#darren appleton

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Appleton comes back and leaves a mark in the tournament

The first day in Antalya of the Dynamic Billard Antalya Open 2019 started sunny as expected. Most players of the first round matches were on time for the beginning of their competition. In the first round, Nick Malai (GRE) and Marcel Price (GBR) had the toughest challenges. Both of them won their opening matches with 9:8 over their respective opponents which took a lot of energy out of them at such an early time of the day.

As the day continued, more remarkable matches could be witnessed. In the first winner’s round, Nick Malai took down Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) surprisingly clear with 9:1 and sent him to the loser’s side of the bracket. Jan Rempe (NED), young player from the dutch contingency, managed to overpower Fedor Gorst (RUS) with 9:5 in the same round. Jani Siekkinen (FIN) wasted no time with Alex Montpellier (FRA) wiping the floor with him with 9:0. Siekkinen’s teammate Jani Uski (FIN) also won his match against Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) with 9:7. One of the two big clashes in the first winner’s round was the all British match between Mark Gray and Darren Appleton. Both players have earned their merits in the past and it was clear that the one with the better daily form would probably succeed over the other. Additionally, Appleton had been absent for a long time and just started his Euro-Tour play again last tournament in Klagenfurt, Austria, while Gray has been a regular on the tour for many years now. Today, the match went in favour of Appleton since Gray had no break at all. Appleton took him down 9:5 and Gray stated on his facebook page later: „Horrible game that lost 9-5 to Darren Appleton. Better player undoubtedly won. Break killed me but didn’t feel good so good luck to Daz… Granite back to the beach!!“ The other „big match“ in that round was the encounter between Pijus Labutis (LTU) and Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP). That match was controlled by the Spaniard and won with 9:6 by Sanchez-Ruiz.

The Dynamic Billard Antalya Open 2019 will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time with matches from winner’s round 2.

Every day, up to two matches will be streamed LIVE over the EPBF Facebook page and on the EPBF YouTube channel. Check for updates and announcements.

The Dynamic Billard Antalya Open are played in the Limak Atlantis Resort in Belek, Turkey, on up to 20 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be obtained at www.kozoom.com. Once a premium membership is held, all events for the respective period of time can be viewed LIVE. Additionally, a huge video gallery is contained in the website.

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“It’s Happening!” Predator World 10-ball Championship Kicks Off Today With Full Slate of Competition

In 2014, as Predator Group was celebrating its 20th anniversary as a cue maker and billiards innovator, company president Karim Belhaj was already looking ahead to the manufacturer’s silver anniversary in five years.

He wanted to do something bold. Afterall, the company’s motto is “innovate and inspire.” While Belhaj searched for methods to celebrate the milestone and to promote the game of professional pool, efforts to maintain a world 10-ball championship were stuck in the mud. The World Pool and Billiards Association’s world championship had not been staged since 2015 when Ko Pin-yi defeated Carlo Biado in the Philippines and tentative plans for a tournament in Manilla last year fell through at the last minute.

That’s when the light bulb went off for Belhaj – why not grab the reigns and produce their own world major. He reached to Ozzy Reynolds, president of Cue Sports International, and asked what was needed to put on world event while also discussing his ideas for professional pool. The two of them began working on a plan to develop not just an event, but eventually a tour.

“I shared with him my vision and Ozzy shared with me his vision for building a bridge between the amateur players, league players and pro events,” Belhaj said. “We found a synergy between CSI and Predator that was just natural.”

A partnership was reached and the Predator World 10-ball Championship was announced last December.

After five years of dreaming and the last eight months of planning, the event begins this afternoon at the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The $100,000 added tournament features 64 players from 24 countries in what could be considered one of the strongest fields of any event in recent years. This five-day competition is part of a three-year agreement between Predator and CSI and will be taking place right along side of amateurs competing at the Billiard Congress of America Pool League Championships. Admission is free and the event will be streamed live for no charge on YouTube.

The Predator World 10-ball Championship will be the first world championship held in the United States since 1997 when Johnny Archer won the WPA 9-ball championship in Chicago.

The roster of players is smorgasbord of youth, experience and championships. Of the players set to compete this week, 11 of them either currently hold or previously held a WPA title – including Ko, Biado, reigning World 9-ball champion Joshua Filler, former 8-ball and 9-ball champion Ralf Souquet, 2014 World 9-ball champion Niels Feijen, three-time World 9-ball champion Earl Strickland and the winner of the inaugural World 10-ball event in 2008, Darren Appleton.

