a 9—0 win over the newly crowned Spanish 9 Ball Champion, 16 year old Francisco Sanchez. He
then brushed aside the leader of the Spanish Rankings, David Alcoberro by 9 racks to 2. In the quarter finals he came up against top Spanish Player, Samir Kaduur who put up a hard fight but eventually succumbed with a 9-6 score line in favour of the Dutchman.
In the semi-final it all began to go wrong, struggling to find his form against Manuel Gama of Portugal, Rico finally bowed out of the tournament after losing by 9 to 5 in a match where he was making little off the break and where he made more mistakes than the Portuguese player.
Finishing 4th, Diks took home $3000 in prize money.
