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Once
again, the 7th edition of the Weert Open 9-Ball tournament was a real
success with more than 300 competitors. The promoter, the House of Billiards,
with Maurice Houben, had organized some real high-lights for the crowd. The
participation of the multiple snooker world champion Ronnie „The Rocket“
O’Sullivan brought more spectators to Weert than ever.
I played my qualification group on Thursday and had a strong opponent in my
first match, Boris Grunow (GER). The match was played on top level, but
finally I managed to win 6-4. My next opponent was Edward Dantz from Holland
and I scored a clear 6-1 win. In my third match against former champion Günther
Geisen (GER), I did not doubt for a second and scored another 6-1 win. But
my fourth match against Mario Lannoye from Belgium was not under a good star.
I did not come into the match and Lannoye played very well. I lost 3-6 and
had to seek my second chance in the losers bracket. Here, I played the
snooker professional Lee Richardson (GBR) and won 6-1. And this victory was
also my qualification for the final round with 64 players in a single KO
bracket.
Here, I had to play the current double European champion Alex Lely from
Holland. After a good start, my concentration lowered and I made mistake
after mistake. At 3-3, I missed 4 opportunities to win the rack and this was
the decision for the Dutch player. I was eliminated 3-8 and had to bury my
hopes for a good result in this event.
Ronnie O’Sullivan played better and even made it to the final. After a
loss-free qualification stage, where he defeated amongst others Thomas
Engert (GER), he then won against Bart Houben (NED) 8-4, Fabio Petroni (ITA)
9-8, Mario Lannoye (BEL) 9-7, Christian Prager 9-4 and Brian Beekers (NED)
9-5.
In the final, he then played Mosconi Cup Captain
Mika Immonen (FIN), and the player from Finland was too strong for the
snooker player. He lost 6-10, but considering that this was his first „serious“
participation in a pool tournament, he could be more than satisfied.
A
day before, a special event with 8 selected players was organized. The
Sudden Death 7-Ball was played in a single KO bracket in two sets in races
to 7. In case of a draw one set each, a Sudden Death with only one decisive
rack was played. The draw brought the following matches:
Mario Lannoye (BEL) – Ronnie O’Sullivan (GBR)
1-1 (Lannoye wins the SD)
Mika Immonen (FIN) – Raj Hundal (GBR)
1-1 (Immonen wins the SD)
Thomas Engert (GER) – Marcus Chamat (SWE)
1-1 (Chamat wins the SD)
Ralf Souquet (GER) – Niels Feijen (NED)
1-1 (Souquet wins the
SD)
In the semi-final, Immonen won the Sudden Death
against Lannoye, when the Belgian player missed an excellent opportunity.
The second semi-final was a clear thing for „Napoleon“ Marcus Chamat,
who dominated both sets 5-2 and 5-1. I was simply helpless and had no
composure upon the break. And Chamat played very well and was the secret
favourite for the title match. But things went in another direction. Immonen,
who already happened to win a 7-Ball event in the USA, played his best
billiards and secured his second 7-Ball title of his career, even further
sweetened by the 7000 € prize money for the Winner Takes All Event.
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