Additionally, four of the entrants have already punched their ticket to the Billiard Congress of America’s Hall of Fame – Darren Appleton, Strickland, Ralf Souquet and Alex Pagulayan, who will be inducted into the Hall this fall.

Nine of the players competing this week hail from the United States – including Shave Van Boening, one of the most decorated 10-ball players in the world. The South Dakotan has won the last three United States Open 10-ball Championships and earned top honors in the 10-ball division of the Derby City Classic in 2014 and 2015. Joining Van Boening are fellow Americans Corey Deuel, Oscar Dominguez, Hunter Lombardo, Danny Olson, Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer Earl Strickland, Tyler Styer, Billy Thorpe, and reigning Derby City Classic Master of the Table Skylar Woodward

The world championship will be held in two stages. The first stage will involve all players competing in race to 8 matches within a double-elimination format until only 16 competitors remaining. Those remaining players will then compete in a single-elimination format during the second half of the event, with the races now increased to 10 games. Additionally, there will be a re-drawing of the brackets during the final phase – with competitors from the winner’s side of the bracket taking on players from the one-loss side.

The Predator World 10-ball Championship is a presentation of Cue Sports International and sponsored by Predator Group, one of the world’s premier cue makers and billiards accessory manufacturers. The event is being hosted by the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino and broadcast live on YouTube by CSI Media, a subsidiary of Cue Sports International. For more information, visitwww.world10ball.com

CueSports International (CSI) is an international billiards organization which produces the United States Open 8-ball, 10-ball, one pocket, bank pool and straight pool championships. CSI, which also operates national amateur pool leagues, has three divisions: CSI leagues, CSI events and CSI media. CSI leagues manages the BCA Pool League and USA Pool League, the events division produces numerous amateur and professional events and the media department creates live video billiards content. For more information about CSI, visit www.playcsipool.com or find CueSports International on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.

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Appleton Takes #1 Seed at BottleDeck.net World 14.1: Runs 268 balls!

2014 World 14.1 Champion Darren Appleton demolished his group with ending in a 268 ball run over Michael Yednak, although he only needed 100 pts.

New York City-  Darren Appleton further solidified his growing reputation as one of this era’s greatest straight pool players with his 268 ball run and 7-0 record. This has given him the #1 seed after the round robin stage going into the doubleknockout stage of the Bottledeck.net 77th World 14.1.  

Order Day 3 now WorldStraightPool.com All access now only $55 or $15 daily. 

11am Danny Harriman USA vs USA Michael Yednak 130pm. Darren Appleton ENG vs USA Danny Barouty 5:00pm  Frank Scharbach GER vs USA Robles or Lombardo 730pm   TBD

The legendary and newly inducted 14.1 Hall of Famer Nick Varner will commentate both evening matches.

“Finished the group stage off in style run 100 and out and continued my run got to 268 made a good break but got bad luck to scratch was good to hit the balls good. Thanks to my opponent Michael Yednak for sticking around to rack the balls top guy.”- said Appleton on Facebook.

Max Eberle finished undefeated in his group as well 7-0 to take the #2 seed while Del Sim of Scotland went 7-0 and took the #3 seed.  Thorsten Hohmann took a loss with a 6-1 record but still managed to win his group and take the #4 seed. 

#5 seed Mika Immonen #6 seed Tony Robles #7 seed Lee Van Corteza #8 seed John Schmidt

The Round Robin results from Day 1-3 can be found at TheWorldTournament.com

Full week access pass is on sale now for the lowered $85 for the remainder 50 hours of world class 14.1 coverage of all the marquee matches each of the 7 days of the event at WorldStraightPool.com   

The Last Forever Decking. BottleDeck.net is the most elite and best decking material on the planet which is also the title sponsor of the World 14.1

