Jayson Shaw survived a hill-hill scare in his opening match of the World Pool Championship 2023 in Kielce, Poland as defending champion Shane Van Boening cruised through to Winners Round 1 unscathed live on Sky Sports, Viaplay, DAZN, Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide.
Van Boening stepped out at Targi Kielce looking to do what only Earl Strickland has ever achieved in defending a world title with Masato Yoshioka offering the first test. The South Dakota Kid was barely troubled by his opponent in a strong showing that saw Yoshioka restricted to few opportunities as Van Boening rattled in a 9-2 opening win. Mats Schjetne awaits tomorrow afternoon for Van Boening in Winners’ Qualification.
SVB｜©Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
Shaw meanwhile had a far from the ideal start being pushed to the final four ball against Italy’s Francesco Candela. Two-time Mosconi Cup MVP Shaw, got off to a comfortable start to lead 5-3 but Candela hit back forcing it all the way to the hill. It was the case of Shaw making plenty of balls off the break but misfortune awaiting at his feet with several in-offs to claw Candela back into the contest. Candela forced a hill-hill finish and looked to have an out after a nervy safety exchange only for the four to be left hanging to allow Shaw in to complete a 9-8 win.
“I played well throughout the match. It was a weird one. Funny little things happened, I am exhausted and can barely keep my eyes open with a lot of pool being played in the last week. I need a good sleep and I will be back tomorrow. I got here at 5 pm yesterday and woke up at 5 pm today! 24 hours, I didn’t know where I was! Hopefully, tomorrow I can be back to where I need to be. I am playing well, there are a lot of good players out here. Hopefully, luck is on your side and you play well. It’s one match at a time for me. Everyone is here to win, we will see what happens.” – Jayson Shaw after beating Francesco Candela 9-5.
Wojciech Szewczyk｜©Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
13 Polish players started their journey on home soil with Wojciech Szewczyk getting the honours of playing the first match on Table 1 with the Warsaw native up against Bashar Hussain Abdul Majeed in front of a packed home crowd.
Nineball World No. 1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz beat So Shaw in a whitewash before coming from 5-2 down to defeat Wu Kun Lin and book a spot in the Last 64 and a day off tomorrow. Joining Sanchez Ruiz in the Last 64 is two-time winner Albin Ouschan who got the better of SVB Junior Open winner Khalid Alghamdi in Winners’ Qualification whilst Niels Feijen, Ko Ping Chung and Max Lechner also made it through early doors. It was also a delight for Nick Van Den Berg on a triumphant return to the Nineball Arena with back-to-back wins.
Mieszko Fortunski, Mika Immonen, Chris Melling, and Mario He was amongst the names to be placed onto the losers’ side of the bracket with opening day losses to Emil Andre-Gangflot, Gerson Martinez, Duong Quoc Hoang, and Sebastian Batkowski respectively.
©Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
Action returns from midday local time tomorrow on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia, the Baltics, and the Netherlands, DAZN in the USA and Italy as well as on Matchroom.Live and broadcasters worldwide. Table 2 and Table 3 are on the Matchroom Pool and Multi Sport YouTube Channels respectively and Viaplay in above listed territories. See where to watch here.
Thursday 2 February – from 12pm local
Table 1 Afternoon Session
Match No. 81 – Joshua Filler (GER) vs Alex Pagulayan (CAN) – WQ
Match No. 65 – Shane Van Boening (USA) vs Mats Schjetne (NOR) – WQ
Table 2 Afternoon Session
12pm – Match No. 89 – Wiktor Zielinski (POL) vs Roman Hybler (CZE) – WQ
NB 1:30pm – Match No. 155 – Karol Skowerski (POL) vs James Aranas (PHI) – LR1
NB 2:30pm – TBC
Table 3 Afternoon Session
12pm – Match No. 72 – Alexander Kazakis (GRE) vs Tyler Styer (USA) – WQ
NB 1:30pm – Match No. 140 – Mika Immonen (FIN) vs Marcel Price (GBR) – LR1
NB 2:30pm – TBC
Ko Pin Yi｜©Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
柯秉逸、柯秉中、張榮麟率先晉級9球世錦賽64強
2023 世界撞球錦標賽 (原世界9號球錦標賽) 昨日在波蘭凱爾采的 Targi 會展中心拉開帷幕。尋求衛冕的美國球王 Shane Van Boening 首戰面對日本的吉岡正登，SVB 的強勁表現讓吉岡正登毫無反擊之力，終場 SVB 以 9-2 輕取對手拿下首勝，下一場比賽將迎來挪威選手 Mats Schjetne。
反觀蘇格蘭 “鷹眼” Jayson Shaw 的首場比賽要來得艱辛許多，在對陣義大利選手 Francesco Candela 的比賽中雖取得 5-3 的領先局面，但隨後 Shaw 在比賽中的多次失誤讓 Candela 一次次回到場上，比分也一步步被逼進，雙方在決勝局的一番攻防， Shaw 最終驚險地以 9-8 力克對手。
Shaw 賽後說道: “雖然我整場比賽表現得很好，但上週德比城經典賽那猶如馬拉松式的比賽，讓我精疲力盡，幾乎無法睜開眼睛，我需要好好地睡一覺，希望明天能夠有更佳好的狀態。這裡有很多優秀的球員，每個人都為了勝利，我們拭目以待。”
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz｜©Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
Nineball 世界排名第一的 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 在以 9-0 血洗 So Shaw 後，下一輪對上 “港都魔獸” 吳坤霖，Sanchez Ruiz 在 2-5 落後的情況下逆轉擊敗吳坤霖，並替自己拿下最後64強的一席之位，明天也將迎來休兵日。而同樣取得晉級的還有柯秉中、荷蘭 “終結者” Niels Feijen 與兩位奧地利選手，兩屆冠軍 Albin Ouschan 與他的好友 Max Lechner，以及重返賽場並以連勝之姿取得晉級的’荷蘭名將 Nick Van Den Berg。
柯秉逸、柯秉中與張榮麟在首日分別連續取得兩勝成績順利晉級最後64強，而首輪不幸落敗的謝佳臻與勝部第一輪落敗柯秉漢、吳坤霖將在敗部第一輪以及敗部資格賽中繼續奮戰尋求晉級。
Round 1 – 首輪
柯秉漢 9 – 4 Tomasz Kaplan (波蘭 POL)
謝佳臻 7 – 9 Nick Van Den Berg (荷蘭 NED)
柯秉中 9 – 1 Michal Gavenciak (捷克 CZE)
張榮麟 9 – 2 Jonas-Kvalsund Hansen (挪威 NOR)
柯秉逸 9 – 4 James Aranas (菲律賓 PHI)
吳坤霖 9 – 8 Fabio Petroni (義大利 ITA)
Round 2 – 勝部第一輪
柯秉漢 8 – 9 Aloysius Yapp 葉浚惟 (新加坡 SIG)
柯秉中 9 – 2 Petri Makkonen (芬蘭 FIN)
張榮麟 9 – 8 Duong Quoc Hoang 楊國煌 (越南 VIE)
柯秉逸 9 – 4 Abdullah Al-Anzi (科威特 KUW)
吳坤霖 7 – 9 Francisco Sánchez Ruiz (西班牙 ESP)