Monday, November 24, 2008

Sánchez powers to World Cup win in Egypt

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.

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Monday, November 17, 2008

Webb takes down WPBA Championship title

2008 WBPA ChampionshipMonica 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.

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Sunday, November 16, 2008

It's three out of three for Neil Robertson with Bahrain Championship win

Bahrain Championship 2008Neil Robertson from Australia won the inaugural 2008 Bahrain Championship.

The final against Welshman Matthew Stevens started very well for the Australian. He swept the first three frames with breaks of 129, 117 and 96, before Stevens came back strong to lead 7-6. Robertson managed to take the last three frames though to win 9-7.

Stephen Hendry (Scotland) and Mark Allen (Northern Ireland) lost out in the semi-finals. This was Hendry's 82nd ranking event semifinal. In contrast it was Allen's second.

Robertson received £48,000 for the victory. Stevens got £22,500 for his runner-up spot.

Marcus Campbell had the highest TV stage break of the tournament with the 147 maximum he made against Ahmed Al Khusaibi (Oman) in the wildcard round. Chinese Liang Wenbo made a 147 in the qualifiers for the event.

This was the third ranking title for Robertson. He's yet to lose a final. Stevens was looking for his second title in ranking events.

The tournament was plagued by the withdrawals of John Higgins (Scotland), Ding Junhui (China) and Mark Selby (England) caused by the clash in dates with the Snooker Premier League. In addition Englishmen Ronnie O'Sullivan and Steve Davis dropped out for health reasons.

Robertson moves from 21st to 14th in the provisional rankings. Stevens advances 11 places, from 33rd to 22nd. There are no changes in the top five. O'Sullivan keeps his lead, in front of Stephen Maguire (Scotland), Ryan Day (Wales), Selby and Allister Carter (England).

Robertson jumps from 18th to 11th in the ELO Ratings. Stevens advances 15 places, from 27th to 12th. No changes in the top three here either. O'Sullivan is still the clear frontrunner, followed by Higgins and Maguire.

The event took place at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, Manama, Bahrain 8-15 November, 2008. It was the fourth ranking tournament of eight on the 2008/2009 Main Tour. Next up on the snooker calendar is the Maplin UK Championship which starts 13th December.

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Thursday, November 13, 2008

Un-Nooh and Evans on top in the IBSF Snooker World Championship

Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Reanne Evans from England won gold medals at the 2008 IBSF World Snooker Championships.

Un-Nooh beat Ireland's Colm Gilcreest 11-7 in the men's final while Evans bested former champ Wendy Jans (Belgium) 5-3.

Soheil Vahedi (Iran) and Xiao Guodong (China) finished joint third in the men's event. Emma Bonney (England) and Ching Ching Yu (Hong Kong) reached the same positions among the ladies.

This was Un-Nooh's first world title. Evans has won twice before, in 2004 and 2007. She is also a four-time defending champion of the World Ladies Snooker Championship, organized by the World Ladies Snooker & Billiards Association.

The victory means Un-Nooh is set to be nominated for a place on the Main Tour in the 2008/2009 season.

Former pro Dene O'Kane (New Zealand) won the Masters (Over 40s). He beat India's former billiards world champ Geet Sethi 5-1 in the final. The defending champion Darren Morgan from Wales played in the men's event this year, where he was knocked out in the last 16.

All the three champs also secured the highest break in their respective divisions. Un-Nooh had a 143, Evans made a 80 O'Kane managed a 109.

The event was held 27 October - 8 November 2008 in Wels, Austria. Next year the championship will be contested in Hyderabad, India.

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Sunday, October 26, 2008

Yang finishes on top in Grand Final on 2008 Asian Tour

Yang Chin-shun from Taiwan won the Guinness Asian 9-ball Tour Grand Final.

In the final he beat two-time world champion Wu Chia-ching (Taiwan) 11-9 to claim the $36,000 first prize. Wu received $10,000 for second place. The two Filipinos Dennis Orcollo and Alex Pagulayan shared third place.

This was Yang's seventh win on the Asian Tour but first since the 2007 Singapore event. He's been to nine finals in total. That's one third of the 27 events ever held.

Chang Jung-lin was the defending champion and ranking leader going into the event. He went out in the group stages after two wins and two losses.

The event was held 24-26 October at the Mal Taman Anggrek, Jakarta, Indonesia. It was the sixth and final event of the season. Only the top 11 players in the rankings were invited.