The AZBTV livestream for all TV table matches.  Pay-Per-View will be announced and available shortly. Event elite partners include Mr.Tom Gleich, Dr. Gregory Diehl, Mr. Greg Hunt of Amsterdam Billiards, and Mr. Harold Siegel of Excelsior Graphics. The World Tournament Official Equipment will feature all matches played on Andy Cloth with Aramith Balls.  Patron sponsors include Dr. James Heller, Attorney Dennis Walsh, Attorney Thomas Walsh and Bill Maropulos Motors. Official Medical Firm: TheRevolutionMedical.com Official Spa : Your Backyard Superstore  Official Eyewear: ScorpioLamonte.com Official Tennis Sponsor: The FTT Florida Tennis Tour Orlando City Commissioner Regina Hill:  ReElectReginaHill.com Official Magazine : Pool & Billiard Magazine Official Real Estate App: ShowProGlobal.com Sanctioned by the World Sports Alumni

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Sky’s The Limit! - Finals Report From the RYO Rack Classic World Pool Series

American Skyler Woodward steps onto the big stage with the biggest win of his career, beating Darren Appleton to win the RYO Rack Classic at the World Pool Series

By Ted Lerner WPS Media Officer

Photos By JP Parmentier New York City – When pool fans look back years from now at the career of Skyler Woodward, it will surely be noted that it was precisely in mid-July, 2017 in New York City that the friendly and talented Kentucky native finally stepped onto the big stage in the professional ranks.

Playing a beautiful game of fast and care free pool, Woodward,24, captured the biggest title of his young career on Saturday night at Steinway Billiards in Queens, winning the third leg of the World Pool Series, the RYO Rack Classic, with a relatively easy two sets to nil finals win over English great Darren Appleton.

It was a dizzying finish to an amazing four days of brutally tough 8-ball for the soft spoken Woodward.  He never tasted defeat throughout the event. On Saturday he first had to endure an over 5 hour marathon semi-final match with 18 year old Albanian Klenti Kaci, staring down almost certain defeat on several occasions, only to make an amazing comeback in the third set to vault into the finals. Then, with almost no time to catch his breath, Woodward practically free-wheeled it in the final and showed the legend Appleton who was boss for this day.

With the win, Woodward has now placed himself among the top young stars of the American pool scene. Already one of America’s top bar table players, the Peducah native has a bag full of tools that foretell big things to come.  Personable, loaded with talent, drive, and an infectious and positive attitude, Woodward has the pool world at his feet. He will now surely once again be on the Team USA Mosconi Cup squad in December. And he looks more than ready to be a regular winner and contender both nationally and internationally in all the biggest events.

Woodward, though, nearly didn’t get past the semi-finals at the RYO Rack Classic. Kaci came to New York as the favorite, having shocked the pool word by winning the second leg of the World Pool Series back in April.  The superbly talented young Albanian, who only recently graduated from high school, had spent the three months since touring America and even the Dominican Republic, immersed in pool for over ten hours a day in money games, tournaments and practice. Kaci was clearly in excellent form in New York.

Darren Appleton

Kaci had barely been challenged in the first three days of the event but would get a stiff test from Woodward in the semi-finals. The two dueled for nearly 90 minutes in the first set, but Kaci grabbed the point with a fine finish. Woodward bounced back nicely in the second race-to-six set, and brushed off several errors to take the match to a one set decider.

With his methodical and amazing precision play, Kaci took advantage of several errors by the American in the third set and shot out to a commanding 4-1 lead. Woodward, though, stayed in the moment and didn’t get flustered or fazed. Showing tremendous bottle, the American won five straight racks to book his spot in the championship match.

There he would meet a resurgent Appleton, who had been playing some of his best pool in months this week in New York, despite juggling promoting duties at this event, and also having to deal with him mother’s illness back home in Pontefract. Earlier in day Appleton met Polish veteran Radislaw Babica in the semi-finals. The Englishman won the first set, while the Pole took the second. Appleton picked himself up and put together an excellent run in the third set to make his first World Pool Series final.

Appleton came in to the final a slight favorite, if only because he’d been on the big stage countless times in the past. He also had over an hour to catch his breath, while Woodward had only 30 minutes rest after his arduous 5 and a half hour semi-final against Kaci.

Woodward, though, came out loose and self-assured, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.  The pair went back and forth early in the first set, but then Woodward stamped his class on the match. With strong confident potting and well thought out patterns, the American took the first set 6-3.

