Billiard Pulse

Taking a break

2010-10-23T19:42:00.002+02:00

I'm taking a break from posting.

Billiard Pulse is a labour of love but I just can't find the time right now.

I hope to be back at a later date.

The content in the right menu will be kept up to date.

It's China again in the 2010 World Cup of Pool

2010-09-19T19:16:00.003+02:00

The Chinese team of Fu Jianbo and Li Hewen won the 2010 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool.

In the final they defeated Philippines B (Dennis Orcollo, Roberto Gamez) 10-5 to claim the $60,000 first prize. The runner-ups earnt $30,000 for their efforts.

Holders Philippines A (Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante) were beaten 8-6 by Indonesia in the second round.

Jianbo and Hewen also won the trophy in 2007.

The event took place from 7-12 September at Robinsons Place in Manila, Philippines. 32 teams took part.

See also:

2010 World Cup of Pool (Official site)
China Wins World Cup of Pool (AzBilliards)
China Takes World Cup No. 2 (Billiards Digest)
World Cup of Pool 2010 (Jasmin Ouschan)
China Wins World Cup of Pool! (Poolmag's 8-Ball Blog)

Related posts:

Philippines capture World Cup of Pool (2006 World Cup of Pool)
China surprise champs in World Cup of Pool (2007 World Cup of Pool)
The US team wins World Cup of Pool (2008 World Cup of Pool)
Philippines takes 2009 World Cup of Pool (2009 World Cup of Pool)

Carter takes title No.2 in 2010 Shanghai Masters

2010-09-19T18:24:00.003+02:00

Allister Carter from England won the 2010 Roewe Shanghai Masters.

In the final he beat surprise package Jamie Burnett (Scotland) 10-7.

Jamie Cope and Mark Selby (both from England) lost out in the semifinals.

Carter received £60,000 for the victory and Burnett got £30,000 for his runner-up spot.

Stuart Bingham (England) had the highest break of the tournament with a 142. That earnt him £2,000.

Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) withdrew from the event due to personal issues.

This was the second ranking title for Carter. H also won the 2009 Welsh Open. It was Burnett's first final.

Carter improves to second place in the world rankings. Burnett leaps to 29th place. The currently suspended John Higgins (Scotland) stays on top, and current world champion Neil Robertson (Australia) sits in third.

The rankings are now updated after every tournament. The seedings list is updated every few events.

The tournament took place at the Shanghai Grand Stage, Shanghai, China 6-12 September, 2010. It was the first ranking tournament of seven on the 2010/2011 Main Tour. Next up on the snooker calendar is the 12BET.com World Open which starts 18th September 2010.

See also:

Shanghai Masters 2010 (World Snooker)
Carter beats Burnett to secure Shanghai Masters title (BBC)
Carter downs Burnett to win Shanghai title (Eurosport)
Shanghai Success for Ali Carter (Sporting Life)
2010 Shanghai Masters (Global Snooker)
Ali Geed up by Shanghai Win (Snooker Scene blog)
Captain Carter Captures Shanghai Masters (Pro Snooker Blog)
2010 Shanghai Masters Results (Snooker Database)
2010 Shanghai Masters (Wikipedia)
Ali Carter (Pro Snooker Blog)
Allister Carter (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Walden strikes gold in Shanghai Masters (2008 Shanghai Masters)
Dominic Dale on top in Shanghai Masters (2007 Shanghai Masters)
O'Sullivan pockets 2009 Shanghai Masters (2009 Shanghai Masters)

Shameless plugs:

Xiaofang Fu wins gold in the 2010 World Women's 9-ball Championship

2010-08-29T19:41:00.004+02:00

Xiaofang Fu from China won the 2010 Women's World 9-Ball Championship.

In the final she defeated four-time champion Allison Fisher (England 9-7).

Fu beat 17-year-old defending champion Liu Shusha in the semifinals and Fisher ousted Shu-Han Chang from Taiwan at the same stage.

This was the seventh world title in a row for Asian players. The last non-Asian to win was Allison Fisher in 2001.

The tournament ran from 23-29 August, 2010, in Shenyang, China.

See also:

Inside Pool (Coverage)
My147.com (Official site - Chinese)
Tournament Brackets (AzBilliards)
Women World 9-Ball Championship (Jasmin Ouschan)
World Pool Association
Pool: Women: World 9-Ball Championship (Sports 123)
List of WPA World Nine-ball champions (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Ga-Young Kim defends World title (2006 World Championship)
Xiaoting Pan wins Women's World 9-Ball Championship (2007 World Championship)
Yuan-Chun Lin wins Women's World 9-ball Championship (2008 World Championship)
Chinese sensation Susha wins 2009 Women's World 9-Ball Championship (2009 World Championship)

van den Berg tastes sweet revenge in the 2010 Finland Open

2010-08-29T18:26:00.005+02:00

Nick van den Berg (Netherlands) won the inaugural 2010 Finland Open.

van den Berg hammered current 8-ball world champion Karl Boyes (England) 8-1. The victory was worth 5000 € for the Dutchman and Boyes got 3300 € for second place.

The final was a repeat of last month's Austria Open final. That time Boyes came out on top.

In the semifinals of this 10-ball event van den Berg edged Mark Gray (England) 8-7 while Boyes defeated Mario He (Austria) 9-3.

This was van den Berg's fifth win on the Euro Tour. The victory takes him to fifth place on the all-time list.

Boyes is currently on an impressive hot streak. In addition to winning the 2010 8-ball world championship he has finished 2, 1, 2 in the last three Euro Tour events.

The win lifts van den Berg from seventh to third in the Euro Tour Ranking. Losing finalist Boyes stays in first. Daryl Peach (England) holds on to his No.2 position.

The tournament was played 26-28 August 2010 at the Entertainment & Leisure Centre Flamingo 8, Vantaa, Finland. It was the fifth event of seven on the 2010 Euro Tour. Next up is the Portugal Open which runs from 28-30 October 2010.

See also:

Austria Open 2010 (Event page)
Finland Open Photo Gallery (eurotouronline.eu)
Official Website of the IBP Eurotour
Diamond Nine - Euro-Tour / Dynamic Finland Open (Pro9.co.uk)
EuroTour Finland (Pro9.co.uk Forum)
Nick van den Berg (Wikipedia)
Nick van den Berg (eurotouronline.eu)

Related posts:

Feijen wins French Open for the second year running (2010 Euro Tour)
It's Peach over Sniegocki in the 2010 Italy Open (2010 Euro Tour)
Sascha Tege gets breakthrough win in 2010 German Open (2010 Euro Tour)
Boyes continues hot run to take 2010 Austria Open (2010 Euro Tour)

It's déjà vu all over again for Kim in the 2010 US Open

2010-08-02T21:45:00.002+02:00

Ga-young Kim from South Korea edged Karen Corr (Ireland) to win the 2010 US Open.

Kim and Corr were tied 6-6 in the best-of-13 final before the Korean broke and ran the deciding rack.

This was a repeat of last year's final. On that occasion Kim beat Corr 7-5.

Vivian Villareal (USA) and Julie Kelly (Ireland) finished joint third.

This was Kim's second US Open title in a row, her third US Open crown in total and her sixth victory on the WPBA Tour. Her titles have com in the 2004 US Open, the 2005 Cuetec Cues National Championship, the 2007 Carolina Classic, the 2009 US Open and the 2009 Colorado Classic. In addition she won the world title in 2005 and 2006.

The event took place from 28 July to 1 August 2010 at the Riverwind Casino, Norman, Oklahoma, USA. It was the last of two events on the 2010 Classic Tour.

See also:

Tournament Bracket (wpba.com - PDF)
WPBA (Official page)
Kim Repeats as U.S. Open Champ (Billiards Digest)
Ga-Young Kim defends US Open Title (AZ Billiards)
Kim Repeats as U.S. Open 9-Ball Champion (Inside Pool Magazine)
Case Study – Funding Ashley Nandrasy’s Trip to the US Open (Pool Cue News and Review)
WPBA Tour | Player Biographies | Ga Young Kim (wpba.com)
Ga-young Kim (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Allison Fisher successfully defends US Open title (2006 US Open)
Allison Fisher takes third US Open in a row (2007 US Open)
Kelly Fisher captures maiden US Open title (2008 US Open)
Second US Open title for Ga-young Kim (2009 US Open)
Hofstätter returns to winner's circle in 2010 San Diego Classic (2010 Classic Tour)

Caudron gets win No. 9 in 2010 Porto World Cup

2010-07-27T11:49:00.003+02:00

Frédéric Caudron from Belgium won the 2010 World Cup event in Porto, Portugal.

Caudron defeated Martin Horn (Germany) 3-0 in the final. The match was a lot closer than the score suggests though, as the game scores were 15-14, 15-14 and 15-9.

He received €5,500 for the victory and Horn got €3,500 for second place.

Jeremy Bury from France and Dick Jaspers from Netherlands lost out in the semifinals. Defending champion Eddy Merckx from Belgium went out in the last 16.

This was Caudron's first win of the season and ninth World Cup title in total.

Merckx had the highest general average among the 137 competitors with 1.744. Tayfun Tasdemir (Turkey) had the highest single match average in the final stage with 2.380. Along with Alfonso Legazpi (Span) and Jae Guen Kim (South Korea) he also had the highest run of 13.

Caudron improves to second in the 2010 World Cup Ranking with his win. Horn advances to fourth. Jaspers stays on top. Kyung-Roul Kim (South Korea) drops from second to third.

The win moves Caudron from third to first in the World Players Ranking. Horn improves one place to sixth. Jaspers drops to second and Merckx is down to third.

The event took place 12-18 July 2010 at Centro de Congresses Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal. It was the third of four events on the 2010 World Cup. The next event is in Hurghada, Egypt, 5-11 December 2010.

See also:

Tournament Details (UMB)
WorldCup Oporto 2010 Matosinhos (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Frédéric Caudron (Official player site)
Frédéric Caudron (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Sanchez wins World Cup (2006 Porto World Cup)
Third win of the season for Blomdahl in Porto (2007 Porto World Cup)
Jaspers wins Porto World Cup (2008 Porto World Cup)
Merckx finally finds success in 2009 Porto World Cup (2009 Porto World Cup)
Kyung-Roul Kim lifts first World Cup trophy in Turkey (2010 World Cup)
Jaspers takes top honors in 2010 Suwon World Cup (2010 World Cup)

Boyes continues hot run to take 2010 Austria Open

2010-07-15T15:35:00.000+02:00

England's Karl Boyes won the 2010 Austria Open.

In the final the current 8-ball world champion and German Open runner-up defeated Nick van den Berg (Netherlands) 9-6. The victory was worth €5000 and van den Berg got €3300 for second place.

In the semifinals of this 9-ball event Boyes ousted fellow Englishman Chris Melling 9-7 while van den Berg defeated Harald Stolka (Germany) 9-3.

This was Boyes' first Euro Tour win. His previously best was runner-up positions in the 2009 Costa del Sol Open and 2010 German Open. Nick van den Berg is a four-time champion.

Defending champion Marcus Chamat (Sweden) was downed 9-7 by Wojciech Trajdos (Poland) in the last 32.

The win lifts Boyes from fifth to first in the Euro Tour Ranking. Losing finalist van den Berg improves from 15th to seventh. Former No.1 Daryl Peach (England) drops to second and Niels Feijen (Netherlands) falls one place to third.

The tournament was played 8-10 July 2010 at the Sporthotel Alpina, Sankt Johann im Pongau, Austria. It was the fourth event of seven on the 2010 Euro Tour. Next up is the Finland Open which runs from 25-29 August 2010.

See also:

Austria Open 2010 (Event page)
Austria Open Photo Gallery (eurotouronline.eu)
Official Website of the IBP Eurotour
Diamond Nine - Euro-Tour/ Dynamic Austrian Open (Pro9.co.uk)
Austrian Euro Tour (Pro9.co.uk Forum)
Karl Boyes (Official homepage)
Karl Boyes (eurotouronline.eu)

Related posts:

Marcus "Napoleon" Chamat rules in Austria (2006 Austria Open)
Vassalos is surprise winner of Austria Open (2007 Austria Open)
Nick van den Berg takes Austria Open title (2008 Austria Open)
Chamat wins 2009 Austria Open, Euro Tour event #100 (2009 Austria Open)
Feijen wins French Open for the second year running (2010 Euro Tour)
It's Peach over Sniegocki in the 2010 Italy Open (2010 Euro Tour)
Sascha Tege gets breakthrough win in 2010 German Open (2010 Euro Tour)

Thompson wins gold No. 10 in the 2010 World Eightball Pool Championships

2010-07-15T14:51:00.001+02:00

Sue Thompson (Scotland) and Mick Hill (England) won gold in the 2010 World Eightball Pool Championships.

In a repeat of last year's women's final Thompson defeated Emma Cunningham (Northern Ireland) 8-4.

Thompson has reached the final in 15 of her 16 attempts with this being her tenth win. These two have now contested six of the last seven finals, with Cunningham tasting victory in 2005.

Mick Hill beat fellow Englishman Gareth Potts 11-8 in the men's final.

This was Hill's second title. He also won in 2004. Potts has three wins, in 2005, 2007 and 2008.

Defending champion Phil Harrison (England) went down 10-8 to Hill in the semifinals.

Frank Costello (England) won the junior singles and Gary Swift (England) took gold in the wheelchair division. There were also a number of other events, including teams, Under 21s and Over 50s.

The tournament took place at the Imperial Hotel in Blackpool, England, 27 June - 8 July 2010.

Please note that this is the English version of the game. Wikipedia explains the differences in detail. Here is an excerpt:

In the version of pool or Eight Ball played in the United Kingdom and Australia, plain unnumbered red balls and yellow balls often replace the solid and striped balls. If not, the terms "bigs" (9-15) and "smalls" (1-7) are generally used instead. The black ball, however, still typically bears a number eight. Another difference is that the UK table has pockets just larger than the balls, whereas the American table has pockets significantly larger.

See also:

World Eightball Pool Federation (Official page)
Pool: Perfect 10 for Runcorn’s world champion Sue Thompson (Runcorn & Widnes Weekly News)
WEPF Worlds (Cue Club International)
Hall of Fame (World Eight-Ball Pool Federation)
WEPF World 8-Ball Championship - Men: Individual (Sports 123)
WEPF World 8-Ball Championship - Women: Individual (Sports 123)

Related posts

Selby and Thompson are new world eightball champions (2006 world championships)
Thompson and Potts crowned world eightball pool champions (2007 world championships)
Potts and Horsburgh shine in the World Eightball Pool Championships (2008 world championships)
Thompson nicks ninth gold in the 2009 World Eightball Pool Championships (2009 world championships)

Bustamante finally gets his title in the 2010 World 9-Ball Championship

2010-07-07T22:13:00.004+02:00

Filipino Francisco Bustamante won the 2010 World 9-Ball Championship.

Bustamante grabbed $36,000 for defeating 2005 runner-up Kuo Po-Chen (Taiwan) 13-7 in the final. Gomez got $18,000 for finishing second.

In the semifinals Bustamante overcame countryman Antonio Lining 11-5. Po-Chen edged two-time world champion Johnny Archer (USA) 11-10.

This was the first world 9-ball championship since 2007. Daryl Peach (England) won the trophy at that occasion. This time he was knocked out in the early stages.

Bustamante had lost in two previous world pool finals, the 2002 World 9-ball Championship and the 2008 World Straight Pool Championship. Teamed with Efren Reyes he won the 2009 World Cup of Pool.

Bustamante suffered tragedy during the 2002 event. His daughter died the day before the final, but his wife wanted him to play.

The event was dominated by the Asian contingent. They had six of the eight quarterfinalists.

The tournament ran from 29 June to 5 July at the Qatar Billiards & Snooker Federation, Dohar, Qatar.

See also:

2010 World 9-Ball Championship (Official site)
World Pool Association
Francisco Bustamante Wins World Crown (AzBilliards)
WPA World 9 Ball Championship (Pro9.co.uk)
World 9 Ball Championships (Pro9.co.uk Forum)
WPA World Nine-ball Championship (Wikipedia)
Men: World 9-Ball Championship (List of champions, Sports 123)
Francisco Bustamante (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Ronnie Alcano wins World Pool Championship (2006 World Pool Championship)
Daryl Peach is first British winner of the World Pool Championship (2007 World Pool Championship)

Sascha Tege gets breakthrough win in 2010 German Open

2010-06-13T23:57:00.000+02:00

Sascha Tege from the host nation won the 2010 German Open.

In the final the 31-year-old surprise winner defeated current 8-ball world champion Karl Boyes (England) 8-6. The victory was worth €5000 and Boyes got €3300 for second place .

In the semifinals Tege edged Raj Hundal (England) 8-7 while Boyes hammered Fabio Petroni (Italy) 8-1.

This was Teges's first Euro Tour win. His previously best was fifth in the 2007 German Open. Tege is the fourth German winner in the last five editions of this event.

Defending champion Ralph Souquet (Germany) was ousted 8-6 by Hundal in the last 32.

For the second year in a row 10-ball was the game used in the event.

The win lifts Tege from 111th to 80th in the Euro Tour Ranking. Losing finalist Boyes improves from 10th to fifth. Daryl Peach (England) is the new No.1, Niels Feijen (Netherlands) is in second and Mateusz Sniegocki (Poland) sits in third. All three improve one place. Former leader Souquet drops to eighth.

The tournament was played 10-12 June 2010 at the Axxon Hotel, Brandenburg, Germany. It was the third event of seven on the 2010 Euro Tour. Next up is the Austria Open which runs from 8-10 July 2010.

See also:

German Open 2010 (Event page)
German Open Photo Gallery (eurotouronline.eu)
Official Website of the IBP Eurotour
Diamond Nine - Euro-Tour/ Dynamic Germany Open (Pro9.co.uk)
German Euro Tour (Pro9.co.uk Forum)
Sascha Tege (eurotouronline.eu)

Related posts:

Stolka is surprise winner in Sindelfingen (2006 German Open)
Daryl Peach on top in German Open (2007 German Open)
Engert wins Germany Open for ninth Euro Tour title (2008 German Open)
Souquet wins German Open - Euro Tour's first 10-ball event (2009 German Open)
Feijen wins French Open for the second year running (2010 Euro Tour)
It's Peach over Sniegocki in the 2010 Italy Open (2010 Euro Tour)

Luca Brecel (15) wins 2010 European Snooker Championship

2010-06-07T00:53:00.004+02:00

Luca Brecel and Wendy Jans (both from Belgium) won gold medals in the 2010 European Snooker Championships.

15-year-old Brecel defeated Dutchman Roy Stolk 7-4 in the final of the men's event while home favourite Jans defeated Diana Stateczny (Germany) 5-3.

In the men's semis Brecel beat Iceland's Kristján Helgason 6-3 while Stolk defeated Roy Fernandez (Israel) 6-4.

In the ladies' semis Jans overcame Anna Mazhirina (Russia) 4-2. Stateczny whitewashed Germany's Natascha Niermann 4-0.

Brecel is the youngest ever winner of the European Championship. It was his third title in a short span. He also won the 2009 European U-19 Championship and recently added the Belgian Championship.

It was Jans' fifth European title. She also won in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009. In addition she captured the 2006 IBSF World Amateur Championship.

The winner of the men's title is usually awarded a place on the Main Tour but beacause there is a 16 year age requirement EBSA are consulting with World Snooker before making the formal nomination

Defending champion David Hogan (Ireland) lost 4-2 to Roy Fernandez in the last 32.

