NEW WORLD NINEBALL RANKING EVENT
TO TAKE PLACE WEEKEND BEFORE UK OPEN IN SCOTLAND
• Vital warm-up for UK Open set to take place May 30 to June 4 in London
• Tournament conditions to closely mirror Matchroom events
• A total of 44 World Nineball Tour events are now on offer
A new World Nineball Ranking event will take place in Scotland at McGoldrick’s Sports Bar, the JFlowers Scottish Open (May 26-28) promoted by Saltire Promotions the weekend before the UK Open Pool Championship from May 30 to June 4 at the Copper Box Arena, London.
The tournament is the second World Nineball Ranking event to take place at McGoldrick’s with the 64-player event set to offer the perfect warm-up on British shores ahead of the next Major event on the World Nineball Tour, the UK Open Pool Championship.
Paying out a first-place prize of $9,600, a total prize fund of $29,040 will be in the offing for the tournament with entries costing only $360. Entries are expected to sell out quickly with the likes of local hero and Mosconi Cup star Jayson Shaw amongst the names set to turn out in Glasgow. Sign up here.
Tournament conditions are set to mirror the Matchroom events with the field set to play double elimination to the Last 16 with the winners’ side Races to 10 and losers Race to 8. All matches will be played on Rasson tables with Aramith Tournament Black Balls and Iwan Simonis Shark Grey Cloth being used with the Magic Ball Template Rack.
Fans can watch two tables with live streams available through the Scottish Cue Sport YouTube page and Matchroom Pool channels.
Emily Frazer, Matchroom Multi Sport Managing Director is pleased to offer a vital ranking point opportunity days before the UK Open: “The JFlowers Scottish Open offers up a fantastic opportunity for international and local players to get tuned up ahead of the UK Open with the tournament expected to be stacked with big names all looking to earn World Nineball Ranking points that could be the gateway to the likes of the Mosconi cup, and World Pool Championship. With eh conditions to mirror our events, players have the perfect warm-up to the Major a few days later. I’d like to thank Saltire Promotions, Paul Corrigan, Elliott Sanderson, and the team at McGoldrick’s for making this happen.”
Following the JFlowers Scottish Open, McGoldrick’s will play host once again to a World Nineball Ranking event from July 21-23 with the Jacoby 9-Ball Open.
JOSHUA FILLER IS the Dynamic Billard St Johann im Pongau Open champion
as he defeated Poland’s Daniel Maciol 9-5 in an entertaining match.
Filler (Germany) can lay claim to his fifth Euro Tour title from 10
final appearances and with his consistent level of high-quality play,
there may be many more in store. For Maciol, it was his first Euro Tour
final in an eight-year career mixing it with Europe’s finest. In fact,
the quarter-finals were the furthest he’d ventured previously.
For the Pole, a slow start proved to be his downfall as he matched
Filler in the latter stages but the gap was always going to be too much
as the German put his foot down.
Commented Filler, “Today I felt fresh and came with so much energy and
maybe I frightened my opponent with my energy and my break was amazing.
There were times when I made three, four balls on the break and had the
position and that gives you more confidence, especially when you’re four
games up. Super proud and super happy.”
VERONIKA IVANOVSKAIA of Germany claimed victory at the EPBF St Johann
Open on the ladies’ Euro Tour as she defeated Bojana Sarac (Serbia) by
7-3 in the final. It was her first-ever ET title after having come so
close last time out in Tallinn where she went down 7-6 to Oliwia
Zalewska in the title match. Ranked #18 coming into the tournament,
Ivanovskaia will be climbing he rankings once they are recalculated
shortly.
It was her third Euro Tour final and Ivanovskaia finally got over the
line. She was naturally delighted with her performance.
“It feels incredible. I must say I’m overwhelmed with my emotions. After
losing out in Estonia, a very special person – my fiancé and coach –
told me that I’m on a very good wave and should just keep doing what I’m
doing and always believe in myself and today I think I proved to myself
that I have it in me’” she said.