Woodward kept up the relaxed attitude and great shooting in the second set and it was only a few games in that it was clear he had Appleton’s number this day. Appleton actually had a chance to tie the set at 3-3, but as he got down to shoot the 8-ball in the pocket, he touched one of Woodward’s solids with his arm, resulting in a foul and run out for the American. The gaff put the wind in Woodward’s sails as he won the next two racks for the crown.

Afterward, Woodward was mobbed by fans at Steinway who all wanted a photo and an autograph with this new American pool star. As he greeted all the well-wishers, Woodward couldn’t quite wrap his head around what he had just accomplished. Not only had he won the biggest tournament of his career, but he had done it in the Big Apple against a stacked field. He was sure, however,  that it was the start of even bigger things to come.

“I played good and steady the whole tournament,” Woodward said. “When I finished the match with Klenti I just went and sat down away from the pool table. I didn’t even hit a ball, I didn’t even look at a pool table until we started the final match. I had a clear head, I was ready to play the finals and I was fresh again. I know I played a little quick but I felt really comfortable.

“You have to capitalize on every mistake that your opponent makes and stay positive. Even when I was down on myself, even when I showed a few emotions, I was still positive

“It feels crazy. I feel amazing. I still haven’t come down off it all the way. It’s the biggest win I have ever had. I think it’s going to be a big jump for me. I think I’m just going to get better from here.”

For winning the RYO Rack Classic Championship Woodward took home $10,000.

For the complete draw and live scoring please CLICK HERE.

The third event of the World Pool Series, The RYO Rack Classic, is being held at Steinway Billiards in Astoria, Queens, New York City from July 12-15, 2017. The World Pool Series is sponsored by RYO Rack, Aramith, Molinari, Predator, Unilad, Cheqio, Iwan Simonis, Kamui, Billiards Digest, Cuescore, Ultimate Team Gear, and High Rock Productions.

For more information on the World Pool Series, please visit www.worldpoolseries.com.

The World Pool Series is on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/worldpoolseries/. And Twitter at @WorldPoolSeries

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England Teams Confirmed for York Hall World Showdown

With the world’s greatest shooters set to gather at the iconic East London venue in June, the two England teams have been confirmed for the forthcoming World Cup of Pool at York Hall, London, June 13-18.

  Darren Appleton and Mark Gray, both stars of Team Europe’s record-breaking 11-3 victory over USA at December’s Mosconi Cup, will be reunited in the England A team. The host nation is entitled to two sides in the tournament and Daryl Peach will be joined by Imran Majid in England B. Peach was a finalist alongside Gray at the last World Cup and last partnered Majid in 2007.

  Appleton was a World Cup winner alongside Karl Boyes in 2014 and is delighted to be partnered by a man who has twice been runner-up in the tournament. “I had a great run with Karl, winning it in 2014 in a classic final, filled with the sort of drama which the World Cup has produced over the years,” he said.

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“It’s definitely one of the best moments in our career then we put up a good defence with third place last time. This time with Mark Gray is another challenge and sometimes changing partners can be a good thing. It would be great to win it again and maybe it will be third-time lucky for Mark. The York Hall is one of the best venues in pool and I can’t wait to play there again.”

  Gray added: “Alongside the Mosconi Cup, the World Cup of Pool is my favourite competition. It is always great to represent England and twice I have narrowly lost in the final with Daryl, so hopefully it will be third-time lucky with my new partner Darren Appleton.”

  Peach has unfinished business with the event having twice lost in the final – in 2007 and 2015 – and this year hopes he and Majid will prove perfect partners as he looks to go one better this year in the pressure cooker which is York Hall.

  He said: “I’ve twice been runner up in the World Cup of Pool, and while those are two great results in this notoriously pressure packed event, I’d love to go one better and add this prestigious title to my résumé.

  “Imran is a great shot maker and that coupled with my all-round knowledge and experience of the game and in particular this actual event is a super combination to have.”

  “The World Cup of Pool is definitely the second biggest stage in pool after the Mosconi Cup,” said Majid. “I am delighted to be a part of the England team – I live in London so playing at the York Hall will feel like playing in my back yard. As a more seasoned player and showing some good form recently Daryl Peach and myself are looking to go two rounds better and take this coveted event down.”

  Commencing on Tuesday June 13 and culminating with the final on the evening of Sunday 18, the event will be played to a single elimination format over six days with two sessions a day. There are 31 matches in total.