Former top pro Darren Morgan (Wales) won the Masters division. In the final he beat 2000 winner Joe Delaney (Ireland) 6-0. Morgan also won in 2007 and 2009. He opted for the Men's event in 2008, where he made it to the semifinals.

Hogan and Kuldesh Johal (England) had the highest breaks of the tournament with 141s.

The event was held 27 May - 5 June, 2010 at the Rin Grand Hotel, Bucharest, Romania.

The European Main Tour play-offs (International Open) was played just before the tournament. Kurt Maflin (Norway) won the event to reclaim a place on next season's Main Tour.

See also:

European Snooker Championships (esnooker.pl)
2009 European Snooker Championships (Global Snooker)
EBSA
Star in the Making (World Snooker)
Brilliant Brecel (Snooker Scene blog)
Brecel takes European Championship (Pro Snooker Blog)
European Snooker Championships (Veikko Hannulan Snookerblog - Finnish)
Luca Brecel (Official website - Dutch)
Wendy Jans (Official page)
Luca Brecel (Wikipedia)
Wendy Jans (Wikipedia)
Darren Morgan (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Borg and Jans defend Euro snooker titles (2006 European Championships)
Van Hove and Evans win European Snooker Championship golds (2007 European Championships)
Van Hove and Evans win European Snooker Championship golds (2008 European Championships)
Hogan and Jans win European Snooker Championships (2009 European Championships)

Neil Robertson wins the 2010 World Snooker Championship

2010-05-06T20:11:00.003+02:00

Australia's Neil Robertson captured the 2010 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship.

In the final he defeated Scotland's 2006 world champion Graeme Dott 18-13.

The English pair of Allister Carter and Mark Selby lost out in the semifinals.

Robertson received £250,000 for the victory and Dott got £125,000 for his runner-up spot.

Mark Allen (N.Ireland) and Dott shared the £10,000 high break bonus after compiling the first breaks of 146 in world championship history. In total there were only 59 centuries in this year's event.

Defending champion, scandal-stricken John Higgins (Scotland) surprisingly lost 13-11 to living legend Steve Davis in the second round. This was the 30th world championship appearance for Davis. The last player to successfully defend his world title was Stephen Hendry (Scotland) in 1996.

This was the first world title for Robertson. His previous best was last year when he reached the semifinals. It was his second ranking title of the season and fifth of his career. He has yet to lose a ranking final.

He was the first Australian to lift the world trophy since Horace Lindrum in 1952. Many don't consider Lindrum's win to be legitimate though.

With this win Robertson improves from ninth to a career-best second in the official rankings. Dott climbs from 28th to 13th.

Higgins moves from fourth to first and Ronnie O'Sullivan drops from first to third. Peter Ebdon and Joe Perry drop out of the top 16. Liang Wenbo (China) is the only first-timer in the exclusive group.

The event took place Apr 17 - May 3, 2010 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England. It was the last of six ranking tournaments on the 2009/2010 Main Tour.

See also:

Robertson Captures World Title (World Snooker)
Neil Robertson becomes first Australian to take world snooker title (Times Online)
Aussie Neil Robertson beats Dott to win world title (BBC)
Robertson world champion after epic (Eurosport)
Robertson is World Champion (Sporting Life)
2010 Betfred World Snooker Championship (Global Snooker)
The World Turns for Robertson (Snooker Scene blog)
Let’s hear it for the Thunder from down under! (Pro Snooker Blog)
SnookerManager: World Championship 2010
World Snooker Championship 2010 (Wikipedia)
World Snooker Championship (Wikipedia)
Neil Robertson (Official page)
Neil Robertson (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Dott is new world snooker champion (2006 World Championship)
John Higgins wins the Snooker World Championship - again (2007 World Championship)
Ronnie O'Sullivan wins third World Snooker Championship (2008 World Championship)
John Higgins wins the World Snooker Championship for a third time (2009 World Championship)
O'Sullivan pockets 2009 Shanghai Masters (2009/2010 Main Tour)
It's four from four as Robertson nicks 2009 Grand Prix (2009/2010 Main Tour)
Ding Junhui captures 2009 UK Championship (2009/2010 Main Tour)
John Higgins captures Grand Prix (2009/2010 Main Tour)
Selby takes 2010 Masters with impressive comeback (2009/2010 Main Tour)
Higgins wins 2010 Welsh Open in dominant fashion (2009/2010 Main Tour)
Mark Williams completes strong comeback to win 2010 China Open (2009/2010 Main Tour)

Shameless plugs:

It's Peach over Sniegocki in the 2010 Italy Open

2010-04-18T22:04:00.002+02:00

Daryl Peach from England bagged his third Euro Tour trophy in the 2010 Italy Open.

In the final the 2007 world 9-ball champion defeated recent EC silver medalist Mateusz Sniegocki (Poland) 9-7. The victory was worth €5000. Sniegocki received €3300 for second place.

The semifinals were one-sided affairs with Peach and Sniegocki both winning 9-2, against Stephan Cohen (French) and Chris Melling (England) respectively.

This was Peach's first win in the Italy Open and third Euro Tour win overall, from four finals. He has previously won the 2007 German Open and the 2009 Portugal Open.

The win lifts him from eighth to second in the Euro Tour Ranking. Losing finalist Sniegocki improved from fifth to fourth. Ralf Souquet (Germany) is still on top and Imran Majid (England) drops one place to third.

The tournament was played 15-17 April 2010 at the Basso Hotels & Resorts Spa, Treviso, Italy. It was the second event of seven on the 2010 Euro Tour. Next up is the German Open which runs from 10-12 June 2010.

See also:

Italy Open 2010 (Event page)
Italy Open Photo Gallery (eurotouronline.eu)
Official Website of the IBP Eurotour
Diamond Nine - Euro-Tour/ Dynamic Italian Open (Pro9.co.uk)
Italian Euro Tour - Treviso (Pro9.co.uk Forum)
Daryl Peach wint Eurotour Italie (Poolkrant - Dutch)
Daryl Peach (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Majid wins in Italy (2006 Italy Open)
Christian Reimering victorious in Italian Open (2007 Italy Open)
Darren Appleton captures Italy Open (2008 Italy Open)
Alcaide wins 2009 Italy Open (2009 Italy Open)
Feijen wins French Open for the second year running (2010 Euro Tour)

Jaspers takes top honors in 2010 Suwon World Cup

2010-04-13T01:54:00.007+02:00

Dick Jaspers from Netherlands won the 2010 World Cup event in Suwon, South Korea.

Dick Jaspers sneaked past Filipos Kasidokostas (Greece) 3-2 in the final. The frame scores were 1-15, 15-11, 14-15, 15-10 and 15-9.

He received €5,500 for the victory and Kasidokostas got €3,500 for second place.

Jeremy Bury from France and Tayfun Tasdemir (Turkey) lost out in the semifinals. Defending champion Frédéric Caudron (Belgium) lost 3-1 to Tasdemir in the quarterfinals.

This was Jaspers' 18th World Cup title and first since Spain 2008. He also won in Suwon in 2008.

The former world champion has had a terrific start to the year, having also won the recent AGIPI Billiard Masters.

Jaspers had the highest general average among the 56 competitors with 2.153. Caudron had the highest single match average in the final stage with 2.700. Korean Bong-so Kim's 15 was the highest run in the event.

The Dutchman moves into top spot in the 2010 World Cup Ranking with his win. Kasidokostas advances from fourth to third. Kyung-Roul Kim (South Korea) drops from first to second.

The win also moved Jaspers from fourth to second in the World Players Ranking. Kasidokostas improved from ninth to sixth. Caudron stays on top with Eddy Merckx (Belgium) dropping one place to third.

The event took place 6-11 April 2010 at the Manseok Park Badminton Gymnasium, Suwon, South Korea. It was the second of at least four events on the 2010 World Cup. The next event is in Matosinhos, Portugal, 12-18 July 2010.

See also:

Tournament Details (UMB)
Worldcup Suwon Korea 2010 (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Prachtige zege in loodzware finale in Worldcup Suwon (Dick Jaspers - Dutch)
Dick Jaspers (Official page - Dutch)
Dick Jaspers (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Daniel Sánches claims World Cup win in South Korea (2007 South Korea World Cup)
Jaspers continues three cushion domination with South Korea World Cup win (2008 South Korea World Cup)
Caudron hoists second World Cup trophy of 2009 season in Suwon (2009 South Korea World Cup)
Kyung-Roul Kim lifts first World Cup trophy in Turkey (2010 World Cup)

Boyes wins 2010 8-ball World Championship

2010-04-11T05:09:00.005+02:00

Karl Boyes from England won the 2010 Etisalat World 8-ball Pool Championship.

In the final he edged 2008 World Straight Pool champion Niels Feijen from Netherlands 13-12.

The Englishman lead the final from start to finish. At one point he was 11-4 up, before Feijen came back to make it 11-9.

In the semifinals Boyes beat Ruslan Chinakhov (Russia) 10-2 and Feijen defeated 2008 10-ball world champion Darren Appleton (England) 10-6.

Defending champion Ralf Souquet (Germany) lost 10-9 to Feijen in the last 16.

This was the fifth 8-ball world championship held. The previous four winners were Efren Reyes (Philippines), Chia-Ching Wu (Taiwan), Ronnie Alcano (Philippines) and Souquet. Boyes is the first champion to not previously having won the 9-ball title.

Once again the Brits impress at a major pool event. Peach was the 2007 world 9-ball champion and Appleton won the 2008 World Ten Ball Championship. In addition England came second in the 2008 World Cup of Pool and Great Britain (with Boyes) won the 2010 Pool World Team Championship.

The tournament was played 5-10 April 2010 in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.

See also:

World 8-ball Pool Championship (official site)
World Pool Association
KARL BOYES : WPA Etisalat World 8-Ball Champion 2010 (Pro9.co.uk)
World 8-Ball Finals (AzBilliards)
Billiards World Crowns New World 8-Ball Champ (Inside Pool Magazine)
Karl Boyes is the new World 8-Ball Champion (Poolmag's 8-Ball Blog)
world 8 ball championships in dubai (Pro9.co.uk Forum)
World 8-Ball Champions (WPA)
Pool: Men: World 8-Ball Championship (Sports 123)
Karl Boyes (Official page)

Related posts:

Alcano completes world double with 8-ball win (2007 8-ball world championship)
Souquet wins World 8-ball Championship (2008 8-ball world championship

Reanne Evans captures record sixth straight World Ladies Snooker Championship

2010-04-08T22:43:00.008+02:00

England's Reanne Evans won the World Ladies Snooker Championship for a record sixth straight time.

In a repeat of last year's final she beat compatriot Maria Catalano 5-1 to pocket the £1000 winner's cheque. Catalano got £500 as runner up.

Katie Henrick and Emma Bonney, both from England, shared third place.

Evans also posted the highest break in the event, a 78 in her 4-3 semi-final win over Henrick.

It was a record sixth world title in a row for Evans. In 2005 she defeated Lynette Horsburgh (Scotland) 6-1, in 2006 she beat Bonney 5-3, in 2007 she won 5-3 over Henrick, in

2008 she beat Emma Banks (England) 5-3 and last year she defeated Catalano 5-2.

Evans has now won 23 ranking titles and 57 straight matches on the WLBSA tour. No surprise then that she ended the season on top of the WLBSA official rankings.

June Banks (England) retained her seniors title by beating countrywoman Eva Palmius 3-1 in the final. 13-year-old Hannah Jones (England) retained the juniors title by defeating Jasmine Bolsover (England) 2-0 in the final.

Tatjana Vasiljeva (Latvia) and Maureen Rowland (England) beat Pam Wood and Laura Alves (Ireland) 2-0 in the ladies doubles.

Vasiljeva also teamed up with Joe Perry (England) to win the mixed doubles event, beating English pair, Wood and Martin Gould, 3-2 in the final.

In the final of the english billiards event two-time defending champion Bonney won by beating Chitra Magimairaj (India) 269-220. 2007 champion Magimairaj also took second last year.

This championship is organized by the World Ladies Snooker & Billiards Association. It must not be confused with the IBSF World Championship. Evans has won that event three times.

The tournament was played at the Stadium Snooker Club, Hall Green Stadium, Birmingham, England, 3-8 April, 2010.

See also:

Results (WLBSA)
World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association
Reanne wins a record sixth world title (Global Snooker)
Girls Just Wanna Have Funds (Snooker Scene blog)
Reanne’s joy of six (Pro Snooker Blog)
World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association - World Championships (Pro9.co.uk)
Reanne Evans pakt óók wereldtitel (snooker.blog.nl - Dutch)
Reanne Evans (Wikipedia)
Reanne Evans (Official page)

Related posts:

Reanne Evans is new world snooker champion (2006 Ladies World Championships)
Reanne Evans defends World Snooker Championship (2007 Ladies World Championships)
Reanne Evans captures fourth straight World Ladies Snooker Championship (2008 Ladies World Championships)
Reanne Evans claims fifth World Ladies Snooker Championship in a row (2009 Ladies World Championships)

Mark Williams completes strong comeback to win 2010 China Open

2010-04-05T14:32:00.002+02:00

Mark Wlliams (Wales) won the 2010 Sanyuan Foods China Open.

The two-time world champion won seven of the last eight frames in the final to defeat home favourite and 2005 winner Ding Junhui 10-6.

The Welshman received £55,000 for the victory and Junhui got £28,000 for finishing second.

Mark Allen (N.Ireland) and Allister Carter (England) lost out in the semifinals.

Neil Robertson made a career first 147 in his 5-1 loss to Peter Ebdon to claim the high break prize of £22,000.

This was the third China Open title for Williams and his 17th ranking title. His last ranking final was four years ago when he won the 2006 edition of this event.

The win lifts Williams from ninth to seventh in the provisional rankings. Junhui improves from seventh to fifth. The top two remain the same, with Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) in first and John Higgins (Scotland) in second. Carter swaps places with Robertson to sit in third.

The event took place at the Beijing Students University Stadium, China 29 March to 4 April, 2010. Next up on the snooker calendar is the Betfred.com World Championship which starts 17 April 2010.

See also:

China Open 2010 (World Snooker)
Mark Williams beats Ding Junhui to win China Open title (BBC)
Williams captures China Open crown (Eurosport)
Williams Claims China Open Title (Sporting Life)
China Open Snooker 2010 (Global Snooker)
2010 China Open (Wikipedia)
China Open 2010: Williams ends title drought – Read how it happened (Pro Snooker Blog)
Williams has China in his Hands (Snooker Scene Blog)
SnookerManager: China Open 2010
China Open (Wikipedia)
Mark Williams (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

O'Sullivan pockets 2009 Shanghai Masters (2009 Main Tour)
It's four from four as Robertson nicks 2009 Grand Prix (2009 Main Tour)
Ding Junhui captures 2009 UK Championship (2009 Main Tour)
John Higgins captures Grand Prix (2009 Main Tour)
Selby takes 2010 Masters with impressive comeback (2009 Main Tour)
Higgins wins 2010 Welsh Open in dominant fashion (2009 Main Tour)
Williams wins in China (2006 China Open)
Graeme Dott claims China Open trophy (2007 China Open)
Maguire makes maximum on the way to China Open title (2008 China Open)
Ebdon returns to winner's circle in 2009 China Open (2009 China Open)

Shameless plugs:

Jaspers wins AGIPI Billiard Masters - again

2010-03-31T01:06:00.002+02:00

Dick Jaspers from Netherlands won the AGIPI Billiard Masters for the second year running.

World No. 4 Jaspers defeated world No. 1 Frédéric Caudron (Belgium) 50-34. Jaspers' final average was 2.174 compared to Caudron's 1.417.

Marco Zanetti (Italy) and Roland Forthomme (Belgium) shared third place.

It was the second successive victory for Jaspers in this event. Last year he defeated Torbjörn Blomdahl 50-39. He also played the final in 2008, then losing 50-26 to Blomdahl.

Including bonuses Jaspers earned €29.200 for the victory. Caudron took €22.950.

Players earned bonuses for runs of 10 or more and games won in 25 innings or less. In addition €2.500 was awarded to the player (Caudron) with the highest general average.

Zanetti had the highest run of the tournament with 19. Caudron had the highest general average of 2.398. Filipos Kasidokostas from Greece won one match in only 12 innings, resulting in the highest special average of 4.167.

The event's final stage took place 25-28 March 2010 at the AGIPI Auditorum, Schiltigheim, France and was televised live on Eurosport.

See also:

Official site
Tournament Details (UMB)
Jaspers, le spécialiste (Kozoom - French)
MASTER AGIPI 2010 (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Dick Jaspers wint AGIPI Billiard Masters (Dick Jaspers - Dutch)
Dick Jaspers (Wikipedia)
Dick Jaspers (Official homepage - Dutch)

Related posts:

Jaspers tops 2009 AGIPI Billiard Masters (2009 AGIPI Billiard Masters)

Ouschan has record-breaking performance at the 2010 European Pool Championships

2010-03-29T22:13:00.007+02:00

Austria's Jasmin Ouschan had a perfect showing at the 2010 European Pool Championships.

As the first player ever Ouschan took gold in all available events; 8-ball, 9-ball, 10-ball and straight pool. Actually she won all but one match in the entire competition, a 7-3 loss to Line Kjørsvik (Norway) in 9-ball.

Ouschan successfully defended her golds in 8-ball and 9-ball from 2009. In 8-ball she also won in 2007 and 2008.

German legend Ralf Souquet also had a great event, scoring gold in both 9-ball and 10-ball.

Jouni Tahti from Finland copied that achievement in the wheelchair division. He took gold in 9-ball for the second year running.

Ouschan now tops the all-time medal standings with 23 golds. Souquet sits in second with 22 wins. Tahti is sixth in the same list with 10 victories.

This was the first time 10-ball was included in the programme.

Here are the results:

Men
8-ball: Konstantin Stepanov (Russia) bt Marcus Chamat (Sweden) 8-6
9-ball: Ralf Souquet (Germany) bt Mateusz Sniegocki (Poland) 9-8
10-ball: Ralf Souquet (Germany) bt Niels Feijen (Netherlands) 7-4
14.1: David Alcaide (Spain) bt Artem Koshovyi (Ukraine) 125-3

Women
8-ball: Jasmin Ouschan (Austria) bt Line Kjørsvik (Norway) 6-5
9-ball: Jasmin Ouschan (Austria) bt Gerda Hofstätter (Austria) 7-0
10-ball: Jasmin Ouschan (Austria) bt Ina Jentschura (Germany) 6-3
14.1: Jasmin Ouschan (Austria) bt Gerda Hofstätter (Austria) 75-19

Wheelchair
8-ball: Kurt Deklerck (Belgium) bt Henrik Larsson (Sweden) 5-4
9-ball: Jouni Tahti (Finland) bt Henrik Larsson (Sweden) 7-1
10-ball: Jouni Tahti (Finland) bt Roy Kimberley (England) 5-0

The event was held 18-27 March, 2010 at Hotel Westin, Zagreb, Croatia.

See also:

European Pool Championships (Official site)
European Championships - 2010 (EPBF Archive)
Jasmin Sweeps the European Championships! (AZ Billiards)
Katrine Jensen: 5th place straight pool!, Last 16 10-ball..., 9th place 8-ball
Billarnet (Spanish): David Alcaide vuelve a asombrarnos, Ralf Souquet, campeón de Europa de Bola 9, Francisco Sánchez y David Alcaide bronce en Bola 8 en el europeo, Otro título, el de Bola 10, convierte a Souquet en el rey del Europeo
EK 2010, Eindstand: 4 medailles voor Nederland (Poolkrant.nl - Dutch)
News and photos from the European Pool Championships (APPB)
Jasmin Ouschan (Official page)
Jasmin Ouschan (Wikipedia)
Ralf Souquet (Official page)
Ralf Souquet (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Hofstätter returns to winner's circle in 2010 San Diego Classic

2010-03-20T14:52:00.003+01:00

Gerda Hofstätter from Austria won the season-opening 2010 San Diego Classic.