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Immonen wins first US Open title

US Open 9-Ball Championships 2008Finland's Mika Immonen won the 2008 US Open 9-Ball Championships.

The 2001 world champion earned $40,000 by defeating former world 9-ball champion Ronnie Alcano (Philippines) 13-7 in the final. Alcano earned $20,000.

It was sweet revenge for the Finn as Alcano earlier had defeated him 13-7 in the winners' final.

Warren Kiamco was beaten 11-9 by Immonen in the losers' final to finish third. That was worth $10,000 for the Filipino.

Alcano also finished second in last year's event. The winner that time was Shane Van Boening from USA. This time around he was knocked out by countryman Larry Nevel in the earlier rounds.

This was the first US Open title for Immonen. His best previous finish was runner-up to Corey Deuel (USA) in the 2001 final.

With this win Immonen moves from third to second in the BCA Points List. Losing finalist Alcano enters the list at 25th. Previous No.2 Johnny Archer (USA) is the new points leader. Shane Van Boening (USA) drops from first to third.

Immonen sits at No.3 in the first edition of the new WPA rankings. Alcano is in eighth. Ralf Souquet from Germany is the leader, followed by Daryl Peach (England).

The tournament was played 19-25 October at the Chesapeake Conference Center, in Chesapeake, Virginia, USA. There were 238 entrants in this the 33rd edition of the championships.

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Saturday, October 25, 2008

Zanetti wins second Three Cushion World Championship

Marco Zanetti from Italy captured the 2008 World Three Cushion Championship.

In a very close final against Torbjörn Blomdahl from Sweden he won 3-2, with the set scores 14-15, 15-8, 15-11, 14-15 and 15-13.

Relative unknowns Jeremy Bury (France) and Peter de Backer (Belgium) shared third place. They were 16th and 14th respectively in the world rankings coming into this event.

Zanetti took away €4,800 for the victory. Blomdahl received €3,200.

Kouji Funaki (Japan) had the highest average in the tournament, with 1.891. Two-time world champion Daniel Sanchez from Spain had the highest single match average with 2.409. World No.1 Dick Jaspers (Netherlands) had the highest run with 14.

This was Zanetti's second world title. He also won in 2002. In addition he was runner-up in 2001 to the great Raymond Ceulemans (Belgium).

Blomdahl was aiming for his sixth world title from 11 finals.

Defending champion Ryuuji Umeda (Japan) was knocked out in the group phase by Sweden's Mikael Nilsson, and finished in 26th place.

The win takes Zanetti from 11th to fifth in the World Players Ranking. Blomdahl advances one place from third to second. Jaspers only finished 14th in this event but is still the leader. Frédéric Caudron (Belgium) falls from second to third.

The championship was held at the Saalbau St. Wendel, in St. Wendel, Germany between 14th and 19th October.

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Friday, October 24, 2008

John Higgins captures Grand Prix

Royal London Watches Grand Prix 2008Scotland's John Higgins won the 2008 Royal London Watches Grand Prix.

The final against Ryan Day (Wales) started very well for the two-time world champion. He built a 7-2 lead before Day came back to 8-7. Higgins managed to snatch the next frame though to win 9-7.

Englishmen Allister Carter and Judd Trump lost out in the semi-finals. Trump is only 19 years old and this was the best result so far of a very promising career.

Defending champion Marco Fu (Hong Kong) was beaten 5-1 by Ronnie O'Sullivan (England) in the second round.

Higgins received £75,000 for the victory. Day got £35,000 for his third ranking event runner-up spot. He's still waiting for that elusive first win.

Fu had the highest TV stage break of the tournament with the 139 he made against Jimmy Michie (England) in the first round.

This was the 19th ranking title for Higgins but first since the 2007 World Championship.

After unsuccessful attempts of introducing round robin system in recent years they this year returned to the normal cup format, but with a twist. After each round a new draw was made. This way the players didn't know who they would play in the next round until after they had won their match.

Higgins moves from ninth to sixth in the provisional rankings. Day advances two places, from fifth to third. O'Sullivan increases his lead atop the rankings and Stephen Maguire (Scotland) stays in second.

Higgins jumps from fifth to second in the ELO Ratings. Day also advances three places, from eighth to fifth. O'Sullivan still holds an overwhelming lead and Maguire drops one place to third.

The event took place at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow, Scoland 11-19 October, 2008. It was the third ranking tournament of eight on the 2008/2009 Main Tour. Next up on the snooker calendar is the Bahrain Snooker Championship which starts 8th November.

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