WE ARE DOWN to the last 16 players after a full day’s play at the
Dynamic Billard St Johann Open and there will be plenty of Europe’s
big-name players vying for the title on Monday. There are four rounds of
matches tomorrow to determine the destination of the second Euro Tour
trophy of the season.
There are five Poles, three Austrians and three Germans among the last
16 but flying the flag for Norway in youngster Emil-Andre Gangflot, a
multiple gold medallist at the EPBF European Junior Championships.
It’s the first time he has reached the last 16 stage on the Euro Tour in
his fledgling career and he did it an excellent 9-1win over Czech David
Zalman. Undefeated so far, could Gangflot make a serious impact
tomorrow? He faces Daniel Guttenberger, who beat Niels Feijen by the
narrowest of margins, buoyed on by some local support around an outside
table.
Austrian Guttenberger has not done too much on the Euro Tour going back
to 2012 but has since reapplied himself to the game following the break
for the pandemic. A silver medal in 9-ball at last year’s European
Championships may well be a pointer to where his is headed.
Commented Daniel, “It was a crazy match again! Every time I play against
Niels, somehow, it’s hill-hill and crazy things happen and this time I
wanted to win so bad as I’d lost the last three times against him so I’m
proud that I put it together. For sure the crowd made me a bit nervous
and I was shaking!”
DAY TWO UNFOLDED at the Dynamic Billard St Johann Open today as the
field reduced to the 32 players contesting the Winners’ Qualification
round on Sunday afternoon as well as a host of players still battling it
out on the one-loss side. In fact, there are 86 players remaining with
one defeat and the whole field plays down to the last 16 tomorrow.
One young player starting out in the professional world is Poland’s
Szymon Kural, who last November claimed the WPA World Junior
Championship (U19). Seemingly from a never-ending production line of
Polish talent, Kural is three wins from three here in St. Johann and can
look forward to a Winners’ Qualification match against Mario He on
Sunday afternoon.
Kural defeated Brit Sam Storey, Thomas Binder (Germany) and Attila
Bezden of Hungary to make his way through on the winners’ side. The 21
year-olds previous best Euro Tour efforts were two 33rd place finishes
so he has everything to play for as the event enters its third day.
Commented Kural, “I think I’ve played pretty good in all matches. Maybe
not perfect but I think it the last one was a good game with some really
good shots and really good racks. A few mistakes also but they weren’t
that important in the matches.
“Three comfortable wins so I’m waiting for Mario tomorrow in the
Winners’ Qualification. It will be a nice match and we will see. I think
it will be nice to get some rest before tomorrow’s match and I will
enjoy the views of St Johann because it’s a beautiful place. Maybe some
good food but I’m waiting for tomorrow,” he concluded.
Ruiz.
OF THE 246 players gathered in Austria for the Dynamic Billard St Johann
Open, surely one of the favourites to lift the title on Monday will be
Germany-based Syrian Mohammad Soufi who comes into the tournament on the
back of his first ever Euro Tour win when he lifted the Dynamic Billard
Estonian Open earlier this year. Now based in Germany for seven years
along with his brother, it was Soufi’s first major career victory.
Now up to a career high #17 on the Euro Tour rankings, Soufi has enjoyed
a breakout first quarter of 2023 as he turned himself from journeyman
into one of the most exciting players in the world of pool. The Syrian
potter first started playing on Europe’s premier tour in 2017 and he
gained a couple of 9th place finishes in his first two years, with
limited starts.
Things improved in 2019 when he reached the quarter-finals for the first
time in Veldhoven. 2021 saw just one start for Mohammad and this time it
was a best-ever finish as he reached the final four in Lasko, Slovenia.
Looking to have made a significant breakthrough, Soufi endured a
miserable 2022 with five events played and a high finish of 9th in
Petrich, Bulgaria backed up by 129th and 65th places in other tour
stops.
