Current Euro-Tour ranked #3 and former World Champion Albin Ouschan (AUT) got eliminated from the Dynamic Billard Klagenfurt Open 2018 after two straight matches. That huge upset was performed by Miguel Silva (POR) and unheralded Raoul Reichegger (AUT).
Pressure took its toll on Austria’s Albin Ouschan. High hopes were dashed as quickly as they were imagined as Albin Ouschan went out on the first day’s play. Born in this beautiful town close to the Slovenian border, fans and the locals held their head with disbelief as he crashed out of the tournament after only two matches. First losing to Portugal’s Miguel Silva 7:9, then to his unknown Austrian counterpart, Raoul Reichegger with the same score line which means the Austrian hopes now lie in the hands of others.
Austria’s Mario He, #2 on the overall rankings also made the home fans sweat as he lost a match that seemed impossible to lose. Leading 5:0 and on the hill leading 8:5, it was all smiles but suddenly, the wheels came off as another relatively unknown Italian, Filippo Cataldi showed Mario how to kill a game off winning 9:8 and sending Mario to the loser’s side where he will play Friday morning 09:00 local time.
Left to right: Miguel Silva, Albin Ouschan and Raoul Reichegger
Eklent Kaci, the hottest property in pool right now and Europe’s current #1 ranked player made light work of Christoffer Lentz (DEN) 9:2 but faced a tricky situation against Italy’s Daniele Corrieri. Kaci was well behind several times in the match and never actually led at any stage until it came to the final rack. After dragging himself back to 8:8 it was a tense last rack with Kaci showing the metal that has served him so well of late allowing him the calmness to take this match 9:8. That result has set up a mouth-watering tie against another hotshot, Germany’s Joshua Filler starting at 14:00 local time Friday for a place in the last 32 single elimination stage of the event.
Niels Feijen (NED), the Dutch all-round weapon on the battlefield of slate, also had to suffer a defeat today. After taking down current European 8-ball Champion Bahram Lotfy (DEN) 9:6 earlier, he met England’s Imran Majid in winner’s round 2. That match was a thriller and fiercely fought over. After 16 racks, the scoreboard displayed 8:8. In the deciding rack, Feijen missed a long pot when he had to cue upon over the 8-ball in order to shoot the cue ball into the 3-ball. He left the 3-ball on the table for Maijd who took his chance and ran the rack to win 9:8 over Feijen. „the Terminator“ still has a chance to stay in the tournament by winning his matches on the loser’s side.
With the world 9-ball championship spots up for grabs and of course the Mosconi team points at stake, the top players are feeling the heat in their quest for glory and it will take a massive performance under these circumstances to prevail. Today, Albin Ouschan has lost big time in his run for a spot in those events since all of his rivals are still in the race for points.
Friday through Sunday, EPBF will show two feature matches LIVE on the EPBF Facebook page. The complete tournament on 20 tables is shown on kozoom.com for premium pass holders.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organised by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). Play starts Thursday at 09:30 local time, for further information and reference please go to the federation website eurotouronline under the Eurotour tab. You can also visit us on our Facebook page or check out the EPBF YouTube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office [email protected].