FOLLOWING SATURDAY’S play at the Alpina Sporthotel in St Johann im Pongau, Austria, there are now 128 players remaining at the Dynamic St Johan im Pongau Open as the third stop on the 2022 Dynamic Billards Euro Tour moves into day three.
Staying on the winners’ side of the draw is the name of the game as three wins can take a player through to the single elimination last 32. The losers’ side is a much more demanding experience as the matches come thick and fast as the double elimination part of the tournament reaches its conclusion.
Of the top ten players on the Euro Tour ranking, seven have comfortably made it through to the Winner’s Qualification round. Alex Kazakis, No.4, was a faller yesterday but has made it through to Round Four on the one loss side where he faces Jakub Sawicki of Poland on Sunday morning.
Ronni Regli (Switzerland) lost in Winners’ Round Two as he went down 9-4 to Mustafa Alnar (Northern Cyprus). He too takes his place in Losers’ Round Four also on Sunday morning. Finally, Marc Bijsterbosch, ranked at No.10, was edged out 9-8 by Ramazan Akdag of Turkey but the Dutchman lives to fight another day on Sunday.
Klenti Kaci (Albania) enjoyed a comfortable 9-3 win over Germany’s Andre Wansner and can look forward to a Winners’ Qualification match against Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH).
Commented Kaci, “I don’t really like playing Sanjin as he’s a really good friend of mine but you’ve got to take it and we’re going to play to win, both of us. When I come to the Euro Tour, I always feel like winning.
“I was first for like three years then stopped playing one or two of them but now I’m going to get back to No.1 very soon. When I have free time back home, I practice and prepare myself for the tournaments. Of course, tournaments are good practice to play and I just play everywhere,” he added.
Moritz Neuhausen｜©EPBF
Making his Euro Tour debut was quality Kuwaiti player Abdullah Alyousef, a recent semi-finalist at the WPA World 9 Ball Championship. He ran into Moritz Neuhausen, the 21-year-old former WPA World Junior Champion and was on the wrong end of a 9-2 scoreline. The impressive German youngster now faces Hungary’s Oliver Szolnoki for a place in the last 32.
The action resumes at 10.00am local time tomorrow with two more rounds of one-loss side matches, followed by winners’ qualification and then losers’ qualification. The single elimination round of 32 completes Sunday’s action at the Dynamic Billards St Johann in Pongau Open.
As well as the prize money, there are Tour ranking points on offer as well as world ranking points, so there is everything to play for. All Euro Tour tournaments are 9-ball and players compete in a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 32 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are races to 9 racks with alternate break.
All the matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com