Hofstätter was undefeated throughout the event. In the final she beat Shu-Han Chang (Taiwan) 7-3 to earn the $12,700 first-place cheque. Chang received $7,800 for second.

The semifinals saw the Austrian defeat Karen Corr (Ireland) 7-4 while Chang edged Xiaoting Pan (China) 7-5.

This was Hofstätter's 12th (?) Classic Tour title but her first since the 2000 BCA Open 9-Ball Championship. She has also won the 1995 World Championship and has numerous European titles.

It was the second Tour victory in a row for Austria, as Jasmin Ouschan won the season-ending WPBA Championship.

Defending champion Monica Webb (USA) finished tied ninth after losing 9-3 to Hofstätter.

The event took place from March 10-14 2010 at the Viejas Casino, Alpine, California, USA. It was the first of two(!) events this season on the Classic Tour.

See also:

WPBA
Tournament Bracket (wpba.com - PDF)
Gerda Hofstatter wins San Diego Classic (AzBilliards)
Hofstatter Wins San Diego Classic (Inside Pool Magazine)
Gerda Hofstatter (Official site)
WPBA Tour | Player Biographies | Gerda Hofstatter (wpba.com)
Gerda Hofstatter (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Kelly Fisher defends San Diego title (2006 San Diego Classic)
Kelly Fisher three-peats in San Diego Classic (2007 San Diego Classic)
Allison Fisher wins San Diego Classic (2008 San Diego Classic)
Monica Webb claims 2009 San Diego Classic for second straight win (2009 San Diego Classic)

Turkey wins 2010 World Three Cushion Championship

2010-03-15T23:45:00.002+01:00

Turkey won the World Team Three Cushion Championship for a third time.

The winning team consisted of Adnan Yüksel and Murat Naci Coklu. In the final they won 2-0 over Spain (Daniel Sánchez and Ruben Legazpi).

Netherlands and South Korea tied for third place in an event with teams from 21 countries.

Turkey has won the title twice before, in 2003 and 2004.

Five-time defending champions Sweden lost to Spain in the qyarterfinals.

Netherlands (A) had the highest general average of 1.820.

Of all the players Dick Jaspers (Netherlands) had the highest general average of 2.253. Yüksel had a 2.812 to top the single game averages. Colombia's Carlos Campino had the highest run with a perfect 15.

The tournament was played 25-28 February at Festhalle Viersen in Viersen, Germany.

See also:

WC in three cushions billiards 2010 for national teams (official site)
Tournament details (umb.org)
Troisième couronne pour la Turquie (Kozoom - French)
Rankinglist last five years (UMB - PDF)
Campeonato del Mundo de Selecciones Nacionales Viersen 2010 (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Turkije wint uiteindelijk verrassend finale van Spanje (Dick Jaspers - Dutch)
Billiard: Men: World Team 3 Cushion Championship (Sports 123)

Related posts:

Sweden takes gold in world three cushion team event (2007 World Team Three Cushion Championship)
Sweden successfully defends world three cushion team championship (2008 World Team Three Cushion Championship)
Sweden grabs ninth world three cushion team championship (2009 World Team Three Cushion Championship)

Kyung-Roul Kim lifts first World Cup trophy in Turkey

2010-02-22T23:01:00.006+01:00

Kyung-Roul Kim (South Korea) won the World Cup event in Antalya, Turkey.

Kim edged multiple-winner Dutchman Dick Jaspers 3-2. The frame scores were 13-15, 15-7, 15-11, 2-15 and 15-8.

Defending champion Martin Horn from Germany and Filipos Kasidokostas (Greece) lost out in the semifinals.

This was the 29-year-old Korean's first World Cup title. His previous best was second in the 2008 Suwon World Cup. In that final he lost 3-2 to Jaspers.

He received €5,500 for the victory and Jaspers got €3,500 for second place.

Marco Zanetti (Italy) had the highest general average among the 56 competitors with 1.846. Daniel Sanchez (Spain) had the highest single match average in the final stage with 2.464. Japanese Kouji Funaki's 13 was the highest run in the event.

With this being the first World Cup event of the season the Korean naturally leads the 2010 World Cup Ranking.

The win also moved Kim from sixth to fifth in the World Players Ranking. Jaspers improved from fourth to third. Frédéric Caudron (Belgium) stays on top with Torbjörn Blomdahl (Sweden) in second place.

The event took place 15-21 February 2010 at the Belconti Resort Hotel, Antalya, Turkey. It was the first of at least four events in the 2010 World Cup. The next events is in Suwon, South Korea, 6-11 April 2010.

See also:

Tournament Details (UMB)
Première victoire pour Kim (Kozoom.com - French)
Worldcup Antalya (Turquia) 2010 (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Opnieuw verliezend finalist in Turkije (Dick Jaspers - Dutch)

Related posts:

Blomdahl wins Manisa World Cup event for third title in a row (2006 Turkey World Cup)
Martin Horn lifts first career World Cup trophy in Turkey (2009 Turkey World Cup)

Feijen wins French Open for the second year running

2010-02-14T00:16:00.002+01:00

Niels Feijen successfully defended his title by winning the 2010 French Open.

In the final the merited Dutchman defeated first-time finalist Craig Osborne (England) 9-2. The victory was worth €5000. Osborne got €3300 for second place.

The semifinals saw Feijen defeating Malta's 2008 winner Tony Drago 9-5. Osborne overcame Dimitri Jungo (Switzerland) 9-3.

This was Feijen's second win in the French Open and sixth Euro Tour win overall, from 11 finals. That puts him in fourth place on the all-time list, only behind the German trio of Ralf Souquet, Oliver Ortmann and Thomas Engert.

The win keeps Feijen in third place in the season's first Euro Tour Ranking. Losing finalist Osborne improved from 14th to ninth. Souquet and Imran Majid (England) stay in first and second respectively.

The tournament was played 11-13 February 2010 at the Leader Billard Club, Paris, France. It was the first event of seven on the 2010 Euro Tour. Next up is the Italy Open which runs from 14-18 March 2010.

See also:

French Open 2010 (Event page)
French Open Photo Gallery (eurotouronline.eu)
Official Website of the IBP Eurotour
Diamond Nine - Euro-Tour/ Dynamic French Open (Pro9.co.uk)
French Euro Tour (Pro9.co.uk Forum)
Niels Feijen wint Eurotour Frankrijk (Poolkrant - Dutch)
Niels Feijen (Official player page)
Niels Feijen (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Tony Drago wins French Open (2008 French Open)
Feijen takes French Open for back-to-back Euro Tour titles (2009 French Open)

Great Britain wins inaugural Pool World Team Championship

2010-02-08T23:33:00.005+01:00

Great Britain won the first ever Pool World Team Championship.

In the final they defeated Philippines 4-1 to claim the $75,000 first prize.

Greece were beaten 4-2 by Great Britain in the semifinals. Russia were defeated 4-1 by Philippines in the same round.

The winning team consisted of Imran Majid, Darren Appleton, Karl Boyes, Daryl Peach and Mark Gray. The Filipino team included Ronnie Alcano, Warren Kiamco, Antonio Lining, Marlon Manalo and Dennis Orcollo.

Once again the Brits impress at a major pool event. Peach was the 2007 world 9-ball champion and Appleton won the 2008 World Ten Ball Championship. In addition England came second in the 2008 World Cup of Pool.

The event took place from 31 January to 7 February at the Deutsche Messe, Hannover, Germany. 42 teams took part and all matches were a combination of scotch doubles and singles, in 8-ball, 9-ball and 10-ball.

See also:

2010 Pool World Team Championship (Official site)
World Team Cup (WPA)
Great Britain Wins World Team Championship (AzBilliards)
WPA World Team Championship (Pro9.co.uk)
Great Britain win WPA world pool title (BBC)
GB world team championships (Pro9.co.uk Forum)
WPA Poolbillard-Team-Weltmeisterschaft 2010 (Wikipedia - German)

Higgins wins 2010 Welsh Open in dominant fashion

2010-02-01T01:16:00.003+01:00

John Higgins (Scotland) won the 2010 totesport.com Welsh Open.

The final against defending champion Allister Carter (England) was an impressive display of scoring power. He made breaks of 137, 101, 95, 81, 76, 72 (twice), 71, 59 and 54 in the 9-4 win.

The Scot received £35,000 for the victory and runner-up Carter got £17,500.

Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) and Stephen Maguire (Scotland) lost out in the semifinals.

Higgins also had the highest break of the event, a 138 which earned him £2,000.

This was the second Welsh Open title for Higgins and his 21st ranking title. He also won the event in 2000.

The win strengthens Higgins' lead in the provisional rankings. The next two also remain the same, with O'Sullivan in second and Neil Robertson (Australia) in third.

The event took place at the Newport Center, Newport, Wales 25-31 January, 2010. Next up on the snooker calendar is the Sanyuan Foods China Open which starts 29 March 2010.

See also:

Welsh Open 2010 (World Snooker)
John Higgins beats Ali Carter to lift Welsh Open title (BBC)
Higgins claims Welsh title (Eurosport)
Welsh Open Glory for John Higgins (Sporting Life)
2010 Welsh Open (Global Snooker)
2010 Welsh Open (Wikipedia)
Classy Higgins Captures Welsh Open Title (Pro Snooker Blog)
John Higgins: Simply the Best (Snooker Scene Blog)
SnookerManager: Welsh Open 2010
Welsh Open (Wikipedia)
John Higgins (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Stephen Lee wins Welsh crown (2006 Welsh Open)
Neil Robertson wins Welsh Open (2007 Welsh Open)
Mark Selby wins Welsh Open after impressive comeback (2008 Welsh Open)
Allister Carter bags first ranking win in the 2009 Welsh Open (2009 Welsh Open)
O'Sullivan pockets 2009 Shanghai Masters (2009 Main Tour)
It's four from four as Robertson nicks 2009 Grand Prix (2009 Main Tour)
Ding Junhui captures 2009 UK Championship (2009 Main Tour)
John Higgins captures Grand Prix (2009 Main Tour)
Selby takes 2010 Masters with impressive comeback (2009 Main Tour)

Shameless plugs:

Reyes is Master of the Table for the fifth time in 2010 Derby City Classic

2010-01-31T14:21:00.005+01:00

Efren Reyes from the Philippines is the Master of the Table in the 2010 Derby City Classic.

The tournament is comprised of three events. Reyes was second in bank pool, top 25 in one pocket and first in 9-ball. He secured the title several rounds before the end of the last event.

Here are the final results, with field sizes:

Bank pool (352): Winner: John Brumback (USA), $10,000; Runner-up: Efren Reyes (Philippines), $5,000
One pocket (289): Winner: Scott Frost (USA), $12,000; Runner-up: Sylver Ochoa (USA), $6,000
9-ball: (257) Winner: Efren Reyes (Philippines), $16,000; Runner-up: Rodney Morris (USA), $8,000

All-around title (Master of the Table):

Reyes, $20,000
Brumback, $3,000
Alex Pagulayan (Philippines), $2,000

This was Reyes' record fifth all-around-title and also his second 9-ball crown. It was Brumback's second Banks title and it was Frost's first victory in One Pocket, after finishing runner up last year.

Brumback was the defending over-all champion. See Past Champions at the official site for a list of all previous winners.

During the week there were several more events being staged. For instance, Charlie Williams (USA) won the Straight Pool Challenge and Reyes won the Fatboy 10-Ball Challenge for $6,500.

The tournament ran from January 22-30 at the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel, Elizabeth, Indiana, USA. It was the 12th edition of the event.

See also:

Derby City Classic (official site)
Reyes Redeems Himself at DCC 9-Ball (AzBilliards)
Efren Takes 5th DCC Master of the Table (Billiards Digest)
Reyes Captures Fifth Derby City Classic All Around Title (Inside Pool Magazine)
And we have a winner!!! (The Tip Jar)
Derby City Classic (The Pool Pack)
Derby City Classic is different somehow (Images - Billiard Coach Mike Feldhammer)
YouTube videos for Derby City Classic 2010
DCC 2010 Tournament Photos (onepocket)
Accu-Stats On Location (Live Pay Per View)
The Action Report (Video coverage from the DCC Action Room)
Derby City Classic (AzBilliards Forums)
Horseshoe racks up 3-year Classic sponsorship (The Corydon Democrat)
Derby City Classic (Wikipedia)
Efren Reyes (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Reyes is Master of the Table in Derby (2007 Derby City Classic)
Bustamante wins all-around title in Derby City Classic (2008 Derby City Classic)
John Brumback is Master of the Table in 2009 Derby City Classic (2009 Derby City Classic)

Selby takes 2010 Masters with impressive comeback

2010-01-26T21:53:00.001+01:00

Mark Selby (England) won the 2010 Pokerstars Masters.

England's defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was just one frame away from his fifth win after taking a commanding 9-6 lead but Selby stormed back to take the title 10-9.

Selby received £150,000 for the victory and O'Sullivan got £75,000 for his runner-up spot.

Mark J Williams (Wales) and Stephen Maguire (Scotland) lost out in the semifinals.

Maguire and Neil Robertson (Australia) tied for the highest breaks of the tournament with 140 to share the £10,000 prize..

This was the second Masters title for Selby. He also won on his 2008 debut. Last year he lost in the final to O'Sullivan.

The event took place at the Wembley Arena, London, England 10-17 January, 2010. Next up on the snooker calendar is the Totesport.com Welsh Open which starts 25 January 2010.

See also:

Maplin UK Championship 2008 (World Snooker)
Mark Selby shocks Ronnie O'Sullivan at Masters final (BBC)
Selby wins Masters after comeback (Eurosport)
Selby Makes Stunning Comeback (Sporting Life)
2010 Masters (Global Snooker)
2010 Masters Snooker (Wikipedia)
Super Selby stuns O'Sullivan (Pro Snooker Blog)
The Mark of a Champion (Snooker Scene Blog)
SnookerManager: Masters 2010
Masters (snooker) (Wikipedia)
Mark Selby (Official site)
Mark Selby (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Ronnie O'Sullivan wins Masters in style (2007 Masters)
Mark Selby wins Masters on debut (2008 Masters)
O'Sullivan wins fourth Masters (2009 Masters)
O'Sullivan pockets 2009 Shanghai Masters (2009 Main Tour)
It's four from four as Robertson nicks 2009 Grand Prix (2009 Main Tour)
Ding Junhui captures 2009 UK Championship (2009 Main Tour)
John Higgins captures Grand Prix (2009 Main Tour)

Shameless plugs:

Ding Junhui captures 2009 UK Championship

2009-12-15T00:39:00.001+01:00

China's Ding Junhui won the 2009 Pukka Pies UK Championship.

The final against Scotland's John Higgins was a very tight affair, until Ding took it 10-8 after a 75 in the final frame.

Stephen Maguire (Scotland) and Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) lost out in the semifinals.

Ding received £100,000 for the victory and Higgins got £46,000 for his runner-up spot.

Stephen Lee and Mark Selby tied for highest break of the tournament with 141, for which they shared $5,000.

This was the second UK and fourth ranking title for Junhui. He's previously won the 2005 China Open, the 2005 UK Championship, the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy. Higgins was looking for his third UK title and 21st win in ranking events.

In his four wins Ding has defeated the four greatest players of the last 30 years; Stephen Hendry (Scotland), Steve Davis (England), O'Sullivan and now Higgins.

Murphy moves from ninth to sixth in the provisional rankings. The top two remain the same. Higgins stays on top, followed by O'Sullivan. Neil Robertson (Australia) sits in third.

The event took place at the Telford International Centre, Telford, England 5-13 December, 2009. It was the third ranking tournament of six on the 2009/2010 Main Tour. Next up on the snooker calendar is the Masters which starts 10 January 2010.

See also:

Pukka Pies UK Championship 2009 (World Snooker)
Ding Junhui beats John Higgins in UK Championship final (BBC)
Ding wins UK Championship (Eurosport)
Ding Junhui Lands UK Title (Sporting Life)
2009 Pukka Pies UK Championship (Global Snooker)
Ding Junhui delights his nation by carrying off UK crown (The Times)
2009 UK Snooker Championship (Wikipedia)
Ding Downs Higgins to complete UK Double (Pro Snooker Blog)
DING IN THE SWING (Snooker Scene Blog)
SnookerManager: UK Championship 2009
UK Snooker Championship (Wikipedia)
Ding Junhui (Global Snooker Player Profile)
Ding Junhui (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Peter Ebdon wins UK Championship (2006 UK Championship)
Ronnie O'Sullivan wins fourth UK Championship (2007 UK Championship)
Shaun Murphy wins 2008 UK Championship (2008 UK Championship)
O'Sullivan pockets 2009 Shanghai Masters (2009 Main Tour)
It's four from four as Robertson nicks 2009 Grand Prix (2009 Main Tour)
John Higgins captures Grand Prix (2009 Main Tour)

Shameless plugs:

USA wins back Mosconi Cup

2009-12-13T23:00:00.005+01:00

USA defeated Europe 11-7 to win the 2009 Mosconi Cup.

The US team was in front all the way, leading 4-1 after the opening day, 7-2 after the second and 9-5 after the third. On Sunday Shane Van Boening sealed the deal by defeating Ralf Souquet (Germany) 6-2.

Europe was heavy favorites coming into the event with two straight wins and a team packed with world champions. USA now have 12 wins in total to Europe's 4.

The teams:

USA
- Nick Varner (non-playing captain)
- Johnny Archer
- Corey Deuel
- Oscar Dominguez
- Dennis Hatch
- Shane Van Boening
Europe
- Alex Lely (non-playing captain, Netherlands)
- Darren Appleton (England)
- Niels Feijen (Netherlands)
- Thorsten Hohmann (Germany)
- Mika Immonen (Finland)
- Ralf Souquet (Germany)

The event took place from December 10-13 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, USA. Matches were singles, scotch doubles and scotch quintuples with alternate break. Next year's Cup will be held in Europe.

See also:

2009 Mosconi Cup (Official homepage)
Hatch MVP in Storming Sunday (AZ Billiards)
Redeem Team Brings Mosconi Cup Back to U.S. (Billiards Digest)
Leaving Las Vegas (Mika's Blog)
Mosconi Cup (Wkipedia)

Related posts:

USA retains Mosconi Cup with tie (2006 Mosconi Cup)
Europe finally regains Mosconi Cup (2007 Mosconi Cup)
Europe retains Mosconi Cup (2008 Mosconi Cup)

Jozef Philipoom wins first career title in 2009 Hurghada World Cup

2009-12-13T22:36:00.003+01:00

Jozef Philipoom (Belgium) won the World Cup event in Hurghada, Egypt.

In a roller-coaster final Philipoom defeated Swedish legend Torbjörn Blomdahl 3-1. The frame scores were 3-15, 15-14, 10-15, 15-11 and 15-0.

Turkey's Tayfun Tasdemir and virtually unknown Ruben Legazpi from Spain lost out in the semifinals.

This was the 45-year-old Belgian's first World Cup title. His previous best was second in Sluiskil earlier this season.

He received €5,500 for the victory and Blomdahl got €3,500 for second place.

Defending champion Daniel Sanchez from Spain lost 2-1 to Legazpi in the quarterfinals.