  Teams will be announced shortly with Mosconi Cup stars from both sides of the Atlantic set to be joined by some of the greatest players from around the world.

  Tickets are on sale now at www.matchroompool.com priced at just £10.00 per evening session (Tuesday to Sunday) and £8.00 per weekend afternoon session. Tuesday to Friday afternoons are free. A season ticket covering all sessions is priced at £60.00.

  The World Cup of Pool will carry a $250,000 prize fund including $60,000 for the champions. The event will be produced by Matchroom Sport Television and televised live on Sky Sports as well as other stations around the world. It is then syndicated internationally as 31 x 1 hour programmes.

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Klenti Has Plenty To Celebrate

By Ted Lerner WPS Media Officer

Photos By JP Parmentier/WPS

(New York City)–Playing with an almost surreal poise and skill that belies his obvious youth, 18 year old Albanian Klenti Kaci captured the Aramith Masters Championship on Saturday in New York City with a two sets to nil win over the Philippines Carlo Biado, and at the same time laid claim to being the most promising young rising star in pool’s professional ranks.

18 year old High School Student Klenti Kaci Shocks The Pool World By Winning The Aramith Masters At The World Pool Series In New York City.

The tall and good looking Albanian, who this week was on his third pool playing trip to the United States in the last 8 months, and who regularly plays on the Euro Tour, captured the $12,000 first prize in this the second event of Darren Appleton’s new 8-ball tour, the World Pool Series.

But much more than the money and even the title, Kaci showcased the kind of uncanny skill and psychological maturity reserved for players with years more experience. His ability to keep total control of the cue ball, keep the game simple, suck up the intense pressure as if it simply didn’t exist, and hone in on the finish line like a fine tuned laser was simply breathtaking. This young man, who is still in high school back in his native Albania, has the goods and then some.

Those that know Kaci from his recent forays on the Euro Tour and his few stints in the States all knew he was a talented player. But of course nobody figured that the 18 year old was ready to win a tournament that was loaded with some of the world’s best pool talent and seen by several million people on Facebook Live through social media giant Unilad. The calm and collected Kaci, though, clearly had other ideas.

The young Albanian started the day a heavy underdog in his semi-final match with the man nearly everyone considers the best player on the planet right now, Jayson Shaw. The Scotsman, however, was the one who played with his back against the wall, while Kaci was in total control throughout and never got rattled. While Shaw struggled to get comfortable, Kaci kept cool and won the first set, 6-4. Shaw was more competitive in the second set and the pair played a one rack decider. But the Albanian showed more bottle and persevered to win the second, 7-6, to advance to a surprise final.

There he met up with the Philippines Carlo Biado, who had played solid in his semi-final match against England’s Darren Appleton, the man who founded the World Pool Series. The 35 year old Filipino was the steadier of the two, winning the first set 6-3, then the second set 7-5 to advance to the final with a 2 sets to nil victory.

Biado has been one of the world’s top players for the last four years and has come tantalizingly close to big victories including several world titles but never cashed in. During the interview prior to the start of the match Biado seemed intent on righting that wrong in his resume. In the first set, however, Kaci proved to be the more resilient as he raced out to a 4-1 lead in the first set and held off the Filipino at every turn. The Albanian stayed steady and focused, and never trailed capturing set one, 6-4.

Kaci kept up his solid and focused play in the second set. He hardly made mistakes, and kept amazing control of the cue ball in taking a 3-2 lead. Biado caught him and took his first lead of the match at 4-3, but Kaci never waivered and soon was back up at 5-4. Biado had more fire in this set and tied it again. But the Albanian pounced on several errors by the Filipino, kept his game simple and precise, shrugged off any pressure as if it was a mere nuisance, and took the last three racks for an emphatic 7-5 set win, and an unlikely title.

Cheered heartily by the packed crowd at Steinway Billiards in Queens, Kaci, who has been playing pool since he was 8 years old, clearly reveled in his amazing feat. But in similar fashion to the way he played throughout the week, he had a calmness and surety that seemed to say that he knew he was destined for this very success for many years.

“The first set I played really good, I didn’t make any mistake,” Kaci said. “The second set I made a couple of mistakes but in the end I won, so that’s OK. I feel really good about myself. I just won the biggest tournament of my life and I beat the top players in the world and I’m very happy about that.