Coming into 2023, no one could have predicted what was in store for the
speedy Syrian. Entering the 128 player WPA World 9 Ball Championship as
a rank outsider amongst a super-strong global field, Soufi grabbed the
event by the scruff of its neck as he stunned the pool world to reach
the final. Ultimately it proved a bridge too far as he was undone in the
championship match by the best player in the world, Francisco Sanchez
Ruiz.
THE DYNAMIC BILLARD Euro Tour returns to one of its most popular venues as the St Johann im Pongau Open gets underway this Friday 14th April in the picturesque Austrian Alpine town. In fact, the Euro Tour’s history here goes as far back as 2010 when Karl Boyes defeated Nick van den Berg for his only Dynamic Billard Euro Tour victory. Since then, the likes of the Likes of Niels Feijen, Dennis Grabe, Mark Gray, Mario He, Alexander Kazakis, Eklent Kaci and Joshua Filler have all recorded championship wins in St. Johann.
Given the popularity of the venue, there is a whopping field of 246 players representing 41 countries registered to compete this week and due to venue sizing, the tournament is lengthened to four days with a conclusion being played out 17th April. The semi-finals and the final will be broadcast live or delayed to ten countries across Europe. For all other territories, play is available throughout via the EPBF website.
In addition, there is a Women’s Euro Tour event taking place on April 15th, concluding on Sunday 16th April. 55 players from 20 nations have registered which means that over 300 players will be in attendance in St Johann this weekend.
The defending champion this week is the ever-green Niels Feijen (Netherlands) who comes to St. Johann as the tour’s most successful player here, having recorded three victories in the Austrian mountains since the Euro Tour first visited in 2010. Wins in 2013, 2015 as well as last year where he defeated Francisco Sanchez Ruiz in the final, make this a happy hunting ground for the Terminator.
The 46 year-old Dutchman explained why, “I think, first of all, I really enjoy being in St. Johann. It’s a lovely place and the weather has always been awesome when we’ve been here. It’s a feel good place, you have the wellness, the swimming pool, the fresh air, you can go for a walk, and that’s good for the mind, good for the soul and that’s good for the game.
• World Nineball Tour to provide a minimum of $3-million prize money this year
• Over 40 World Nineball Tour events
• 1,000 hours of live pool in 2023, from the Matchroom Majors
Matchroom Pool is proud to unveil the formulation of the World Nineball Tour marking the benchmark for the game of professional pool globally with events reaching all four corners of the world boasting a minimum prize fund of $3 million: minimum of 40 ranking events and a minimum of 1,000 live TV hours for Matchroom events globally in an ever-growing list of broadcasters creating opportunities for all players.
Following in the footsteps of Matchroom’s highly successful model that has seen the Professional Darts Corporation and the World Snooker Tour both with over £15 million in prize money for the forthcoming season. The World Nineball Tour will accelerate at pace to provide a commercial platform for professional pool and change players lives.
The Nineball ranking structure has expanded to new territories to help players turn fully professional worldwide; the Tour will build a fair, transparent, and commercial constitution where players will see a profitable future, break new ground, and inspire stars of the future globally.
2023 will see 10 major events forming the backbone of the calendar promoted by Matchroom with a new signature 256-player field Spanish Open Pool Championship recently announced as part of a wider partnership in Spain. Similarly, the Southeast Asia territory will shortly announce a host of new events aligned to the World Nineball Tour.
We believe a collaborative effort between Matchroom and the rest of the world of pool will be the best way to ensure players have endless opportunities to earn World Nineball Ranking points that provide a gateway to the most-valuable tournaments on the calendar.
This year’s schedule is ever-expanding with the World Nineball Tour keen to work with organisers and federations all over the world as underlined with the launch of numerous new Ranking events across continents including the Americas, Asia, Oceania, and Europe.
It offers a platform for not only the players to earn a fair living but also for local organisers to grow their events with both Matchroom and the third parties set to benefit from unrivalled insight into the game. The direct goal is to also open further ranking event opportunities in the USA, South America, and central Europe.
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