Sanchez had the highest general average among the 56 competitors with 1.873. His 2.523 was the highest single match average in the final stage. The Spaniard also tied Kyung-Roul Kim (South Korea) and Marco Zanetti (Italy) for highest run with a maximum 15.

Frédéric Caudron's fifth place finish secured his victory in the 2009 World Cup Ranking. Blomdahl and Philipoom moved into a tie for second place, from fourth and seventh place respectively. Last year's winner Dick Jaspers (Netherlands) finished in seventh position.

The win moved Philipoom from 12th to eighth in the World Players Ranking. Blomdahl improved from fourth to second. Caudron is the new leader with former No.1 Jaspers in third.

The event took place 6-12 December 2009 at the Sunrise Garden Beach Resort, Hurghada, Egypt. It was the final of five events in the 2009 World Cup. The next season opens in Antalya, Turkey, 15-21 February 2010.

See also:

Tournament Details (UMB)
Dernière World-Cup 2009, Philipoom 14 ans après (Kozoom.com - French)
WORLDCUP HURGHADA 2009 (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Jozef Philipoom (Wikipedia - Dutch)

Related posts:

Daniel Sanchez wins World Cup in Egypt (2006 Egypt World Cup)
Blomdahl takes yet another title in Egypt (2007 Egypt World Cup)
Sánchez powers to World Cup win in Egypt (2008 Egypt World Cup)
Caudron takes World Cup season opener in Sluiskil (2009 World Cup)
Martin Horn lifts first career World Cup trophy in Turkey (2009 World Cup)
Merckx finally finds success in 2009 Porto World Cup (2009 World Cup)
Caudron hoists second World Cup trophy of 2009 season in Suwon (2009 World Cup)

Gray wins 2009 Costa del Sol Open, Souquet captures overall title

2009-12-06T14:39:00.003+01:00

Mark Gray won the 2009 Costa del Sol Open in an all-English final.

Gray defeated Karl Boyes 8-6 in the final to earn the €5000 first prize. Boyes received €3000 for second place.

In the semi finals Gray beat home player Francisco Diaz-Pizarro 8-5. Boyes defeated Mateusz Sniegocki (Poland) by the same scoreline.

This was Gray's first Costa del Sol Open title and second win in total, from two finals. It puts him at No.16 on the all-time list.

Boyes' previous beat was third in the 2008 German Open. Sniegocki was looking for his first final in his third semi-final appearance. It was Diaz-Piarro's first ever Euro Tour start.

2007 overall winner Gray moves from ninth to fifth in the final Euro Tour Ranking. Boyes jumps from 24th to 12th.

Ralf Souquet (Gemany) "only" managed a ninth place finish this time but still held on to the lead to claim his second straight and record fifth Tour title. He also picked up the trophy in 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2008. Imran Majid (England) and Niels Feijen (Netherlands) finished in second and third place respectively.

The tournament was played 3-5 December at Hotel Alay, Benalmadena, Spain. It was the last event of seven on the 2009 Euro Tour. First up on the 2010 Tour is the French Open which runs from 10-14 February 2010.

See also:

Costa del Sol Open 2009 (Event page)
Costa del Sol Open Photo Gallery (eurotouronline.eu)
Official Website of the IBP Eurotour
Gray beats Boyes in all British EPBF Euro Tour Ten Ball Final (Pro9.co.uk)
Euro Tour: Costa del Sol Open (Pro9.co.uk Forum)
Mark Gray (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Petroni wins final Euro Tour event of season (2006 Costa del Sol Open)
Bruno Muratore surprise winner of Costa del Sol Open (2007 Costa del Sol Open)
Feijen wins Costa del Sol Open, Souquet takes 2008 Euro Tour title (2008 Costa del Sol Open)
Feijen takes French Open for back-to-back Euro Tour titles (2009 Euro Tour)
Alcaide wins 2009 Italy Open (2009 Euro Tour)
Souquet wins German Open - Euro Tour's first 10-ball event (2009 Euro Tour)
Chamat wins 2009 Austria Open, Euro Tour event #100 (2009 Euro Tour)
Ortmann bags 2009 Dutch Open (2009 Euro Tour)
Peach wins 2009 Portugal Open (2009 Euro Tour)

Immonen crowns amazing year with victory at the 2009 World 10-ball Championship

2009-12-01T00:27:00.007+01:00

Mika Immonen from Finland won the 2009 World Ten Ball Championship.

The Finn won a one-sided final against Lee Van Corteza (Philippines) 11-6. Immonen received $60,000 for first place while Van Corteza got $30,000 for finishing second.

In the semifinals Immonen overcame Antonio Lining (Philippines) 9-7 while Van Corteza downed David Alcaide (Spain) by the same score. There was no bronze match this year so they both tied for third and won $15,000 each.

2009 champion Darren Appleton (England) had a fairly successful title defense, reaching the quarterfinals before losing 9-6 to Alcaide.

Exactly as last year the event was dominated by the European and Asian contingent. Amazingly this year they grabbed the 32 first spots on the leaderboard! There were 18 Asians and 14 Europeans.

This was Immonen's second world title. He also won the 2001 9-ball world championship.

It was the third World Tour win of the year for the fabulous Finn after also having captured the Qatar Open and the US Open.

Immonen now dominates the WPA rankings, ahead of Ralf Souquet (Germany) and Appleton.

This will be the only men's world championship of 2009. For the second year in the row there will be no 9-ball world championship.

The tournament was staged from 25-30 November 2009 at the World Trade Center, Manila, Philippines.

See also:

World Ten Ball Championship (Official site)
World 10-ball Champion (Mika's Blog)
World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA)
Invincible: Mika Wins World 10B (Billiards Digest)
Immonen wins World 10-Ball Championship (AzBilliards)
Immonen Wins World Ten Ball Championship (Inside Pool Magazine)
Immonen Wins 2009 World Ten Ball Championship (Pro9.co.uk)
World 10-Ball Championship (AzBilliards Forums)
World 10 ball (Pro9.co.uk Forum)
Ten-ball (Wikipedia)
World 10-Ball Championship (Sports 123)
Mika's Blog (Official homepage)
Mika Immonen (Wikipedia)

Burden and Yee win golds in the 2009 IBSF World Snooker Championships

2009-11-27T00:35:00.002+01:00

England's Alfie Burden and Ng On Yee from Hong Kong won gold medals at the 2009 IBSF World Snooker Championships.

Burden beat surprise finalist Igor Figueiredo (Brazil) 10-8 in the men's final while Yee overwhelmed Australia's Kathy Parashis 6-1.

Yu Delu (China) and finished third in the men's event and Bi Zhuqing (China) reached the same position among the ladies.

These were the first world titles for both Burden and Yee. Burden is a former top-32 player on the Main Tour.

Neither of the defending champions competed this year. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (Thaniland) is currently playing on the Main Tour while three-time winner Reanne Evans (England) could not find a sponsor.

The victory means Burden is set to be nominated for a return to the Main Tour in the 2010/2011 season.

The final in the Masters event saw two former pros clash. Darren Morgan (Wales) beat defending champion Dene O'Kane (New Zealand) 6-0. Morgan also won in 2007. Last year he played in the men's event, where he was knocked out in the last 16.

Highest breaks:
Men: Yu delu (China) 142
Women: Ng On Yee (Hong Kong) 77
Masters: Simon Zammit (Malta) 105

The event was held 15-25 November 2009 at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre in Hyderabad, India.

See also:

Results, Men (IBSF)
Results, Ladies (IBSF)
Results, Masters (IBSF)
Introduction (IBSF)
2009 IBSF World Snooker Championships (Global Snooker)
England’s Alfie Burden lifts world snooker title (Daily Mirror)
Snooker champion Burden aims to get into top-32 (Thaindian News)
Alfred Burden wins world snooker championship (The Times of India)
Burden reigns supreme (The Hindu)
Pots it All About, Alfie? (Snooker Scene Blog)
Burden bags IBSF crown (Pro Snooker Blog)
IBSF MM 2009 (Veikko Hannulan Snookerblogi - Finnish)
Alfred Burden (Wikipedia)
Past Champions (IBSF)
IBSF World Championships, Men (Sports123)
IBSF World Championships, Women (Sports123)

Related posts:

Maflin and Jans top World Snooker (2006 World Championship)
Mahitthi and Evans victorious in the IBSF World Snooker Championship (2007 World Championship)
Un-Nooh and Evans on top in the IBSF Snooker World Championship (2008 World Championship)

Chinese sensation Susha wins 2009 Women's World 9-Ball Championship

2009-11-23T00:19:00.002+01:00

16-year-old Liu Shusha from China came out on top in the 2009 Kappa Women's World 9-Ball Championship.

In the final she won the last eight games to defeat three-time runner-up Karen Corr (Ireland) 9-5. The comeback included five consecutive break-and-runs.

In the all-Chinese bronze match Xiotang Pan trounced Fu Xiofang 9-1.

Shushua edged 2007 champion Pan 9-8 in the semifinals and Korr beat Xiofang with the same score.

Defending champion Yuan-Chun Lin from Taiwan went out in the early rounds after losing 7-0 to Corr.

This was the sixth world title in a row for Asian players. The last non-Asian to win was four-time champion Allison Fisher (England) in 2001.

The tournament ran from 16-22 November, 2009, in Shenyang, China.

See also:

Liu Shasha Crowned New Women’s World 9-Ball Champion (Inside Pool)
My147.com (Official site - Chinese)
Liu Shasha Wins World 9-Ball Champonship! (AzBilliards)
World Pool Association (Coverage)
()
Women 9 Ball World Championship in Shenyang/China (Jasmin Ouschan)
China Part One & China Part Two (Sticks and balls and holes)
World 9-Ball Champion (WPA)
Pool: Women: World 9-Ball Championship (Sports 123)
List of WPA World Nine-ball champions (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Ga-Young Kim defends World title (2006 World Championship)
Xiaoting Pan wins Women's World 9-Ball Championship (2007 World Championship)
Yuan-Chun Lin wins Women's World 9-ball Championship (2008 World Championship)

Caudron hoists second World Cup trophy of 2009 season in Suwon

2009-11-22T23:25:00.004+01:00

Frédéric Caudron (Belgium) won the World Cup event in Suwon, South Korea.

In a roller-coaster final Caudron edged Italy's 2008 world champion Marco Zanetti 3-2. The frame scores were 7-15, 15-7, 5-15, 15-1 and 15-11.

Home hope Kyung-Roul Kim and Swedish legend Torbjörn Blomdahl lost out in the semifinals.

This was the Belgian's second win of this season and eighth World Cup title in total. He received €5,500 for the victory and Zanetti got €3,500 for second place.

Defending champion Dick Jaspers from Belgium and recent world champion Filipos Kasidokostas (Greece) both went out in the last 16.

Jaspers had the highest general average among the 56 competitors with 2.153. Zanetti's 3.214 was the highest single match average. The Italian also tied Kasidokostas for highest run with 13.

Caudron extends his lead in the World Cup Ranking. Zanetti improves from 11th to fifth. Eddy Merckx (Belgium) swaps places with Martin Horn (Germany) to lie in second.

The win also moves him from third to second in the World Players Ranking, just one point behind the leader Jaspers. Zanetti's runner-up finish takes him from eighth to seventh. Daniel Sanchez (Spain) drops from second to third.

The event took place 17-22 November 2009 at the Manseok Park Badminton Gymnasium, Suwon, South Korea. It was the fourth of five events in the 2009 World Cup. The last event is in Hurghada, Egypt, 6-12 December 2009.

See also:

Tournament Details (UMB)
Worldcup de Suwon (Korea) 2009 (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Frédéric Caudron (Official player site)
Frédéric Caudron (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Daniel Sánches claims World Cup win in South Korea (2007 South Korea World Cup)
Jaspers continues three cushion domination with South Korea World Cup win (2008 South Korea World Cup)
Caudron takes World Cup season opener in Sluiskil (2009 World Cup)
Martin Horn lifts first career World Cup trophy in Turkey (2009 World Cup)
Merckx finally finds success in 2009 Porto World Cup (2009 World Cup)

Kasidokostas wins 2009 Three Cushion World Championship

2009-11-17T21:41:00.003+01:00

Filipos Kasidokostas from Greece captured the 2009 World Three Cushion Championship.

Kasidokostas played to a high standard in the final where he beat Eddy Merckx (Belgium) 3-1. The set scores were 11-15, 15-8, 15-13 and 15-3.

Two-time defending champion Marco Zanetti (Italy) and Eddy Leppens (Belgium) shared third place.

Kasidokostas took away €4,800 for the victory. Merckx received €3,200.

The Greek champion had the highest average in the tournament, with 1.869. In addition he had the highest single match average with 3.058. As if that wasn't enough he also tied for the highest run of 13 with Roland Forthomme (Belgium) and Sergio Jimenez (Spain).

This was Kasidokostas' first world title, from three finals. In 2003 he lost to Semih Sayginer (Turkey) and in 2004 he lost to Dick Jaspers (Netherlands). This was the 62nd edition of the world championship but the very first won by a Greek player.

Merckx was aiming for his second world title, having previously won in 2006.

The win takes Kasidokostas from 17th to 10th in the World Players Ranking. Merckx advances three places from eighth to fifth. Jaspers only finished ninth in this event but is still the leader. Daniel Sanchez (Spain) stays in second and Frédéric Caudron (Belgium) moves from third to second.

The championship was held at the Centre de congrès et d'expositions Beaulieu, Lausanne, Switzerland between 11th and 15th November 2009.

See also:

Billard Lausanne - Championnat du Monde (official page)
World Championship 3-Cushion (UMB.org)
Photo gallery and video magazine (Kozoom - French)
Campeonato del Mundo a 3 Bandas en Lausanne (Entrada51 - Spanish)
Achtste finales eindstation WK Lausanne (Dick Jaspers - Dutch)
Men: World 3 Cushion Championship (Sports 123)
UMB World Three-cushion Championship (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Eddy Merckx is 3-cushion World champion (2006 World Championship)
Ryuuji Umeda wins World Three Cushion Championship (2007 World Championship)
Zanetti wins second Three Cushion World Championship (2008 World Championship)

Ouschan ends season on a high by winning the 2009 WPBA Championship

2009-11-17T00:59:00.005+01:00

Austria's Jasmin Ouschan won the season-ending 2009 WPBA Championship.

In the final she beat Xiaoting Pan (China) 7-2.

The semifinals saw Ouschan edge Jeanette Lee (USA) 7-6 while Pan beat Kelly Fisher (England) in a 7-2 drubbing.

This was Oushan's first WPBA Championship win, her third victory of the season, and her fifth Classic Tour title in total. She was unbeaten in the tournament and apart from the semi-final thriller she was really never threatened.

Defending champion Monica Webb (USA) finished tied 17th after losing 7-6 to countrywoman Michell Monk.

Ouschan improved from fourth to second in the rankings for the 2009 Classic Tour. Pan dropped from second to third. Nobody could surpass Ga Young Kim (South Korea) though who won her first overall title. Last year's winner Kelly Fisher finished just outside the top four.

The event took place from November 12-15 2009 at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino, Hollywood, Florida, USA. It was the last of six events this season on the Classic Tour.

See also:

WPBA
Tournament Bracket (wpba.com - PDF)
Highlights: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Tour Championship in Hollywood/Florida (Jasmin Ouschan)
WPBA Championships (Jennifer Barretta)
Ouschan wins WPBA Nationals (AzBilliards)
Ouschan Aces WPBA Tour Championship (Inside Pool Magazine)
(Pool Cue News and Review)
Jasmin Ouschan Dominates in an Undefeated Win at the WPBA Tour Championships (NYC Grind)
Jasmin Ouschan (Official site)
WPBA Tour | Player Biographies | Jasmin Ouschan (wpba.com)

Related posts:

Allison Fisher wins Nationals for second title in a row (2006 National Championship)
Allison Fisher reigns supreme in the Cuetec Cues WPBA National 9-Ball Championship (2007 National Championship)
Webb takes down WPBA Championship title (2008 National Championship)
Monica Webb claims 2009 San Diego Classic for second straight win (2009 Classic Tour)
Ouschan conquers all in 2009 Great Lakes Classic (2009 Classic Tour)
Second US Open title for Ga-young Kim (2009 Classic Tour)
Ga Young Kim is victorious in the 2009 Colorado Classic (2009 Classic Tour)
Ouschan bags 2009 Pacific Coast Classic (2009 Classic Tour)

Immonen wins second US Open in a row

2009-10-25T13:15:00.005+01:00

Finland's Mika Immonen successfully defended his title by winning the 2009 US Open 9-Ball Championships.

The 2008 champion earned $40,000 by defeating 2002 winner Ralf Souquet (Germany) 13-10 in the final. Souquet earned $15,000.

Donnie Mills was beaten 11-10 by Immonen in the losers' final to finish third. Lee Vann Corteza (Philippines) took fourth.

The Finn had to endure a long run on the losers' side after an early loss. In total he played 15 matches, which is more than any previous champion.

Immonen is only the second player to win back-to-back US Open titles. Nick Varner (USA) accomplished the same feat in 1989-1990.

In addition to his two titles Immonen was also runner-up to Corey Deuel (USA) in the 2001 final.

The two finalists are both in the middle of some impressive streaks. Prior to this event Souquet and Immonen were second and third in the WPA rankings and also held the top two positions in the BCA Points List.

The tournament was played 18-24 October at the Chesapeake Conference Center, in Chesapeake, Virginia, USA. There were 216 entrants in this the 34th edition of the championships.

See also:

US Open 9-Ball Championships (Official page)
Mika U.S. Open Champ... Again (Billiards Digest)
US Open 2009 (AzBilliards)
Immonen Earns Second Consecutive U.S. Open Title (Inside Pool Magazine)
US Open under way (Mika Immonen)
US Open 9 Ball Championships 360° Coverage (NYC Grind)
Video coverage (Accu-Stats)
US Open (AzBilliards Forums)
US Open Nine-ball Championship (Wikipedia)
Mika Immonen (Official homepage)
Mika Immonen (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

John Schmidt takes US Open title (2006 Us Open)
Shane Van Boening wins first US Open title (2007 US Open)
Immonen wins first US Open title (2008 US Open)

Ouschan bags 2009 Pacific Coast Classic

2009-10-25T12:59:00.006+01:00

Jasmin Ouschan from Austria won the 2009 Pacific Coast Classic.

More to follow ...

See also

Ouschan wins second WPBA title with victory over Xiaoting Pan at Pacific Coast Classic (AZ Billiards)
Pacific Coast Classics in Lincoln City/OR (Jasmin Ouschan)

Peach wins 2009 Portugal Open

2009-10-25T12:53:00.005+01:00

England's Daryl Peach won the 2009 Portugal Open.

More to follow ...

It's four from four as Robertson nicks 2009 Grand Prix

2009-10-25T12:50:00.003+01:00

Australia's Neil Robertson won the 2009 Grand Prix for his fourth win in as many ranking finals

More to follow ...

Ga Young Kim is victorious in the 2009 Colorado Classic

2009-10-25T12:40:00.008+01:00

Ga Young Kim (South Korea) won the 2009 Colorado Classic.

It was the Korean's fifth victory on the WPBA Classic Tour.

See also

Colorado Classic Recap (Sarah Rousey)

Ortmann bags 2009 Dutch Open

2009-10-25T12:37:00.002+01:00

Germany's Oliver Ortmann won the 2009 Dutch Open.

More to follow ...

O'Sullivan pockets 2009 Shanghai Masters

2009-10-25T12:25:00.007+01:00

Ronnie O'Sullivan from England won the 2009 Roewe Shanghai Masters.