“Everybody feels the pressure, but the good thing about me is that I know how to control the pressure. When I was in the final, I already felt that I had done well, so no matter what happened in the final, I would be happy. Of course, in the final I really wanted to win.

“You know I started playing pool when I was 8 years old. When I’m 10 and 11 years old I started playing pool 8 to 10 hours a day, spending my whole day in the pool hall. I wasn’t like other kids who are just drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. When you work hard, you can get what you want and can win what you want.

“When I was young, 11 and 12 years old, I watched all the great players on Youtube and wanted to be like them. I really admired Wu Chia Ching when he won the world championship when he was just 16 years old. He’s a legend. I always wanted to be like him. I know this isn’t a world championship, but it feels like it right now. All the toughest players were here. So I’m very happy about that. I always dreamed about winning something big, but so soon like this? I’m very surprised myself. For winning the Aramith Masters Kaci received $12,000.

*In the second chance Kamui Challenge tournament, the Philippines Lee Vann Corteza defeated Mika Immonen by shootout to take the $3,000 first prize.

*The second event of the World Pool Series, The Aramith Masters, was held at Steinway Billiards in Astoria, Queens, New York City from April 5-8, 2017. The World Pool Series is sponsored by Aramith, Molinari, Predator, Cheqio, RYO Rack, Iwan Simonis, Kamui, Billiards Digest, Cuescore, Ultimate Team Gear, and High Rock Productions. For more information please visit the official website of the World Pool Series at http://www.worldpoolseries.com/

The World Pool Series is on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/worldpoolseries/

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Aramith Masters Kicks Off Wednesday

90 Players From Around The Globe Set For Battle On The 2nd Leg Of The World Pool Series In New York.

By Ted LernerWPS Media Officer

(New York City)–The very best in professional 8-ball takes center stage as the Aramith Masters, the second leg of the World Pool Series(WPS), is all set to commence on Wednesday morning at the Steinway Café-Billiards in Queens, New York City.

After a highly successful first event in January, the Molinari Players Championship, which was won by young Russian star Ruslan Chinahov, who topped an international cast of players from 35 countries, the Aramith Masters looks to set the bar even higher. 90 players from around the globe have descended upon New York’s bustling hub of pool to do battle for the top prize of $16,800. A total prize fund of $62,400 is up for grabs.

The brand new tour, the brainchild of multi-world champion Darren Appleton, features four tournaments played throughout 2017.  8-ball will be the game of choice throughout the year, with several rule changes designed to toughen up the world’s most widely played cue sport, and test the world’s best players to the limits of their creativity and ability to handle pressure.

The all-star cast, a who’s who of pool greats and others looking make their mark, will now play double elimination 8-ball, race to 9 through the round of 32. From there all matches will become single elimination best of three sets, race to six, similar to tennis.

A unique feature of the World Pool Series is the use of the shootout to decide matches that have come down to a one rack decider.  Similar to the shootout in soccer, the shootout will require players to try and pot long and difficult shots on the 8-ball. Each player will have five chances on the 8-ball and the player with the most points wins the match and moves on.

In addition the Aramith Masters is expecting record worldwide viewership online as the WPS has partnered with Internet powerhouse UNILAD, who have agreed to take the WPS stream feed and broadcast it live via their massively popular Facebook platform. Launched in 2014, UNILAD is one of the biggest global platforms for breaking news, shareable and relatable content. Unilad has a Facebook following of over 18 million fans, 32 million monthly unique visitors to the website and over 3 billion video views a month.

For the Aramith Masters, Unilad will be streaming two matches per day direct from the Unilad TV Arena inside Steinway Billiards. Other matches will be streamed live on the WPS Facebook page. The broadcast will be live and free with HD Quality provided by HighRock Productions. All streams can be viewed on the World Pool Series website—www.worldpoolseries.com.

When he won in January, Chinahov proved that he is truly one of the games great young talents. After his victory he publicly expressed his hope that the victory would spur him on to even greater heights. Indeed that wish appears to have come true as the towering Russian just last week captured his first ever European 9-ball Championship in Portugal. He also had four separate quarterfinal finishes in other disciplines in the European Championships. While this type of performance means Chinahov is surely one of the favorites here this week, he isn’t so sure. With the thrill of victory still dominating his emotions, Chinahov feels a top flight performance this week might be a bit too much to ask.

