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WPA Etisalat World 8-Ball Championships 2010
Fujairah Tennis & Country Club
Fujairah
United Arab Emirates
www.ftcc-sim.ae
www.wpa-pool.com
www.world8ballchampionship.com
Download the brackets (small .xls file) - Updated with Day 5 results!
View the live score courtesy of AZ Billiards

4-10 April 2010

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE QUARTER-FINALS
Ruslan Chinakov	10 : 5	Jeff de Luna
Karl Boyes	10 : 5	Vicencio Tanio
Niels Feijen	10 : 6	Andreas Roschkowski
Darren Appleton	10 : 8	Joven Alba

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE SEMI-FINALS
Karl Boyes	10 : 2	Ruslan Chinakov
Niels Feijen	10 : 6	Darren Appleton

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE FINAL
Karl Boyes	13 : 12	Niels Feijen

Karl Boyes from Great Britain - WPA Etisalat World 8-Ball Champion 2010
Karl Boyes new World Champ!

The World 8-Ball Championships final was a run-out fest between Niels Feijen and Karl Boyes. The First rack had a bit of back and forth action and was taken by Boyes. Then he broke and ran three consecutive racks to lead 4-0. When he came up dry on his next break Feijen ran the table and then broke and ran the next rack. 4-2. Then Feijen suffered a dry break and Boyes cleared that table and broke and ran the next. Another dry break brought Feijen back to the table to clean up. With the score at 6-3 Feijen broke but the table came up tough. He missed his second shot at the table and Boyes returned the favor by missing his second shot attempt as well. Again Feijen came to the table and again his second shot failed. The table simply was not being at all generous with opportunities. Boyes studied the table for a while and jacked up for a nifty little nip shot into the corner that gave him the chance to clear the table. When he succeeded the score became 7-3 in our race to 13 and Feijen was in trouble deep.

"Read More..." for the details.

Two more break and runs for Boyes brought his lead to 9-3 before he had another dry break and Feijen did a marvelous job of breaking out two trouble balls in order to get himself the point and bring the score to 9-4. Feijen then broke and the balls again came apart poorly. It was a struggle to get through the rack and Feijen scratched on his fourth ball, giving ball in hand to Boyes. Boyes had no problem clearing the table to gain a 10-4 advantage. Another break and run brought Boyes to 11-4 but then his next break came dry and Feijen needed to get some momentum going. Feijen managed to clear that table and then put together some break and runs of his own. A great little nip shot on the final ball in game number 18 brought him hope as the score narrowed to 11-7. Feijen followed with two more break and runs to bring the score to 11-9 but then broke dry.

Boyes took that table but then broke dry himself. Feijen ran the table out. Then Feijen jumped the table on his break shot and Boyes had ball in hand to win the Championship. On his fifth shot he was off just enough so that the draw shot wound up with him snookered behind the two ball. He missed his attempt at a good hit and with the ball in hand Feijen ran out to take the score line to 12-11. Feijen mad a ball o the break but the table was anything but easy. He studied his way from ball to ball and wound up with a tough cut on the 14. He took a lot of time to get comfortable with the shot and nailed it. He made the next shot but left himself a tough cut on the 11 to finish off his set of balls. He made it but came up just short of position. Another tough cut. But he dropped the 8 ball and we had a double-hill final with Feijen breaking.

Feijen came to the table knowing that his break had failed him several times before. It failed again. He broke dry and Boyes came to an open table. You could see the tension of the moment robbing Boyes arm of its trustiness. He missed position on his first shot and only had one shot to choose from. But he made that and then looked good to clear it up for the win. The final four balls were fairly easy ones and Boyes confidence was coming back quickly. They all dropped and then Boyes began to feel it. He walked back to his chair, shook Feijen�s hand and then gave us a double fist pump to celebrate moment. Karl Boyes, Champion of the World.

Day Five of the WPA World 8 Ball Championships

The Netherland's Niels Feijen -vs- Karl Boyes from Great Britain
Only Two Men Left in Fujairah

The great eight had their shot at the spotlight in Fujairah and three of them made the most of the early going. 45 minutes into the round Ruslan Chinakhov led Jeff de Luna 5-1, Karl Boyes enjoyed the same lead over Vicenancio Tanio and Darren Appleton had a 4-1 gap over Joven Alba. Neils Feijen and Andreas Roschkowsky were being a bit more dramatic as Feijen led their match 3-2 at that point.

None of our leaders would ever falter. Ruslan Chinakov and Karl Boyes both won their matches by score lines of 10-5, Darren Appleton squeaked past Joven Alba 10-8 and Niels Feijen gradually widened the gap between he and Roschkowsky until he sank the final ten ball at 10-6.

The semi-final rounds saw Ruslan Chinakhov facing Karl Boyes and Darren Appleton squared off against Niels Feijen. Early leads would again be the order of the day as Boyes jumped out to a 6-1 lead over Chinakhov and Feijen led 5-1 over Appleton. In a winner-breaks format such as this huge comebacks are possible but first you have to win and gain control of the table. Our leaders were not giving up that control.

Karl Boyes - Great Britain
For Ruslan Chinakhov it was mostly an evening spent as a spectator. Karl Boyes broke and ran the balls time and again and wound up putting on a completely dominating display of 8-Ball and winning their match 10-2. Boyes would be the first player to make it to finals on Saturday.