Pankaj Advani wins 2009 World Professional Billiards Championship

2009-10-25T12:11:00.005+01:00

India's Pankaj Advani won the 2009 World Professional Billiards Championship.

More to follow ...

See also

Pankaj Advani is World champion (The Hindu)
Baize heroes rain praise on Advani after World Championship win (India Today)
"Advani’s speed rattled Russel" (ESPNStar.com)
The pocket world championships (Yorkshire Evening Post)
Pankaj Advani: World Billiards Champion (Snooker Scene blog)
Pankaj Advani seals World Professional Billiards Championship win (The Guardian)
2009 World Professional Billiards Championship (Wikipedia)

Philippines takes 2009 World Cup of Pool

2009-10-25T11:53:00.008+01:00

The Philippine B team of Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante won the 2009 World Cup of Pool.

See also

Philippines Beat Germany in Epic World Cup of Pool Final (Az Billiards)
Reyes & Busta Roll Back the Years for Glory (Pro9.co.uk)
Bata Reyes, Bustamante Wins World Cup of Pool (Artuji)
Reyes and Bustamante Snare World Cup of Pool Title (Inside Pool Magazine)
Bata, Django lift World Cup over Germans (INQUIRER.net)
Bata, Django regain World Cup of Pool crown (GMANews.TV)

Normal service will resume shortly

2009-09-16T12:40:00.015+02:00

Because of health issues there won't be any posts for a while.

Normal service will resume shortly. In the meantime, here is a short rundown of recent results:

Sep 1-6
World Cup of Pool: Philippines B (Reyes, Bustamante)
Sep 2-6
World Professional Billiards Championship: Pankaj Advani (India)
Sep 7-13
Shanghai Masters (snooker): Ronnie O'Sullivan (England)
Sep 17-19
Dutch Open (Euro Tour, 9-ball): Oliver Ortmann (Germany)
Sep 11-20
Galveston World Classic (pool)
Sep 16-20
Carolina Classic (WPBA,9-ball): Ga Young Kim (South Korea)
Sep 25-27
World Junior Three Cushion Championship: Javier Palazon (Spain)
Oct 3-11
Grand Prix (snooker): Neil Robertson (Australia)
Oct 14-17
Portugal Open (Euro Tour, 9-ball): Darryl Peach (England)
Oct 14-18
Pacific Coast Classic (WPBA, 9-ball): Jasmin Ouschan (Austria)

Next up is the US Open 9-ball Championships, the International Tournament of Champions (9-ball) and the International Challenge of Champions (9-ball). Follow these and other events in the right menu.

Chamat wins 2009 Austria Open, Euro Tour event #100

2009-08-23T22:46:00.007+02:00

Sweden's Marcus Chamat won the 2009 Austria Open.

Chamat defeated reigning 10-ball world champion Darren Appleton (England) 9-6 in the final to earn the €5000 first prize. Majid received €3000 for second place.

In the semi finals Chamat beat virtual unknown Jakob Belka from Germany 9-6 and Appleton downed five-time ET winner Niels Feijen (Netherlands) 9-7.

This was Chamat's third Austria Open title and fourth win in total, from seven finals. It puts him at No.6 on the all-time list.

Chamat moves from fifth to third in the Euro Tour Ranking. Appleton jumps from 19th to eighth. Ralf Souquet (Germany) holds a massive lead atop the list and Feijen stays in second place.

This was the 100th event on the Euro Tour. The very first was the 1992 Belgium Open. Mika Immonen (Finland) defeated Tom Storm (Sweden) in that event. Souquet is the all-tim leader with 16 wins, followed by fellow Germans Oliver Ortmann and Thomas Engert with 13 and nine wins respectively.

The tournament was played 19-22 August at Patricks Canadian Taverne, Rankweil, Austria. It was the fourth event of seven on the 2009 Euro Tour. Next up is the Netherlands Open which runs from September 17-19 2009.

See also:

Austria Open 2009 (Event page)
Official Website of the EPBF - IBP Eurotour
Eurotour Oostenrijk: Marcus Chamat wint (Poolkrant - Dutch)
Chamat vinnare av Austria Open! (Svenska Biljardförbundet - Swedish)
Marcus Chamat (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Marcus "Napoleon" Chamat rules in Austria (2006 Austria Open)
Vassalos is surprise winner of Austria Open (2007 Austria Open)
Nick van den Berg takes Austria Open title (2008 Austria Open)
Feijen takes French Open for back-to-back Euro Tour titles (2009 Euro Tour)
Alcaide wins 2009 Italy Open (2009 Euro Tour)
Souquet wins German Open - Euro Tour's first 10-ball event (2009 Euro Tour)

Second US Open title for Ga-young Kim

2009-08-05T00:07:00.003+02:00

Ga-young Kim from South Korea won the 2009 US Open after edging Ireland's Karen Corr 7-5 in the final.

Gerda Hofstätter (Austria) and Allison Fisher (England) finished joint third.

Defending champion Kelly Fisher (England) lost 9-7 to Allison Fisher in the last 16.

This was Kim's second US Open crown and her fourth victory on the WPBA Tour, following wins in the 2004 US Open, the 2005 Cuetec Cues National Championship and the 2007 Carolina Classic. In addition she won the world title in 2005 and 2006.

With this victory Kim is now the sole leader in the rankings. Corr moves from eighth to second. Monica Webb (USA) sits in third place. Kelly Fisher drops from tied first to seventh place.

The event took place from 29 July to 2 August 2009 at the Riverwind Casino, Norman, Oklahoma, USA. It was the third of six events on the 2009 Classic Tour. Next up is the Colorado Classic, at the Sky Ute Casino & Resort, Ignacio, Colorado, USA, 16-20 September 2009.

See also:

Tournament Bracket (wpba.com - PDF)
Highlights: 1 2 3 (wpba.com - PDF)
WPBA (Official page)
Kim Captures 2nd U.S. Open Title (Billiards Digest)
Ga Young Kim wins WPBA US Open (AZ Billiards)
Kim Cements WPBA U.S. Open Title (Inside Pool Magazine)
Oklahoma and Billiards Digest (Sarah Rousey)
US Open 2009 (Jennifer Barretta)
US Open Final Results and Ranking Updates (Pool Cue News and Review)
WPBA Tour | Player Biographies | Ga Young Kim (wpba.com)
Ga-young Kim (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Allison Fisher successfully defends US Open title (2006 US Open)
Allison Fisher takes third US Open in a row (2007 US Open)
Kelly Fisher captures maiden US Open title (2008 US Open)
Monica Webb claims 2009 San Diego Classic for second straight win (2009 Classic Tour)
Ouschan conquers all in 2009 Great Lakes Classic (2009 Classic Tour)

Jaspers goes one better to claim gold in 2009 World Games

2009-07-26T23:09:00.017+02:00

2005 three cushion runner-up Dick Jaspers from Netherlands was one of the winners in the 2009 World Games.

In the 2005 final Jaspers lost 42-41 to Daniel Sanchez (Spain). He got his revenge by beating Sanchez 40-26 in the semi finals and Torbjörn Blomdahl (Sweden) 40-18 in the final.

Austrian Jasmin Ouschan was the defending champion in the women's pool event. She also reached this year's final, but lost 9-8 to Allison Fisher (England).

Ralf Souquet from Germany won the men's pool event. The former world champion is possibly the best player in the world right now and defeated Ching-Shun Yang (Taiwan) 11-4 in the final. The 2005 winner Pei-Weo Chang (Taiwan) did not return to defend his title.

The snooker final was contested between two Englsih pros with veteran Nigel Bond beating David Grace 3-0. Northern Ireland's defending champion Gerard Greene did not take part.

Here are the medals awarded in the billiard disciplines:

Three cushion

1. Dick Jaspers (Netherlands)
2. Torbjörn Blomdahl (Sweden)
3. Marco Zanetti (Italy)

Pool (9-ball)

Women:
1. Allison Fisher (England)
2. Jasmin Ouschan (Austria)
3. Yuan-Chun Lin (Taiwan)

Men:
1. Ralf Souquet (Germany)
2. Ching-Shun Yang (Taiwan)
3. Stephane Cohen (France)

Snooker

1. Nigel Bond (England)
2. David Grace (England)
3. Mohamed Shehab (United Arab Emirates)

The World Games is an event for 30+ sports not included in the Olympic Games. It's staged every four years by the International World Games Association.

The Games took place 16-26 July 2009 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In 2013 the host city will be Cali, Columbia.

See also:

Official site: Billiards
Official site: Billiards
A nice revenge crowned by the gold medal (Ralf Souquet)
GOUD op de World Games in Taiwan!! (Dick Jaspers - Dutch)
Souquet and Fisher lead World Games Gold Medal Winners (AZ Billiards)
WCBS/IGWA - World Games 2009 (WPA)
World Games 2009 (WCBS)
Tournament Details (UMB)
WCBS/IGWA - World Games 2009 - Snooker (IBSF)
Bond's Goldfingers (Snooker Scene blog)
Bond and Bingham claim silverware (Pro Snooker Blog)
Snooker strikes Gold for Team GB (Global Snooker)
Coverage from Taiwan of 2009 World Games Cue Sports (Global Snooker)
Winnaar World Games heet Bond, Nigel Bond (snooker.blog.nl - Dutch)
Du bronze "made in taïwan" pour Cohen (Kozoom - French)
Dick Jaspers (Official homepage - Dutch)
Allison Fisher (Official page)
Ralf "The Kaiser" Souquet (Official page)
Nigel Bond (Official page)
Billiards at the 2009 World Games (Wikipedia)

Results from recent polls

2009-07-13T14:07:00.005+02:00

Here are the results from some recent polls:

What's the toughest world title to win?

According to the visitors snooker is the toughest cueball discipline in which to win the world championship. That option was selected by 65 (43%) of the 150 voters. Combined the disciplines in American Pool received 55 votes. Unfortunately I forgot to include three cushion. Possibly that explains the relatively large number in "Other".

8-ball 5 (3%)
9-ball 28 (18%)
10-ball 11 (7%)
Eightball Pool / Blackball 6 (4%)
English billiards 8 (5%)
Pyramid 3 (2%)
Snooker 65 (43%)
Straight Pool 11 (7%)
Other 13 (8%)

Votes: 150
Poll closed 30 June 2009

What is your favourite cue sport?

Snooker and carom tied for the win here with 19 (31%) each of the 61 votes. American Pool was a clear third with 13 picks.

American Pool 13 (21%)
Carom 19 (31%)
English Billiards 4 (6%)
English Pool 3 (4%)
Pyramid 3 (4%)
Snooker 19 (31%)
Other 1 (1%)
I dont't like cue sports 0 (0%)

Votes: 61
Poll closed 31 December 2008

Thompson nicks ninth gold in the 2009 World Eightball Pool Championships

2009-07-13T13:21:00.003+02:00

Sue Thompson (Scotland) and Phil Harrison (England) came out on top in the 2009 Foster's World Eightball Pool Championships.

Thompson defeated England's Emma Cunningham 8-6 in the women's final.

Thompson has reached the final in 14 of her 15 attempts with this being her ninth win. These two have now contested five of the last six finals, with Cunningham tasting victory in 2005.

Harrison beat Mick Hill (England) 11-7 in the men's final to take home the £10,000 cheque. In the semi-finals Harrison defeated Adam Davis (England) 10-7 and Harrison beat Marc Farnsworth (England) by the same score.

This was Harrison's first title. His previous best was four semi finals. Hill won the title in 2005.

The two defending champions went out early this year. Lynette Horsburgh (Scotland) was beaten 6-3 by Collette Henriksen (Wales) in the last 16 and Gareth Potts (England) lost 9-6 to Davies in the quarter finals.

Ben Clark (England) won the Junior title and Gary Swift (England) took gold in the wheelchair division. There were also a number of other events, including teams, Under 21s and Over 50s.

The tournament took place at the Imperial Hotel in Blackpool, England, 28 June - 9 July 2009.

Please note that this is the English version of the game. Wikipedia explains the differences in detail. Here is an excerpt:

In the version of pool or Eight Ball played in the United Kingdom and Australia, plain unnumbered red balls and yellow balls often replace the solid and striped balls. If not, the terms "bigs" (9-15) and "smalls" (1-7) are generally used instead. The black ball, however, still typically bears a number eight. Another difference is that the UK table has pockets just larger than the balls, whereas the American table has pockets significantly larger.

See also:

World Eightball Pool Federation (Official page)
Cueman Phil on top of the world (Cambridge News)
WEPF Worlds (Cue Club International)
Hall of Fame (World Eight-Ball Pool Federation)
WEPF World 8-Ball Championship - Men: Individual (Sports 123)
WEPF World 8-Ball Championship - Women: Individual (Sports 123)

Related posts

Selby and Thompson are new world eightball champions (2006 world championships)
Thompson and Potts crowned world eightball pool champions (2007 world championships)
Potts and Horsburgh shine in the World Eightball Pool Championships (2008 world championships)

Merckx finally finds success in 2009 Porto World Cup

2009-07-08T03:30:00.006+02:00

Eddy Merckx from Belgium could lift his first World Cup trophy after capturing the World Cup event in Porto, Portugal.

In the final Merckx edged Nikos Polychronopoulos (Greece) 3-2. The frame scores were 15-6, 2-15, 15-6, 9-15 and 15-2.

Surprise men Jae Ho Cho (South Korea) and Jeremy Bury (France) lost out in the semifinals.

Merckx received €5,500 for the win and Polychronopoulos got €3,500 for second place.

Jung Han Heo from South Korea had the highest general average among the 55 competitors with 2.014. He also had the highest single match average of 2.812. Merckx had a perfect 15 for highest run of the tournament.

This was a tournament of upsets, with many of the top players being ousted in the early rounds. Among those failing to reach the last 16 were defending champion Dick Jaspers (Netherlands), Torbjörn Blomdahl (Sweden), Frédéric Caudron (Belgium) and Daniel Sanchez (Spain).

Although this was the first World Cup win for Merckx he has previously won the 2007 European Championship and the 2008 World Championship.

Merckx moves from 11th to third in the World Cup Ranking. Polychronopoulos improves 11 places to seventh. Caudron and Martin Horn (Germany) hang on to the top two positions.

The Belgian jumps to sixth in the World Players Ranking. Jaspers, Sanchez and Caudron are the top three.

The event took place 29 June - 5 July 2009 at the Centro de Congressis Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal. It was the third of five events in the 2009 World Cup. The next event is in Suwon, Korea, 16-21 November 2009.

See also:

Official page (Portuguese)
Tournament Details (UMB)
WorldCup Oporto 2009 (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Vroegtijdige uitschakeling in Worldcup Porto (Dick Jaspers - Dutch)
Greek wins second place in a World Billiard Championship (GR Reporter)
jamcouto's Channel (Videos)
jamcouto1: My Gallery (Photos)
Eddy Merckx (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Sanchez wins World Cup (2006 Porto World Cup)
Third win of the season for Blomdahl in Porto (2007 Porto World Cup)
Jaspers wins Porto World Cup (2008 Porto World Cup)
Caudron takes World Cup season opener in Sluiskil (2009 World Cup)
Martin Horn lifts first career World Cup trophy in Turkey (2009 World Cup)

Immonen wins Qatar Open

2009-07-07T16:06:00.006+02:00

Finland's "Iceman" Mika Immonen won the 2009 Qatar International Open 9-Ball Championship.

In the final Immonen defeated Taiwan's current junior world champion Pin-Yi Ko 13-9. The victory was worth €40,000 with Ko getting €20,000 for second place.

Immonen trounced Antonio Gabica (Philippines) 11-3 in the semi finals. Ko beat England's reigning world 10-ball champion Darren Appleton 11-8.

The Qatar Open is part of the WPA World Tour:

Philippine Open (Niels Feijen)
China Open (Thorsten Hohmann)
Qatar Open (Mika immonen)
Patricks Austria Open
10-ball World Championship
US Open
9-ball World Championship

The victory will improve Immonen's current fifth place in the World Tour rankings. Appleton will be the new No.1.

The tournament was played 27 June - 6 July 2009 at the Grand Regency Hotel, Doha, Qatar. It was the third event of seven on the 2009 World Tour. Next up is the Patricks Austria Open on (Euro Tour), which runs from 17-19 September 2009.

See also:

Qatar Billiards & Snooker Federation
Results (QBSF)
Gallery (QBSF)
Iceman Reigns in the Desert (Billiards Digest)
Immonen Defeats Ko for Qatar 9-Ball Open Win (AzBilliards)
Qatar Open Champion!!!! (Mika's Blog)
Immonen Wins Qatar Open But Who Saw It? (CueSport TV)
Immonen wins Qatar International 9-Ball Pool Championship (The Peninsula)
Media Release: New Rankings (WPA)
Mika Immonen (Official page)
Mika Immonen (Wikipedia)

Ouschan conquers all in 2009 Great Lakes Classic

2009-06-23T19:17:00.007+02:00

Austria's Jasmin Ouscan captured her third career win on the WPBA Classic Tour by taking the 2009 WPBA Great Lakes Classic.

In the final she dominated England's Kelly Fisher 7-2.

Karen Corr (Ireland) and Xiaoting Pan (China), finished joint third.

Defending champion Allison Fisher (England) lost 9-4 to Kelly Fisher in the quarter finals.

This was Ouschan's third win on the Classic Tour. She also won the 2006 EnjoyPool.com 9-ball Championships and the 2008 Carolina Classic.

Monica Webb (USA), who was gunning for her third title in a row on the Classic Tour, was ousted in the last 24 by England's Kim Shaw.

Ouschan's triumph takes her from 17th to third in the rankings. Kelly Fisher moves to first place, tied with former No.2 Ga Young Kim (South Korea).

The event took place from 17-21 June 2009 at the Blue Chip Casino, Michigan City, Illinois, USA. It was the second of six events on the 2009 Classic Tour. Next up is the US Open, at the Riverwind Casino, Norman, Oklahoma, USA, 29 July - 2 August 2009.

See also:

Tournament Bracket (wpba.com - PDF)
Highlights: 1 2 3 4 5 (wpba.com - PDF)
WPBA (Official page)
Ouschan Sails to Great Lakes Title (Billiards Digest)
Ouschan wins WPBA Great Lakes Classic (AZ Billiards)
Ouschan Snares Greats Lakes Billiard Event (Inside Pool Magazine)
WPBA Great Lakes Classics in Michigan City/IN (Jasmin Ouschan)
Great Lakes Classic (Cristina's Blog)
Jasmin Ouschan Wins Great Lakes Classic (Poolmag's 8-Ball Blog)
2009 WPBA Great Lakes Classic Finals (Pool Cue News and Review)
Jasmin Ouschan (Official site)
WPBA Tour | Player Biographies | Jasmin Ouschan (wpba.com)

Related posts:

Allison Fisher takes long road to victory (2006 Great Lakes Classic)
Xiaoting Pan takes maiden win in Great Lakes Classic (2007 Great Lakes Classic)
Allison Fisher claims third Great Lakes Classic title (2008 Great Lakes Classic)
Monica Webb claims 2009 San Diego Classic for second straight win (2009 Classic Tour)

Hogan and Jans win European Snooker Championships

2009-06-14T01:27:00.004+02:00

David Hogan (Ireland) and Wendy Jans (Belgium) won gold medals in the 2009 European Snooker Championships.

Hogan defeated fellow Irishman Mario Fernandez 7-4 in the final of the men's event while home favourite Jans whitewashed Anna Mazhirina (Russia) 5-0.