The towering 23 year old Russian Ruslan Chinahov powered his way to victory in the Molinari Players Championship in January, the first leg of the World Pool Series.

​

“I just finished the European Championships and it was my biggest goal this year to win the title and I got it finally, I won the 9-ball championship,” Chinahov said. “But it’s difficult, I only stayed one day back home in Moscow before coming to New York.  I got four quarterfinals in the other events at the European Championships. I haven’t had time to clear my mind. Now I don’t feel any pressure. Maybe it’s good to play without pressure but sometimes that can be bad for you because you might not care. That’s the way it is for me. I like to feel the pressure.  We’ll see. I will just try to enjoy myself and show my best.”

Tour founder Appleton is confident he can parlay the success of the tour’s first event into a living breathing tour with serious momentum that can literally change the professional pool landscape.

“I’m just so excited at the changes we’ve made and how hard our team has worked across all areas to make this tour successful,” Appleton said. “The fans around the world are in for something special with our HD broadcast that will show pool like never before. With Unilad on board we expect to get a massive audience and introduce our sport to new audiences. This is really going to be something special.”

Long suffering pool players were in full agreement as they see before their eyes the development of a player-centric tour, with more opportunities for paydays and the golden chance to reach new and bigger audiences.

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Finals Report from the Molinari Players Championship

THE SIBERIAN EXPRESS STEAMROLLS TO THE CROWN

Russia’s Ruslan Chinakov claims the Molinari Players Championship with an emphatic 16-6 win over the Philippines Lee Vann Corteza in New York City.

Russia’s Ruslan Chinakov is all smiles after capturing the Molinari Players Championship at Steinway Billiards in New York City

By Ted Lerner WPS Media Officer

Photos by JP Parmentier/WPS

(New York City)– Employing an absolute monster break shot, combined with some seriously solid potting and pattern play, Russia’s Ruslan Chinakov handily won both his matches today, including an emphatic 16-6 finals win over the Philippines Lee Vann Corteza, and captured the inaugural Molinari Players Championship at Steinway Billiards in New York City.

Chinakov’s success on Tuesday represents the biggest win of the 23 year old’s career. Since he began his international career at the tender age of just 13 years old, the young Russian, a veritable pool prodigy since the very beginning, has been a fixture on the pro scene around the world. At 15 years old he won the WPA Jr. World 9-ball Championship. He also captured two straight Kremlin Cup titles. And he’s had many solid finishes in tournaments globally.

But this week’s win in the Big Apple surely represents a new level of accomplishment for Chinakov, and signals a new phase in the towering and talented Russian’s career. The Molinari Players Championship, the first of four 8-ball tournaments that make up Darren Appleton’s brand new tour called the World Pool Series, attracted a seriously world class field of 120 players from over 35 countries. They played a version of 8-ball that was designed to be as tough a test as players could possibly face. And when the four day slugfest concluded, it was Chinakov who clearly stood well above this amazing field.

Steinway Billiards in the Queens area of New York was packed for the last day’s semis and final.

Tuesday will be a day that Chinakov, and those that watched it, won’t soon forget as he manhandled two of the Philippines best on route to the winners circle. In his semi-final match against hot shot Pinoy Johann Chua, also 23 years old, the Russian wasted little time in stamping his class on the proceedings. Chinakov lived up to his nickname, “the Siberian Express” as won the lag and proceeded to run the first six racks on the Filipino, and quickly pushed his lead up to 9-1 with his smashing break shot and crafty shot making. Chua did manage a brief fight back, but the Russian rebuffed him at every turn and walked into the final with a 15-8 victory.

Corteza came into the final playing some of his best pool in the last two years, but he nearly didn’t even make it out of his semi-final match with Appleton. The Englishman was wearing two hats as both promoter and player this week, and was playing care free and as strong as ever. Appleton looked to be on his way to a finals date as he powered out to a 9-4 lead. Corteza, though, would have none of it as he stormed back with six straight racks to lead 10-9.

From there the two greats went toe to toe, and headed straight for the cliff. Down 14-13 and with the pressure bearing down, Corteza took advantage of a dry break by Appleton and cleared a very difficult layout to tie, and send the match into a dramatic shootout. In the shootout Corteza shot first and made his first attempt at the full table spot shot on the 8-ball. From there he never trailed, eventually winning 4-2 to advance to the final against Chinakov.