Hogan blanked Germany's Sascha Lippe in the semis while Fernandez beat yet another Irishman, Brendan O'Donoghue, 6-2.

In an all-Belgian semifinal EJans eased past Caty Dehaene 4-1. Mazhirina edged Latvia's Inese Lukashevska 4-3.

This was Hogan's first major title. Jans won the European title three years in a row from 2004-2006. She also captured the 2006 IBSF World Amateur Championship.

With this victory Hogan won a spot on the 96-man 2009/2010 Main Tour.

Defending champion David Grace (England) lost 5-2 to O'Donoghue in the quarterfinals. 2008 Ladies champion Reanne Evans (England) did not participate in this year's event.

Former top pro Darren Morgan (Wales) won the Masters division. In the final he beat 2000 winner Joe Delaney (Ireland) 6-3. Morgan also won in 2007. He opted for the Men's event last year though, where he made it to the semifinals.

Tony "Tornado" Drago from Malta had the highest break of the tournament with a 139.

The event was held 3-13 June at the Crowne Plaza, Duffel, Belgium.

The European Main Tour play-offs (International Open) was played just before the tournament. Drago won the event to reclaim a place on next season's Main Tour.

See also:

2009 European Snooker Championships (Global Snooker)
European Snooker Championships (snooker.pl)
EBSA
Hogan's Heroics (Snooker Scene blog)
Hogan takes European Glory (Pro Snooker Blog)
Die Rückkehr des Tony Drago (Snookerblog - German)
European Snooker Championships (Veikko Hannulan Snookerblog - Finnish)
David Hogan Player Profile (Global Snooker)
Wendy Jans (Official page)
Wendy Jans (Wikipedia)
Darren Morgan (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Borg and Jans defend Euro snooker titles (2006 European Championships)
Van Hove and Evans win European Snooker Championship golds (2007 European Championships)
Van Hove and Evans win European Snooker Championship golds (2008 European Championships)

Rubilen Amit wins inaugural 10-ball World Championship

2009-06-07T14:37:00.008+02:00

Rubilen Amit from Philippines won the 2009 Women's World 10-Ball Championship on home soil.

In the final she defeated two-time world 9-ball champion Shin-mei Liu (Taiwan) 10-4 to grab the $20,000 first prize and become the first world champion in women's 10-ball. Liu received $9,000 for second place.

Amit defeated Japan's Akimi Kajitani 9-6 in the semifinals. Liu beat Jasmin Ouschan (Austria) 9-6.

This was Amit's first world title from her second final. She finished second to Xiaoting Pan in the 2007 World 9-ball Championship. It was also the first win by a woman from the Philippines.

Unfortunately the event was surrounded by some controversy. Read Sarah Rousey's blog post for more.

The tournament ran from June 2-6, 2009, at the SM Mall North, Manila, Philippines.

See also:

Women's World 10 Ball Championship (Official site)
A Dream Ending for Women’s World 10-Ball Championship (AZ Billiards)
A Legend is Born (Billiards Digest)
Amit Wins First World Billiard Title (Inside Pool Magazine)
Momentary Lapse of Reason (Sarah Rousey)
10-Ball Women World Championship in Manila (Jasmin Ouschan)
Amit pockets World 10-Ball tourney title (BusinessWorld Online)
No more heartaches for Amit (Inquirer)
The Philippines’ dominance in billiards is no longer limited to the men’s game. (Inquirer)
Champ Rubilen Amit: Basketball’s loss is billiards’ gain (GMANews.TV)
Rubilen Amit Crowned JBETpoker.net Women’s World 10-Ball Champion (Maxim Billiards)
Rubilen Amit, 10-Ball World Champion, Filipina (PinoyBusiness.ORG)
First round loss spurred Amit to win world title (ABS-CBN News Online)
Rubilen Amit Crowned JBETpoker.net Women's World 10-Ball Champ (Poolmag's 8-Ball Blog)
Rubilen Amit Wins Women’s World 10-Ball Championship (What is Love)
Rubilen Amit & Gillian Go: History Made at Women's World 10 Ball Championship! (The AnitoKid on Billiards)
Rubilen D. Amit (Billiard Philippines)
Rubilen Dacua Amit (Somewhat outdated profile at Easy Pool Tutor)

Sánchez wins European Three Cushion Championship for a third time

2009-06-07T13:52:00.003+02:00

Daniel Sánchez from Spain won the 2009 European Three Cushion Championship.

In the final he edged Belgium's Frédéric Caudron 3-2. The set scores were 15-11, 2-15, 15-2, 9-15 and 15-13. Torbjörn Blomdahl (Sweden) and Tayfun Tasdemir (Turkey) shared third place.

The final was a relatively low-scoring affair with Sánchez averaging 1.435 and Caudron 1.473.

This was Sánchez' third European title from three finals. His previous wins came in 1997 and 2000. In addition he has four bronzes.

Defending champion Dick Jaspers from the Netherlands was beaten 3-1 by Caudron in the quarterfinals.

Jaspers had the highest tournament average with 1.933. Blomdahl had the best single match average with a 3.750 against Kostas Papakonstantinou (Greece) in the group stages. In that match he also made a perfect 15, to share the high-run honors with Dion Nelin (Denmark).

Sánchez moves up to No.2 in the World Players Ranking. The list is still topped by Jaspers, with Blomdahl in third.

The event took place May 21-24 2009, in Sportshallen, Odense, Denmark.

See also:

European Championships 3 Cushion 2009 (Official site - Danish)
Tournament details (CEB)
Campeonato de Europa 3 Bandas ODENSE (Dinamarca) 2009 (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Troisième titre pour Sánchez (Kozoom - French)
Zweiter EM-Titel für Daniel Sánchez (Billardblog - German)
Billiard: Men: European 3 Cushion Championship (Sports 123)
Página Oficial de Dani Sánchez (Official page - Spanish)
Daniel Sánchez (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Caudron is new European three cushion champion (2006 European Championship)
Eddy Merckx bags European Three Cushion Championship (2007 European Championship)
Dick Jaspers wins European Three Cushion Championship with record-breaking play (2008 European Championship)

Souquet wins German Open - Euro Tour's first 10-ball event

2009-05-24T15:52:00.012+02:00

Ralf Souquet from Germany won the 2009 German Open.

In the final Souquet defeated England's two-time ET winner Imran Majid 8-4 to claim the €5000 first prize. Majid received €3300 for second place.

Souquet defeated countryman and defending champion Thomas Engert 8-3 in the semifinals. Majid edged surprise man Michal Czarnecki (Poland) 8-6.

This was the first ever 10-ball event on the Euro Tour and what could be more fitting than the all-time leader taking the title. This was his 16th win from 26 finals. Fellow German Oliver Ortmann is second on the list with 13 wins.

The German legend is on an amazing run. His last six finishes on the Tour is 5th, 1st, 1st, 5th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st.

Souquet extends his already massive lead in the Euro Tour Ranking. Majid improves from seventh to fourth. The Dutch pair of Niels Feijen and Nick van den Berg hold on to second and third place respectively.

The tournament was played 21-23 May at Billiard Cafe Die Drei, Sindelfingen, Germany. It was the third event of seven on the 2009 Euro Tour. Next up is the Patricks Austria Open which runs from August 20-22 2009. It will be the 100th event on the Euro Tour.

See also:

German Open 2009 (Event page)
German Open Photo Gallery (eurotouronline.eu)
Official Website of the EPBF - IBP Eurotour
Ralf Souquet Continues European Dominance (CueSport TV)
Teufelskerl!!! (Deutsche Billard Union - German)
Teaser and photos from the European Pool Championships (A Pool Players Blog)
Eurotour si best of the East (Biliard, biliard si iar biliard ! - Romanian)
Eurotour Duitsland, Ralf Souquet wint (Poolkrant - Dutch)
Ralf Souquet (Official player page)
Ralf Souquet (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Stolka is surprise winner in Sindelfingen (2006 German Open)
Daryl Peach on top in German Open (2007 German Open)
Engert wins Germany Open for ninth Euro Tour title (2008 German Open)
Feijen takes French Open for back-to-back Euro Tour titles (2009 Euro Tour)
Alcaide wins 2009 Italy Open (2009 Euro Tour)

Martin Horn lifts first career World Cup trophy in Turkey

2009-05-13T19:33:00.005+02:00

Martin Horn from Netherlands earned his first World Cup win by capturing the World Cup event in Antalya, Turkey.

In the final Horn defeated fellow Dutchman, and last season's Tour champion, Dick Jaspers 3-1. The frame scores were 15-13, 7-15, 15-11 and 15-14. Torbjörn Blomdahl (Sweden) and Frédéric Caudron from Belgium lost out in the semifinals.

Horn received € 5.500 for his first victory and Jaspers got € 3.500 for second place.

Caudron had the highest general average among the 54 competitors with 1.713. Savas Bulut (Turkey) had the highest single match average of 2.307. Frenchman Jeremy Bury' perfect 15 was the highest run of the tournament.

Horn moves from 17th to second in the World Cup Ranking. Jaspers improves seven places to fifth. Caudron stays on top and Jozef Philipoom (Belgium) drops from second to third.

The winner jumps to sixth in the World Players Ranking. Jaspers, Blomdahl and Caudron remains the top three.

The event took place 4-10 May 2009 at the Otium Hotels Sun Zeynep, Antalya, Turkey. It was the second of four events in the 2009 World Cup. The next event is in Suwon, Korea, 16-21 November.

See also:

Tournament Details (UMB)
Antalya World Cup 3B (Kozoom - French)
Antalya WorldCup 2009 (Turquia) (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Une première pour Horn"> (Kozoom - French)
Martin Horn triunfa en Turquía (Billarnet - Spanish)
Martin Horn wint finale van Dick Jaspers (Dick Jaspers - Dutch)

Related posts:

Blomdahl wins Manisa World Cup event for third title in a row (2006 Turkey World Cup)
Caudron takes World Cup season opener in Sluiskil (2009 World Cup)

John Higgins wins the World Snooker Championship for a third time

2009-05-05T21:06:00.005+02:00

Scotland's John Higgins captured the 2009 Betfred.com World Snooker Championship.

In the final he overwhelmed England's 2005 world champion Shaun Murphy 18-9.

Neil Robertson (Australia) and Mark Allen (Northern Ireland) lost out in the semifinals.

Higgins received £250,000 for the victory and Murphy got £125,000 for his runner-up spot.

Stephen Hendry (England) won the £157,000 high break bonus after compiling his ninth career maximum break, and second at the Crucible. It was the ninth 147 made in the world championship. In total there were a record 83 centuries in this year's event.

Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) lost 13-11 to Allen in the second round. The last player to successfully defend his world title was Hendry in 1996.

This was the third world title for Higgins, having also lifted the trophy in 1998 and 2007. It was his second ranking title of the season and 20th of his career.

With this win Higgins will improve from fifth to fourth in the new world rankings. Murphy will keep his third place from last season.

O'Sullivan and Stephen Maguire (Scotland) will still be Nos 1 and 2. Graeme Dott is the only player to drop out of the top 16. Mark J Williams regains the spot he lost last year.

The event took place Apr 18 - May 4, 2009 at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England. It was the last of eight ranking tournaments on the 2008/2009 Main Tour.

See also:

World Championship 2009 (World Snooker)
John Higgins destroys Shaun Murphy to take third world snooker title (Times Online)
Higgins earns third world crown (BBC)
Higgins wins third world title (Eurosport)
Higgins Joins Snooker Greats (Sporting Life)
World Professional Snooker Championship 2009 (Global Snooker)
John Higgins: World Champion (Snooker Scene blog)
Betfred.com World Championship 2009: Tournament Round-up (Pro Snooker Blog)
World Championship Qualifier Preview. (Fergal O'Brien)
SnookerManager: World Championship 2009
World Snooker Championship 2009 (Wikipedia)
World Snooker Championship (Wikipedia)
John Higgins (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Dott is new world snooker champion (2006 World Championship)
John Higgins wins the Snooker World Championship - again (2007 World Championship)
Ronnie O'Sullivan wins third World Snooker Championship (2008 World Championship)
It's Ronnie again in the Northern Ireland Trophy (2008/2009 Main Tour)
Walden strikes gold in Shanghai Masters (2008/2009 Main Tour)
John Higgins captures Grand Prix (2008/2009 Main Tour)
It's three out of three for Neil Robertson with Bahrain Championship win (2008/2009 Main Tour)
Shaun Murphy wins 2008 UK Championship (2008/2009 Main Tour)
O'Sullivan wins fourth Masters (2008/2009 Main Tour)
Allister Carter bags first ranking win in the 2009 Welsh Open (2008/2009 Main Tour)
Ebdon returns to winner's circle in 2009 China Open (2008/2009 Main Tour)

Shameless plugs:

Jasmin Ouschan rules in the 2009 European Pool Championships

2009-04-26T15:39:00.009+02:00

Austria's Jasmin Ouschan had a near-perfect showing at the 2009 European Pool Championships.

Ouschan took golds in 8-ball and 9-ball, and silver in straight pool. In 8-ball she also won in 2007 and 2008.

Jouni Tahti from Finland rolled away with gold in both wheelchair events.

None of the other defending champions managed to retain their titles and no other players reached more than one final.

Here are the results:

Men
8-ball: Andreas Roschowsky (Germany) bt Nikos Ekonomopulos (Greece) 8-7
9-ball: Nick van der Berg (Netherlands) bt Ruslan Chinahov (Russia) 9-8
14.1: Dimitri Jungo (Switzerland) bt Niels Feijen (Netherlands) 125-74

Women
8-ball: Jasmin Ouschan (Austria) bt Janine Schwan (Germany) 6-4
9-ball: Jasmin Ouschan (Austria) bt Veronika Hubrtova (Czech Republic) 7-0
14.1: Gerda Hofstätter (Austria) bt Jasmin Ouschan (Austria) 75-70

Wheelchair
8-ball: Jouni Tahti (Finland) bt Tony Southern (England) 5-1
9-ball: Jouni Tahti (Finland) bt Roy Kimberley (England) 7-6

This was Hofstätter's ninth gold. Ouschan and Tahti now have eight euro golds each.

The event was held 16-25 April, 2009 at the Sporthotel Apline im Alpendorf, in St Johann im Pongau, Austria.

See also:

European Pool Championships (Official site)
European Championships - 2009 (EPBF Archive)
Total dominance by Jasmin Ouschan in the European Championships! (Roy D'Fish)
The Joy and Pain at the European Championship (AZ Billiards)
Nick van den Berg European 9-Ball Champion (AZ Billiards)
European Championships 2009 in St.Johann in Pongau (Jasmin Ouschan)
17th in 9-ball (Katrine Jensen)
Jasmin Ouschan brilla con luz propia en el Campeonato de Europa, gana Bola 8 y Bola 9 (Billarnet - Spanish)
Hofstätter und Jungo
holen sensationell Gold! (Touch Magazine - German)
EM St. Johann 9-Ball II (Touch Magazine - German)
Poolkrant.nl (Coverage - Dutch)
Teaser and photos from the European Pool Championships (APPB)
Jasmin Ouschan (Official page)

Related posts:

Reanne Evans claims fifth World Ladies Snooker Championship in a row

2009-04-10T17:00:00.013+02:00

Reanne Evans from England captured the World Ladies Snooker Championship for a record fifth straight time.

In the final she beat compatriot Maria Catalano 5-2 to pocket the £800 winner's cheque. Catalano got £400 as runner up.

Catalano recorded the highest break in the event, a 94 in the group stages.

It was a record fifth world title in a row for Evans. In 2005 she defeated Lynette Horsburgh (Scotland) 6-1, in 2006 she beat Emma Bonney (England) 5-3, in 2007 she won 5-3 over Katie Henrick (England) and last year she beat Emma Banks (England) 5-3.

By capturing the title she also ended the season on top of the WLBSA official rankings.

June Banks (England) beat countrywoman Jenny Poulter 3-0 in the seniors final. 12-year-old Hannah Jones (England) retained the juniors title by defeating Joanne Davies (England) 2-1 in the final.

Jones also teamed up with Jaique Ip Wan In (Netherlands) to beat Chris Sharpe (England) and So Man Yan (Hong Kong) 2-1 in the ladies doubles.

Evans and Michael Holt (England) won the mixed doubles event, beating another English pair, Leah Willett and Joe Perry, 3-2 in the final.

In the final of the english billiards event Emma Bonney (England) retained her crown be beating Chitra Magimairaj (India) 272-118.

This championship is organized by the World Ladies Snooker & Billiards Association. It must not be confused with the IBSF World Championship. Evans is a also the defending champion in that event.

The tournament was played at the Cambridge Snooker Centre, Cambridge, England, 4-9 April, 2009.

See also:

Official page
World Ladies Billiards & Snooker Association
Evans on top of the world (Global Snooker)
Evans wins World Championship (Eurosport)
High Five for Evans (World Snooker)
Here Come the Girls (Snooker Scene blog)
Emma was too good: Chitra (The Hindu)
2009 Update (Hannah Jones)
Reanne Evans (Wikipedia)
Reanne Evans (Official page)

Related posts:

Reanne Evans is new world snooker champion (2006 Ladies World Championships)
Reanne Evans defends World Snooker Championship (2007 Ladies World Championships)
Reanne Evans captures fourth straight World Ladies Snooker Championship (2008 Ladies World Championships)

Monica Webb claims 2009 San Diego Classic for second straight win

2009-04-06T17:27:00.005+02:00

Monica Webb (USA) captured the season-opening 2009 WPBA San Diego Classic for her second title in a row.

In the final she edged 2004 world champion Ga Young Kim (South Korea) 7-5. Jeanette Lee (USA) and Gerda Hofstätter (Austria), finished joint third.

Defending champion Allison Fisher (England) lost 9-8 to Hofstätter in the final 16.

This was Webb's second title in a row on the Classic Tour, having taken her very first win in the 2008 WPBA Championship. She is also unbeaten in these two events.

In the rankings all players start off with zero points. Therefore Webb will be the first leader in the rankings. She ended up in fourth place last season.

The event took place from 1-5 April at the Viejas Casino, Alpine, California, USA. It was the first of six events on the 2009 Classic Tour. Next up is the Great Lakes Classic, at the Blue Chip Casino, Michigan City, Indiana, 17-21 June 2009.

See also:

Tournament Bracket (wpba.com - PDF)
Highlights: 1 2 3 4 5 6 (wpba.com - PDF)
WPBA (Official page)
Dispelling Any Doubts (Billiards Digest)
Webb Wins WPBA's 2009 Debut (Billiards Digest)
Webb wins WPBA San Diego Classic (AzBilliards)
Webb Wins San Diego Billiards Event (Inside Pool Magazine)
Tournament Rundown (Sarah Rousey)
San Diego (Sarah Rousey)
WPBA San Diego Classics 2009 (Jasmin Ouschan)
Pics from the 2009 San Diego Classic (Frank's Dawg House)
Cream-Crackered! (Sticks and balls and holes - Liz Ford)
San Diego Classic Day 2 (Cristina's Blog)
Monica Webb Wins San Diego 9-Ball Classic! (Poolmag's 8-Ball Blog)
Monica Webb Wins the 2009 WPBA San Diego Classic (Pool Cue News and Review)
Monica Webb (Official player page)
WPBA Tour | Player Biographies | Monica Webb (wpba.com)

Related posts:

Kelly Fisher defends San Diego title (2006 San Diego Classic)
Kelly Fisher three-peats in San Diego Classic (2007 San Diego Classic)
Allison Fisher wins San Diego Classic (2008 San Diego Classic)

Ebdon returns to winner's circle in 2009 China Open

2009-04-05T19:29:00.004+02:00

Peter Ebdon (England) captured the 2009 Bank of Beijing World Snooker China Open.

In a very close final he defeated Scotland's two-time World Champion John Higgins 10-8.

Tournament surprise Stuart Pettman (England) and Ryan Day (Wales) lost out in the semifinals.

Ebdon received £52,000 for the victory and Higgins got £25,000 for his runner-up spot.

Higgins and Ricky Walden (England) shared the £2,000 high break bonus after compining matching 140s.

Defending champion Stephen Maguire (Scotland) crashed out 5-0 to Dave Harold in the first round.

This was the eighth ranking title for Ebdon but first since the 2006 UK Championship. Higgins was looking for his 20th title and second of the season.

Higgins' final loss means the seven ranking events of the season have been won by seven different players.

Ebdon leapt from 17th to 12th in the provisional rankings. Higgins advanced two places, from seventh to fifth. Pettman jumped from 48th to 37th. Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) and Maguire retain the top two positions. Shaun Murphy (England) overtook Allister Carter (England) to claim third place.

The event took place at the Beijing University Students Gymnasium, Beijing, China Mar 30 - Apr 5, 2009. It was the seventh ranking tournament of eight on the 2008/2009 Main Tour. Next up on the snooker calendar is the Betfred World Championship which starts 18th April 2009.

See also:

China Open 2009 (World Snooker)
Ebdon outlasts Higgins in final (BBC)
Ebdon ends title drought in China (Eurosport)
Ebdon Claims China Prize (Sporting Life)
China Open 2009 (Global Snooker)
Not So Blue Peter (Snooker Scene blog)
China Open 2009: Ebdon wins absorbing final (Pro Snooker Blog)
China Open Qualifying. (Fergal O'Brien)
SnookerManager: China Open 2009
China Open 2009 (snooker) (Wikipedia)
Peter Ebdon (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Williams wins in China (2006 China Open)
Graeme Dott claims China Open trophy (2007 China Open)
Maguire makes maximum on the way to China Open title (2008 China Open)
It's Ronnie again in the Northern Ireland Trophy (2008/2009 Main Tour)
Walden strikes gold in Shanghai Masters (2008/2009 Main Tour)
John Higgins captures Grand Prix (2008/2009 Main Tour)
It's three out of three for Neil Robertson with Bahrain Championship win (2008/2009 Main Tour)
Shaun Murphy wins 2008 UK Championship (2008/2009 Main Tour)
O'Sullivan wins fourth Masters (2008/2009 Main Tour)
Allister Carter bags first ranking win in the 2009 Welsh Open (2008/2009 Main Tour)

Shameless plugs:

Alcaide wins 2009 Italy Open

2009-03-30T23:13:00.003+02:00

David Alcaide from Spain won the 2009 Italy Open for his first ever Euro Tour title.

In the final Alcaide defeated Germany's all-time Euro Tour leader Ralf Souquet 9-5. The victory was worth €5000 with Souquet getting €3300 for second place.

The semi-finals saw Alcaide trounce England's Craig Osborne 9-2 and Souquet scrape past countryman Marko Vogel 9-4.

Alcaide's previous best on the Euro Tour were three semi-final spots. It was Spain's second win with Samir Kaddur winning the 2004 Denmark Open. This was Souquet's 25th final, of which he has won a Tour-leading 15 times. The German legend is on a terrific run. His last six finishes is 5th, 1st, 1st, 5th, 3rd and 2nd.

Defending champion Darren Appleton (England) lost 9-6 to Mateusz Sniegocki (Poland) in the last 32.

The win took Alcaide from 15th to fourth in the Euro Tour Ranking. Losing finalist Souquet improved from second to first. Former leader Niels Feijen (Netherlands) dropped to second after a disappointing 9th place and Nick van den Berg (Netherlands) stayed in third.

The tournament was played 26-28 March at the Holiday Inn, Castel Volturno, Italy. It was the second event of seven on the 2009 Euro Tour. Next up is the German Open which runs from May 21-23 2009. It will be the 99th event on the Euro Tour but the first with 10-ball.

See also:

Italy Open 2009 (Event page)
Italy Open Photo Gallery (www.eurotouronline.eu)
Official Website of the EPBF - IBP Eurotour
Alcaide Grabs the Cheese From Souquet (AzBilliards)
Alcaide and Souquet Contest Italian Open Final (CueSport TV)
David Alcaide, campeón del Eurotour de Italia (Billarnet - Spanish)
El Matador vitorioso in Italian Open (Poolkrant - Dutch)
David Alcaide (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Majid wins in Italy (2006 Italy Open)
Christian Reimering victorious in Italian Open (2007 Italy Open)
Darren Appleton captures Italy Open (2008 Italy Open)
Feijen takes French Open for back-to-back Euro Tour titles (2009 Euro Tour)

Jasper tops 2009 AGIPI Billiard Masters

2009-03-21T17:21:00.007+01:00

Dick Jaspers from Netherlands won the 2009 AGIPI Billiard Masters.

In a high-quality final world No.1 Jaspers defeated defending champion Torbjörn Blomdahl (Sweden) 50-39. Blomdahl went out in front early helped by a run of 11, but Jaspers rebounded with some excellent play. His final average was 2.63 compared to Blomdahl's 2.05.

Belgians Frédéric Caudron and Roland Forthomme tied for third.

This win must have been extra sweet for Jaspers as he lost to 50-26 to Blomdahl in the final of last year's first running of the event.

Including bonuses Jaspers earned €20.550 for the victory. Blomdahl took home €14.450.

Players earned bonuses for runs of 10 or more and games won in 25 innings or less. Prizes were also awarded to the three players with highest general averages.

Jaspers had the highest run of the tournament with a 20 in the qualifying rounds. Caudron's 15 was the highest in the final stages. Kyung-Roul Kim had the highest general average of 2.043. Of those reaching the final stages Jaspers' 1.954 topped the list. Eddy Merckx from Belgium won two matches in only 17 innings, resulting in the highest special average of 2.94.

The event's final stage took place 12-15 March 2009 at the AGIPI Auditorum, Schiltigheim, France and was televised live on Eurosport.

See also:

Official site
Tournament Details (UMB)
Jaspers is The 2009 AGIPI Billiard Masters Champion (AZ Billiards)
Jaspers Claims AGIPI Billiard Masters Title (Cuesport TV)
Jaspers, la revanche (Kozoom - French)
Fase Final Master Agipi 2009 (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Dick wint AGIPI Masters in Frankrijk! (Dick Jaspers - Dutch)
Dick Jaspers (Wikipedia)
Dick Jaspers (Official homepage - Dutch)

Sweden grabs ninth world three cushion team championship

2009-03-09T18:32:00.003+01:00

For the fifth time in a row and ninth overall Sweden won the World Team Three Cushion Championship.

The winning team once again consisted of Torbjörn Blomdahl and Michael Nilsson. In the final they won 2-0 over Belgium (Eddy Merckx and Roland Forthomme).

Germany and South Korea tied for third place in an event with teams from 18 countries.

Blomdahl has played on all the nine winning teams. Nilsson has "only" seven golds.

Sweden had a perfect 10-0 record in the event. They also had the highest general average of 1.769.

Of all the players Blomdahl had the highest general average of 1.969. He also had a 3.333 to top the single game averages. Belgium's Roland Forthomme had the highest run with 14.

The tournament was played 5-8 March at Festhalle Viersen in Viersen, Germany.

See also:

WC in three cushions billiards 2009 for national teams (official site)
Tournament details (umb.org)
Femte raka VM-guldet för Blomdahl (Helsingborgs Dagblad - Swedish)
Världsmästare för femte året i rad! (Svenska Biljardförbundet - Swedish)
La couronne suédoise"> (Kozoom - French)
Schweden bleibt unschlagbar (Billiardblog.info - German)
Rankinglist last five years (UMB - PDF)
Billiard: Men: World Team 3 Cushion Championship (Sports 123)

Related posts:

Sweden takes gold in world three cushion team event (2007 World Team Three Cushion Championship)
Sweden successfully defends world three cushion team championship (2008 World Team Three Cushion Championship)

Three years and counting

2009-02-28T00:31:00.000+01:00

Billiard Pulse is a gargantuous three years old today!

.. or rather yesterday, but I've been a bit lazy.

The biggest change since the second anniversary is the addition of polls. Other than that the concept is the same as one year ago:

Provide links to current and upcoming events
Write short reports from major events with references to related material
Cover the billiard blogosphere and maintain a list of billiard blogs and other billiard related sites

This blog is still a "labour of love" for me. I hope you find it useful.

Thanks for visiting!

State of the blog

In total there's been 196 posts since the start and 56 in the last year.

They have been tagged 1306 times with 132 different tags. 98 (28 in the last year) posts have been tagged with pool, 44 (12) with snooker and 31 (10) with carom.

The link list in the right menu now contains 179 links, of which 123 are blogs. That's a slight increase since last year when the numbers were 170 and 118 respectively. I had to retire a fair share of those though.

Related posts:

Allister Carter bags first ranking win in the 2009 Welsh Open

2009-02-22T23:31:00.006+01:00

England's Allister Carter won the 2009 Welsh Open.

His opponent Joe Swail (N.Ireland) took the early lead with 5-2 before Carter stormed back with seven frames on the trot to win 9-5.

Anthony Hamilton (England) and Neil Robertson (Australia) lost out in the semifinals.

Carter received £35,000 for the victory and Swail got £17,500 for his runner-up spot.

Marco Fu (Hong Kong) had the highest break of the tournament with a 142. That earnt him £2,000.

Defending champion Mark Selby (England) lost 5-3 to Hamilton in the quarterfinals.

This was the first ranking title for Carter. Swail was also looking for his first title. The popular Irishman will be happy to finally have reached a final though. This was his 10th(!) semi-final appearance.

Carter improves from fourth to third in the provisional rankings. Swail jumps eight places, from 28th to 20th. The top two remain the same. Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) stays on top, followed by Stephen Maguire (Scotland).

The event took place at the Newport Centre, Newport, Wales 16-22 February, 2009. It was the sixth ranking tournament of eight on the 2008/2009 Main Tour. Next up on the snooker calendar is the Honghe Industrial China Open which starts 30th March 2009.

See also:

Welsh Open 2009 (World Snooker)
Carter storms to Welsh Open title (BBC)
Carter seals first ranking event (Eurosport)
Carter Comeback Sinks Swail (Sporting Life)
Ali Carter clinches breakthrough victory after match of two halves (Times Online)
Welsh Open 2009 (Global Snooker)
Ali Carter: Welsh Open Champion (Snooker Scene blog)
Welsh Open 2009: Captain Carter flies to Welsh glory (Pro Snooker Blog)
Welsh Open - Newport (Fergal O'Brien)
Welsh Open Qualifying (Fergal O'Brien)
Cuefacts - Welsh Open 2009 (Global Snooker)
SnookerManager: Welsh Open 2009
Welsh Open 2009 (snooker) (Wikipedia)
Ali Carter (Pro Snooker Blog)
Allister Carter (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Stephen Lee wins Welsh crown (2006 Welsh Open)
Neil Robertson wins Welsh Open (2007 Welsh Open)
Mark Selby wins Welsh Open after impressive comeback (2008 Welsh Open)
It's Ronnie again in the Northern Ireland Trophy (2008/2009 Main Tour)
Walden strikes gold in Shanghai Masters (2008/2009 Main Tour)
John Higgins captures Grand Prix (2008/2009 Main Tour)
It's three out of three for Neil Robertson with Bahrain Championship win (2008/2009 Main Tour)
Shaun Murphy wins 2008 UK Championship (2008/2009 Main Tour)
O'Sullivan wins fourth Masters (2008/2009 Main Tour)

Shameless plugs:

Feijen takes French Open for back-to-back Euro Tour titles

2009-02-15T16:54:00.005+01:00

Niels Feijen from Netherlands captured the 2009 French Open for his second Euro Tour win in a row.

In the final the merited Dutchman defeated 15-year old Mario He (Austria) 9-4. The victory was worth €5000. Mario got €3300 for second place.

The semi-finals saw Feijen defeating Poland's Thomasz Kaplan 9-4. Mario overcame Tour legend Ralf Souquet (Germany) by the same score.

This was Feijen's first win in the French Open and fifth Euro Tour win overall, from ten finals. It moves him into fourth in the all-time list, only behind the German trio of Souquet, Oliver Ortmann and Thomas Engert.

It was Feijen's second straight win, having also lifted the trophy at the 2008 Costa del Sol Open. Souquet won the two events leading into that event. Before that Johnny Archer (USA) was the last man to win back-to-back titles, in 2000.

Defending champion Tony Drago (Malta) lost 9-8 to Rafael Guzmann (Spain) in the Losers Qualification.

The win took Feijen from second to first in the season's first Euro Tour Ranking. Losing finalist Mario improved from 184th to 96th. Former leader Souquet dropped to second and Nick van den Berg slipped to third.

The tournament was played 12-14 February at the Leader Billard Club, Paris, France. It was the first event of seven on the 2009 Euro Tour. Next up is the Italy Open which runs from March 25-28 2009.

See also:

French Open 2009 (Event page)
French Open Photo Gallery (www.eurotouronline.eu)
IBP Euro Tour in Paris/France (Jasmin Ouschan)
Niels Feijen is the Euro Tour 2009 French Open Champion (Pro9.co.uk)
Feijen Pulls a Double (AZ Billiards)
Feijen Wins in Paris (CueSport TV)
Niels Feijen gana el primer Euro Tour del año (Billarnet - Spanish)
Official Website of the EPBF - IBP Eurotour
Two in a row!!!!!! (Niels Feijen)
Feijen Pulls a Double (AzBilliards)
Feijen Wins in Paris (CueSport TV)
Terminator wint van He-Man (Poolkrant - Dutch)
Niels Feijen (Official player page)
Niels Feijen (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Tony Drago wins French Open (2008 French Open)

John Brumback is Master of the Table in 2009 Derby City Classic

2009-02-01T13:59:00.022+01:00

John Brumback from the USA is the Master of the Table in the 2009 Derby City Classic.

The tournament is comprised of three events. Brumback was first in bank pool, top-ten in one pocket and 9th in 9-ball. He bested Johnathan Pinegar (USA) with only half a point, 175.5-175.

Here are the final results, with field sizes:

Bank pool (398): Winner: John Brumback (USA), $10,000; Runner-up: Rodolfo Luat (Philippines), $5,000
One pocket (333): Winner: John Schmidt (USA), $12,000; Runner-up: Scott Frost (USA), $6,000
9-ball: (341) Winner: Shane Van Boening (USA), $16,000; Runner-up: Lee Van Corteza (Philippines), $8,000

All-around title (Master of the Table):

Brumback, $20,000
Pinegar, $3,000
Luat, $2,000

This was Brumback's first all-around-title and also his first bank pool crown. Earlier he had finished runner-up twice in banks. Schmidt and Van Boening also lifted their first trophies in the event.

Francisco Bustamante (Philippines) was the defending over-all champion but ended outside the top four this year.

During the week there were several more events being staged. For instance, Danny Harriman (USA) beat defending champion Darren Appleton (England) in the final of the Straight Pool Challenge.

The tournament ran from January 23-31 at the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel, Elizabeth, Indiana, USA. It was the 11th edition of the event.

See also:

Derby City Classic (official site)
Van Boening wins Derby 9-Ball (AzBilliards)
DCC Master of the Table: Brumback (Billiards Digest)
New Digs, Still Classic (Billiards Digest)
Brumback Clinches All-Around Rewards (Inside Pool Magazine)
DCC 2009 (Markus Hofstätter)
Derby City re-cap (Mika's Blog)
Derby City day 7 (Moore Blogging)
Home from Derby...Finally (The Tip Jar)
My DCC adventure (roy d'fish)
Home Sweet Home (Sarah Rousey)
@ the DCC (Katrine Jensen)
Derby City Classic (The Pool Pack)
Derby City Classic 2009 (Images - Billiard Coach Mike Feldhammer)
DCC 2009 Tournament Photos (onepocket)
Accu-Stats On Location (Live Pay Per View)
The Action Report (Video coverage from the DCC Action Room)
Derby City Classic (AzBilliards Forums)
DCC gossip and links (Pro9.co.uk Forum)
City Classic (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Reyes is Master of the Table in Derby (2007 Derby City Classic)
Bustamante wins all-around title in Derby City Classic (2008 Derby City Classic)

Caudron takes World Cup season opener in Sluiskil

2009-01-29T18:17:00.017+01:00

Frédéric Caudron from Belgium successfully defended the World Cup event in Sluiskil, Netherlands.

In the final Caudron defeated fellow Belgian Jozef Philipoom 3-0. The frame scores were 15-4, 15-13 and 15-11. Tying for third were Torbjörn Blomdahl (Sweden) and Tayfun Tasdemir from Turkey.

This was the Belgian's second consecutive win in Sluiskil and seventh World Cup win. He earned € 5.500 for the victory. Philipoom got € 3.500 for second place.

Last season's Tour champion Dick Jaspers (Netherlands) had the highest general average among the 150 competitors with 1.934. Kouji Funaki (Japan) had the highest single match average of 3.000. Nikos Polychronopoulos (Greece) had the highest run with 13.

Jaspers went out 3-1 to tournament surprise package Philipoom in the last 16. It was a high-class match with Philipoom averaging 2.400 and Jaspers 2.315.

With this being the season opener Caudron tops the World Cup Ranking. He's followed by Philipoom, Tasdemir and Blomdahl.

Caudron drops from third to fourth in the World Players Ranking. Philipoom leaps fom 40th to 16th. Jaspers holds on to the lead and Daniel Sánchez (Spain) stays in second.

The event took place 19-25 January 2009 at the Congrescentrum 't Meulengat, Sluiskil, Netherlands. It was the first of four events in the 2009 World Cup. The next event is in Antalya, Turkey, 5-10 May.

See also:

Official site
Tournament Details (UMB)
Caudron se adjudica la primera prueba del año de la Copa del Mundo (Billarnet - Spanish)
Caudron mate la rébellion (Kozoom - French)
Worldcup de Sluiskil 2009 (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Dick botst op superieure Philipoom in Worldcup Sluiskil (Dick Jaspers - Dutch)
Frédéric Caudron (Official player site)
Frédéric Caudron (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Jaspers wins World Cup in Sluiskil (2006 Sluiskil World Cup)
Blomdahl wins World Cup in Sluiskil (2007 Sluiskil World Cup)
Frédéric Caudron wins World Cup in Sluiskil (2008 Sluiskil World Cup)

O'Sullivan wins fourth Masters

2009-01-19T23:57:00.005+01:00

Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) won the 2009 Masters.

The final against fellow Englishman and defending champion Mark Selby went back and forth until Ronnie O'Sullivan took the last two frames to take the match 10-8.

O'Sullivan had some impressive shots in an exciting match, including a classic long pink to win the 17th frame.

The win was especially impressive since he was playing with a new cue after having smashed his ols one just days before the tournament. After securing the win he gave his new cue away to a member of the public.

O'Sullivan received £150,000 for the victory and Selby got £75,000 for his runner-up spot.

Scots John Higgins and Stephen Maguire lost out in the semifinals.

Higgins had the highest break of the tournament with the 140 he made in his last 16 win over Marco Fu (Hong Kong).

This was the fourth Masters title for O'Sullivan and his third in the last five years. He's previously won in 1995, 2005 and 2007. He has also lost four finals, two in the deciding frame.