At over three and a half hours long, Corteza’s match against Appleton had clearly drained the Filipino as he only had one hour to get ready for Chinakov, while the Russian had rested for 6 hours. In the end, however, it probably made little difference as Chinakov was playing too good to be stopped.

The pair traded several racks to open the race to 16, winner breaks final. But when Corteza missed a makeable 8-ball while down just 4-3, Chinakov pounced and never looked back. His towering break shot led to balls dropping and patterns opening up, and soon the Russian was up 7-3. Chinakov kept feeding off the momentum while Corteza had few answers and the score quickly went to 12-4. The Filipino tried to mount a comeback with two racks of his own, but the day belonged to Chinakov, who was just too strong, too good and clearly destined for victory. Chinakov took the next four racks, and when he dropped the final 8-ball he had claimed an emphatic, awe inspiring16-6 win.

Afterward a clearly delighted and overwhelmed Chinakov basked in the glow of his sensational victory. Already a hard worker, he said he had doubled his efforts over the last two years, even hiring famed Dutch coach Johan Rysink to help him build up not just his technical skills, but also his mental toughness to deal with his sometimes uncontrollable nerves. The work had clearly paid off on all fronts. The future for 2017 and beyond was suddenly looking very bright indeed.

From left, Lee Vann Corteza, Darren Appleton, Ruslan Chinakov and Johan Chua.

“This is probably the biggest event I have ever won,” Chinakov said. “It’s a great feeling. I still can’t believe I just did this. I didn’t really think about winning today, I just tried to play good and show what l can do. I didn’t play 100% but I still won. Even at this level anyone can miss balls, I just missed less than the other guys. That’s why I’m quite happy about it.

“This is very satisfying because I’ve worked hard for the last two years. This is definitely going to give me a very big boost going forward and hopefully I can keep winning. I also know that this win will help me to perhaps win even more this year. When you can compete and then win against the best players in the world, world champions and other greats, I think 40 of them, and you can even win the tournament, it really tells me that I am headed in the right direction. `

“We both made some mistakes and that’s to be expected in a race to 16, these are really long sets and there’s a lot of ups and downs. When it was up 4-3 I made a few good runs, some break and runs and my lead kept increasing. I think that put him under pressure and he then made a few mistakes, and I just cleaned the table.”

As befitting the always classy Filipinos, Corteza took the loss on the chin and gave credit where it was clearly due. The Filipino took solace in the fact that he started 2017 with one of his best finishes in the last two years.

“I missed a couple of shots, the 8-ball in one rack, then the 10-ball in another,” Corteza said. “I just had bad luck today. I couldn’t get good layouts on the break shot, or I have no shot on the break. It was very difficult to figure out what to do. He broke fantastic and was always getting shots and he had the momentum. I was also feeling a bit tired.

“But he deserved to win. He broke better than me, he really had power on the break. I’m still happy because I played good this week. This is one of my best finishes in a while so I just have to go to the next event and I feel really good about my game.”

With the biggest win in his ten year career to date, Chinakov deservedly felt even better about his game and prospects for the coming months.

“After you win big tournaments, you just come to believe in yourself more and more,”Chinakov said. “And that means in the next big match, I might be less nervous and have better concentration, and that means you have more chances to get the title or finish quite close to the title.

“This is the best start of the year that I could ever imagine.”

By winning the Molinari Player’s Championship Chinakov received $20,000. Corteza took home $8500.

*The first event of the World Pool Series, The Molinari Players Championship, took place at Steinway Billiards in Astoria, Queens, New York City from January 14-17, 2017. The World Pool Series is sponsored by Molinari, Predator, Cheqio, RYO Rack, Aramith, Iwan Simonis, Kamui, Billiards Digest, Ultimate Team Gear, and High Rock.

For more information on the live stream, please visit the official website of the World Pool Series at http://www.worldpoolseries.com/

Complete online brackets and live scoring can be found here: https://cuescore.com/tournament/WPS+1st+series+-+Molinari+Players+Championship/1286018

The World Pool Series is on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/worldpoolseries/

RESULTS SEMI-FINALS Ruslan Chinahov (RUS) 15 – 8 Johann Chua (PHL) Lee Van Corteza (PHL) 16 – 15 Darren Appleton (GBR)