The event took place at the Wembley Arena, London, England 11-18 January, 2009. Next up on the snooker calendar is the Welsh Open which starts 16th February 2009.

See also:

Maplin UK Championship 2008 (World Snooker)
O'Sullivan reclaims Masters crown (BBC)
O'Sullivan wins thrilling Masters final (Eurosport)
Rocket Wins Fourth Masters (Sporting Life)
2009 Masters (Global Cue Sports Centre)
2009 Masters Snooker (Wikipedia)
Wembley Masters 2009: O’Sullivan battles to fourth Masters title (Pro Snooker Blog)
Simply the Best (Snooker Scene Blog)
SnookerManager: Masters 2009
Masters (snooker) (Wikipedia)
Ronnie O'Sullivan (Official site)
Ronnie O'Sullivan (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Ronnie O'Sullivan wins Masters in style (2007 Masters)
Mark Selby wins Masters on debut (2008 Masters)
It's Ronnie again in the Northern Ireland Trophy (2008/2009 Main Tour)
Walden strikes gold in Shanghai Masters (2008/2009 Main Tour)
John Higgins captures Grand Prix (2008/2009 Main Tour)
It's three out of three for Neil Robertson with Bahrain Championship win (2008/2009 Main Tour)
Shaun Murphy wins 2008 UK Championship (2008/2009 Main Tour)

Shameless plugs:

2008 in the billiard blogosphere

2009-01-11T19:05:00.001+01:00

Since last year's edition of this article we have seen many changes in the billiard section of the blogosphere. New blogs have appeared while others have ceased to exist. Here's a short rundown of the year in billliard blogs:

New blogs

A number of new blogs were launched this year. Here are some of the ones I found most interesting:

Players

The Finnish "Iceman" Mika Immonen has been a top pro for many years. He is a former world pool champion and this year he won the prestigious US Open trophy. In his blog he reports from the major events. His straight-forward informal style is very refreshing.

Jeanette "The Black Widow" Lee is possibly the one player in the world best known by people outside the sport. She has alway been terrific at promoting herself and the sport and her online presence is no exception. Her posts are honest and informative, giving you an insight into the WPBA.

Another top player to join the ranks of the bloggers this year is Dutchman Nick van den Berg. Although his posts are quite short it's nice to hear yet another voice from inside the circuit.

Katrine Jensen is one of Denmark's top female players. She is also the partner of top pro Niels Feijen. She writes in a personal tone about the events she plays, the drills she do and whatever else goes on in her life. She also reports from her travelling with Niels to the major events.

Caroline Pao is an up and coming player. It will be interesting to follow her pursuit for success on the WPBA Tour.

It's very interesting to follow the exploits of the pros but the amateur game can sometimes be equally fascinating. The goal of Roy "D'Fish" Steffensen is to win the Norwegian Championship. This is a blog/diary about his weekly practise-routines, tournaments he attends and other pool related things he experiences on his way to achieving that goal. He even has a camera hooked up so you can watch him play.

News & results

Pro Snooker Blog was launched in August of 2008 and provides daily reports from the world of professional snooker. It contains the latest results, breaking news, player bios and links to other news sources. The author is a keen follower of the game and he also reports directly from the events he attend. This is a great resource for anyone interested in top level snooker.

... and now for something completely different. Snooker Sceney is also covering the major snooker events. It's very much written in tongue-in-cheek style though. I wonder if you can guess what other blog it refers to :-).

Judging by the number of blogs in German about snooker the interest for the game in the country must be on an all-time high. Kalbs Snooker Break is found on the Eurosport site. Rolf Kalb is the snooker commentator for the German version of the channel and here he provides some well-written articles about the pro game.

billiardblog is another German blog, covering the world of pool. During the 2008 Mosconi Cup they provided daily results and also displayed video from the event.

Pool & Billiard Magazine has been online for 13 years and they now have their own blog. Poolmag's 8-Ball Blog is primarily focused on the major pool events.

Billiards Digest is another magazine with a strong online presence. Jeanette Lee and Tony Robles are two of the authors in the Blogs & Columns section.

Other

Pool Student's Blog is a very promising blog about learning the game of pool. It's written by John Biddle from Florida. He has studied the game in detail and hopes that his posts will help others, and also expects to see improvements in his own game as a result.

The Pool Pack Blog is the newest member of the billiard blogosphere. Their mission is quite simple, namely to aggregrate, collate and discuss the best of what's going on in pool. So far they've already written about such varied subjects as snooker match fixing inquiries, computer games and aiming systems. Colin Colenso is the founder but he's also looking for others to contribute. Email him if you're interested.

More

Here are the rest of the blogs found in 2008:

Dead blogs

A blog is rather uninteresting if it's not being updated on a regular basis.

Some blogs have not had any new postings in 2008 and have therefore been removed from the blog roll:

Others have died or have been closed:

... and some have been password protected:

All this leaves us with about 120 blogs in the blog roll to your right. That's 20 more than last year. Let's hope that number will increase even more in 2009!

Related posts

Shaun Murphy wins 2008 UK Championship

2008-12-27T17:03:00.006+01:00

England's Shaun Murphy won the 2008 Maplin UK Championship.

The final against Hong Kong's Marco Fu went back and forth until Murphy won 10-9 after having fluked the pink in the deciding frame.

Stephen Maguire (Scotland) and Allister Carter (England) lost out in the semi-finals.

Murphy received £100,000 for the victory and Fu got £46,000 for his runner-up spot.

Ding Junhui had the highest break of the tournament with the 147 maximum he made in his last 16 loss to John Higgins (Scotland). It was Junhui's second career maximum.

This was the third ranking title for Murphy. He's previously won the 2005 World Championship and the 2007 Malta Cup. Fu was looking for his second win in ranking events.

Murphy is the 10th player to win both the World Championship and the UK Championship.

Murphy moves from sixth to third in the provisional rankings. Fu advances three places, from ninth to sixth. The top two remain the same. Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) stays on top, followed by Stephen Maguire (Scotland).

Murphy jumps from 10th to fifth in the ELO Ratings. Fu advances nine places, from 15th to sixth. No changes in the top three. O'Sullivan is still the clear frontrunner, followed by John Higgins (Scotland) and Maguire.

The event took place at the Telford International Centre, Telford, England 13-21 December, 2008. It was the fifth ranking tournament of eight on the 2008/2009 Main Tour. Next up on the snooker calendar is the Masters which starts 11th January 2009.

See also:

Maplin UK Championship 2008 (World Snooker)
Maplin UK Championship 2008 (Maplin Electronics)
Murphy defeats Fu to clinch title (BBC)
Murphy claims UK Championship (Eurosport)
Murphy Burns Midnight Oil to Win (Sporting Life)
2008 Maplin UK Championship (Global Cue Sports Centre)
2008 UK Snooker Championship (Wikipedia)
Maplin Electronics UK Championship 2008: Murphy wins late-night epic (Pro Snooker Blog)
Murphy Leaves it Late (Snooker Scene Blog)
Online cue sports video done right! (Billiard Coach - Mike Feldhammer)
SnookerManager: UK Championship 2008
UK Snooker Championship (Wikipedia)
Shaun Murphy (official site)
Shaun Murphy (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Peter Ebdon wins UK Championship (2006 UK Championship)
Ronnie O'Sullivan wins fourth UK Championship (2007 UK Championship)
It's Ronnie again in the Northern Ireland Trophy (2008 Main Tour)
Walden strikes gold in Shanghai Masters (2008 Main Tour)
John Higgins captures Grand Prix (2008 Main Tour)
It's three out of three for Neil Robertson with Bahrain Championship win (2008 Main Tour)

Shameless plugs:

Dick Jaspers wins World Cup in Spain to earn season honours

2008-12-27T14:30:00.005+01:00

Dick Jaspers from Netherlands secured the World Cup title for 2008 by capturing the World Cup event in Spain.

Jaspers soundly defeated Sweden's Torbjörn Blomdahl 3-1 in the final, with an impressive average of 2.809. The frame scores were 15-6, 14-15, 15-4 and 15-7.

Tying for third were Martin Horn (Germany) and former world champion Daniel Sánchez from Spain.

Ramon Rodriguez from Peru had the highest general average of 1.851. Sánchez had the highest single match average of 3.000. Current world champion Marco Zanetti (Italy) scored the highest run with a perfect 15.

This was the Dutchman's fourth win of the season. He also captured the titles in Portugal, Mexico and South Korea.

The win secured Jaspers' victory in the 2008 World Cup Ranking. Sánchez and Frédéric Caudron (Belgium) stayed in second and third place respectively. Last year's winner Blomdahl, got fourth this time around.

Jaspers also sits atop the World Players Ranking. There are no changes in the next three places, with Sánchez, Caudron and Blomdahl occupying the same spots as in the World Cup rankings.

The event took place 15-21 December 2008 at the Hotel Hacienda La Boticara, Alcala de Guadaira, Spain. It was the sixth and final event of the 2008 World Cup. The 2009 World Cup kicks off in Sluiskil, Netherlands 19 January.

See also:

Alcala de Guardaia - Copa del Mundo de Billar a Tres Bandas (Official page - Spanish)
Tournament Details (UMB)
Worldcup Alcala de Guadaira 2008 (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Jaspers, doble campeón: gana la prueba en Alcalá de Guadaira ante Blomdahl y termina líder del circuito de la Copa del Mundo. (Billarnet - Spanish)
Alcalà de Guadaira, année Jaspers (Kozoom.com - French)
Galeria Fotos Worldcup Alcala 2008 (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Dick Jaspers wint wereldbekertoernooi en pakt wereldbeker (Dick Jaspers - Dutch)
Men: 3 Cushion World Cup (Sports 123)
Billiards World Cup Association (Wikipedia)
Dick Jaspers (Official site - Dutch)
Dick Jaspers (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Frédéric Caudron wins World Cup in Sluiskil (2008 World Cup)
Jaspers wins Porto World Cup (2008 World Cup)
Second win in a row for Jaspers in Mexico World Cup (2008 World Cup)
Jaspers continues three cushion domination with South Korea World Cup win (2008 World Cup)
Sánchez powers to World Cup win in Egypt (2008 World Cup)

Europe retains Mosconi Cup

2008-12-14T16:05:00.006+01:00

Europe won the 2008 Mosconi Cup with a 11-5 thrashing of the US team.

The European team was in front all the way, leading 3-1 after the opening day, 5-3 after the second and 9-5 after the third. On Sunday Finland's Mika Immonen sealed the deal by defeating Shane Van Boening 5-3.

Immonen was named MVP of the event after single wins against Jeremy Jones, Earl Strickland, Jones again and finally Van Boening. The victory was especially sweet for the Finn as he missed match ball in their 2006 loss to the Americans.

This was the first time in Mosconi Cup history that Europe have managed to successfully defend the title. USA still leads the event with 11-4 though. Their last win came in 2006.

The teams:

Europe
- Alex Lely (non-playing captain, Netherlands)
- Tony Drago (Malta)
- Niels Feijen (Netherlands)
- Mark Gray (England)
- Mika Immonen (Finland)
- Ralf Souquet (Germany)
USA
- Nick Varner (non-playing captain)
- Johnny Archer
- Jeremy Jones
- Rodney Morris
- Earl Strickland
- Shane Van Boening

The event took place from December 11-14 at the Hilton Hotel, Portomaso, Malta. Matches were singles, scotch doubles and scotch quintuples with alternate break. Next year's Cup will be held in Las Vegas, USA.

See also:

2008 Mosconi Cup (Official homepage)
Europe Retains Mosconi Cup Trophy (AzBilliards)
Team Europe Wins Mosconi Cup (Billiards Digest)
Europe Defend the Mosconi Cup! (CueSport TV)
Mosconi Cup: Europe win in style (Sky Sports)
Gray helps Europe to cup glory (Rutland & Stamford Mercury)
The Icing on the cake (Mika's Blog)
Mosconi Cup stays in Europe! (Katrine Jensen)
Team Europe wins Mosconi Cup for second year in a row! (European billiards)
Mosconi Cup 2008 - Team Europa gewinnt! (billiardblog - German)
Mosconi Cup (Wkipedia)

Related posts:

USA retains Mosconi Cup with tie (2006 Mosconi Cup)
Europe finally regains Mosconi Cup (2007 Mosconi Cup)

Feijen wins Costa del Sol Open, Souquet takes 2008 Euro Tour title

2008-12-07T16:04:00.003+01:00

Niels Feijen from Netherlands captured the 2008 Costa del Sol Open.

The current straight pool world champion defeated Sweden's Marcus Chamat 9-4 in the final. The victory was worth €6000. Chamat got €3800 for second place.

In the semi-finals Feijen ousted Mosconi team mate Tony Drago (Malta) 9-4. Chamat beat Hungary's Sandor Tot by the same score.

This was Feijen's first win in the Costa del Sol Open and fourth Euro Tour win overall, from nine finals. His last win came all the way back in the 2005 Netherlands Open. Since then he's had seven semi-final appearances.

Defending champion Bruno Muratore (Italy) lost 9-8 to Hubert Lopotko (Poland) in the last 16.

The win took Feijen from third to second in the final Euro Tour Ranking. Losing finalist Chamat moved from 17th to 10th.

Ralf Souquet (Gemany) held on to the lead to claim his fourth Tour title. He also picked up the trophy in 1995, 1999 and 2001. Feijen's countryman Nick van den Berg improved from fourth to third. Last year's winner, England's Mark Gray, finished in a respectable sixth place after having led most of the season.

The tournament was played 4-6 December at the Torrequebrada Hotel and Casino, Malaga, Spain. It was the final event of seven on the 2008 Euro Tour. The first event of next season is the French Open which runs from February 11-14 2009.
See also:

Swiss Open 2008 (Event page)
Costa del Sol Open Photo Gallery (www.eurotouronline.eu)
Official Website of the EPBF - IBP Eurotour
First place in Malaga! (Niels Feijen)
IBP Euro Tour in Malaga/Spain (Jasmin Ouschan)
Feijen wins Eurotour Spain Open (AzBilliards)
Niels Feijen campeón del Euro Tour Costa del Sol (Billarnet - Spanish)
Feijen flikt Spain Open! (Poolkrant)
Niels Feijen holt sich die Krone Spaniens! (Billard Aktuell - German)
Niels Feijen (Official player page)
Niels Feijen (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Petroni wins final Euro Tour event of season (2006 Costa del Sol Open)
Bruno Muratore surprise winner of Costa del Sol Open (2007 Costa del Sol Open)
Tony Drago wins French Open (2008 Euro Tour)
Darren Appleton captures Italy Open (2008 Euro Tour)
Engert wins Germany Open for ninth Euro Tour title (2008 Euro Tour)
Nick van den Berg takes Austria Open title(2008 Euro Tour)
Souquet strikes again in Netherlands Open(2008 Euro Tour)
Souquet grabs second straight Euro Tour win in Swiss Open(2008 Euro Tour)

Sánchez powers to World Cup win in Egypt

2008-11-24T01:00:00.005+01:00

Two-time world champion Daniel Sánchez from Spain won the World Cup event in Egypt for his first title of the season.

Sánchez hammered Belgian Eddy Merckx 3-0. The frame scores were 15-1, 15-5 and 15-12. Tying for third were Peter de Bakker (Belgium) and Jean Paul de Bruijn from Netherlands.

Recent world champion Marco Zanetti (Italy) had the highest general average of 1.797 and the highest single match average of 2.600. Andreas Efler (Austia) had the highest run with a perfect 15.

Defending champion Torbjörn Blomdahl (Sweden) lost 3-2 to Jozef Philipoom (Belgium) in the last 16. Tour leader Dick Jaspers from Netherlands also went out in this round, 3-1 to Zanetti.

This was the Spaniard's second win in Egypt. He also captured the title in 2006.

The win takes Sánchez to second place in the World Cup Ranking. Jaspers stays on top and Frédéric Caudron (Belgium) drops one place to third.

Sánchez moves from fourth to second in the World Players Ranking. Merckx improves fom 13th to 10th. Jaspers holds on to the lead and Caudron sits in third place. Blomdahl falls from second to fourth, but is only 18 points behind Sánches.

The event took place 16-22 November 2008 at the Sunrise Garden Beach Resort, Hurghada, Egypt. It was the fifth of six events in the 2008 World Cup. The last event is in Alcala de Guadaira, Spain, 15-21 December.

See also:

Tournament Details (UMB)
Dani Sánchez, campeón de la prueba de Copa del Mundo en Hurghada (Billarnet - Spanish)
Sanchez finit en trombe (Kozoom.com - French)
Worldcup Hurghada (Egipto) 2008 (Entrada 51 - Spanish)
Página Oficial de Dani Sánchez (Official site - Spanish)
Daniel Sánchez (Wikipedia)

Related posts:

Daniel Sanchez wins World Cup in Egypt (2006 Egypt World Cup)
Blomdahl takes yet another title in Egypt (2007 Egypt World Cup)
Frédéric Caudron wins World Cup in Sluiskil (2008 World Cup)
Jaspers wins Porto World Cup (2008 World Cup)
Second win in a row for Jaspers in Mexico World Cup (2008 World Cup)
Jaspers continues three cushion domination with South Korea World Cup win (2008 World Cup)

Webb takes down WPBA Championship title

2008-11-17T20:04:00.007+01:00

Monica Webb from USA won the season-ending WPBA Championship.

In the final she beat Tour leader Kelly Fisher (England) 7-4.

The semifinals saw Webb beat form player Vivian Villareal (USA) 7-5 while Fisher dominated Sarah Rousey (USA) 7-1.

This was Webb's first Classic Tour victory from her first final. She played her first pro event in 1995 and turned pro in 1999.

Two-time defending champion Allison Fisher from England bowed out in the last 16 to Sarah Rousey (USA).

Fisher can take consolation in the fact that she finished top of the rankings for the 2008 Classic Tour. Karen Corr (Ireland) and Xiaoting Pan (China) finished second and third respectively. Webb's win took her from 10th to tied fourth. Last year's winner, Allison Fisher, finished in a disappointing sixth place.

The event took place from November 12-16 2008 at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino, Hollywood, Florida, USA. It was the last of seven events this season on the Classic Tour.

See also:

WPBA
Tournament Bracket (wpba.com - PDF)
Highlights: 1 2 3 4 (wpba.com - PDF)
Monica Webb wins WPBA Championship (AzBilliards)
Webb Wins Her First WPBA Title at Nationals (Billiards Digest)
No Dry Eyes: Webb Wins At Last (Billiards Digest)
Webb Takes First WPBA Title (Inside Pool Magazine)
Mónica Webb, nueva campeona del circuito WPBA (Billarnet - Spanish)
Monica Webb wins the WPBA Championships for her first WPBA Title!!! (NYC Grind)
The Pixie Revolution Will Be Televised (Pool Cue News and Review)
What A Weekend! (Frank's Dawg House)
Monica Webb (Official page)
Monica Webb (WPBA Player Biographies)

Related posts:

Allison Fisher wins Nationals for second title in a row (2007 National Championship)
Allison Fisher reigns supreme in the Cuetec Cues WPBA National 9-Ball Championship (2008 National Championship)
Allison Fisher wins San Diego Classic (2008 WPBA Tour)
Pan and Jones on top in GenerationPool.com 9-Ball Championships (2008 WPBA Tour)
Allison Fisher claims third Great Lakes Classic title (2008 WPBA Tour)
Kelly Fisher captures maiden US Open title (2008 WPBA Tour)
Jasmin Ouschan tops Carolina Classic (2008 WPBA Tour)
Kelly Fisher nails second win of season in Pacific Coast Classic (2008 WPBA Tour)