Niels Feijen dominated his match as well. Darren Appleton did his best to make a match of it when, at 9-4, Feijen suffered a dry break. Appleton took that rack to draw within 4 games. He then broke and ran the next to pull within three. But the next break left him in difficult position and his first shot failed him, leaving a grand opportunity for Feijen. He took that to the bank and ran the tablet to win the match 10-6 and grab the second chair in the finals.

Niels Feijen - Netherlands

Day Four of the WPA World 8 Ball Championships

Karl Boyes - Great Britain
Day Four of the World 8-Ball Championships

The World 8-Ball Championship in Fujairah, UAE, held the round of 32 first today. This is single-elimination so that any loss means the end for the losing player. It is a race to ten games with the winner breaking. Our first round featured half of the remaining field and there are very few players left who cannot be mentioned as possible candidates to take it all.

The first player eliminated today was Scott Higgins. He ran into an extremely sharp Ronnie Alcano and got buzz-sawed 10-3. Alcano simply gave him no air. It seemed that every time Alcano had a shot he ran out the table, including at least six break and run performances.

To prove the toughness of the remaining field, Mika Immonen (Current US Open and World Ten Ball Champion) was the second man eliminated today. He was pitted against Russian superstar Ruslan Chinakhov and was out of the match early as he found himself down 3-1. To his credit, he then fought back to a tie at 3 games apiece but then Chinakhov buried him with runs and Immonen rarely came to the table with a shot. It soon went to 9-4, and then to 9-5. Immonen then scratched on the next break and Chinakhov cleared the table to send the number one ranked player in the world to the door.

Karl Boyes certainly came with his game today. He steamrolled Masaki Tanaka 10-3 and played brilliant safeties when he needed in order to allow Tanaka no quarter. Stephan Cohen, the current World 14.1 Champion, used his skills to dismantle Pei Wei Chang 10-5 in a match where he was never under threat. Cohen, despite his credentials, still somehow manages to fly under the radar and players do not understand his power until it is too late and their fates are already sealed. Cohen does nothing to change this. He never brags about his wins, he just quietly hangs around and awaits the next match with a slight grin on his face, a grin that allows him to continue to appear non-threatening. In a pillow fight, his is the pillow with the brick in it.

Andreas Roschkowski - Germany
Vicencio Tanio is another player who does not get the attention his game deserves. He faced an extremely tough Jalal Alsarisi and just kept edging his lead out there until he won the match 10-6. Dennis Orcullo and his countryman Lee Van Corteza had a real nail-biter of a match. They stayed neck and neck throughout with neither man ever enjoying more than a one game lead. Finally it came down to a 9-9 game with Orcullo breaking. Orcullo made thre balls and then played safe but Van Corteza escaped that and cleared the table to claim the win 10-9. At about the same time Yukio Akakariyama finished off Francis Crevier in a match that saw Crevier suffer more than his share of bad luck. At one point Crevier executed a lovely thin cut shot on the eight ball only to watch in agony as the cue ball also found a pocket and cost him the point. The final match of the first session stayed close but Jeff de Luna found strength when he needed it and ran through the last rack to take the win at 10-8.

The second half of the opening bracket found Ralf Souquet in top form. He ran seven racks that this reporter witnessed and kept Huidji See firmly planted in his chair for most of the afternoon. Souquet whitewashed the unfortunate See 10-0. Finishing quickly thereafter Ko Pin Yi finished his lessons on Raymund Faraon 10-1 by running the last nine racks in a row and Joven Alba easily handled Oliver Medininilla 10-3. Marcus Chamat, he of the big heart, toasted American hero Shane Van Boening 10-1 to secure his place in the sweet sixteen and Darren Appleton showed no mercy as he blasted past John Morra 10-4 to grab his chair there as well.

Antonio Gabica was the next man to progress as he stormed past Marlon Manalo 10-6and Niels Feijen did the same as he doubled the effort of Basher Hussein 10-5. Our final man to move on was Andreas Roschkowsky who fought a close one with Mateusz Sniegocki to emerge victorious 10-7.

The sweet sixteen round is always a round of great interest. All of the players have proven themselves to be �on game� and all are playing with the knowledge that they have the power to be hoisting the trophy at week�s end. This round is broken into two sessions of four games per session.

Two giants of the game were the first to be eliminated. Ronnie Alcano lost 10-4 to Vicencio Tanio and Lee Van Corteza got ousted 10-2 by Jeff de Luna. Ruslan Chinakhov continued his fine work this week by downing Yukio Akakariyama 10-7 while Karl Boyes stayed alive with a 10-6 win over Stephan Cohen.

Joven Alba made one of the greatest comebacks of the event when he was down 6-1 to Antonio Gabica and rallied to win their match 10-7. Andreas Roschkowski began his match with Marcus Chamat with both men close in the early stages. But he pulled ahead and never surrendered the lead past the halfway point to win 10-6. Darren Appleton and Pin Yi Ko had a very long match lasting over 2� hours that saw Appleton winning 10-8 after Ko jumped the cue ball off of the table on his break shot.

Our final result came after a marathon match between Niels Feijen and Ralf Soquet that lasted nearly 3� hours. The break haunted both men and neither could ever establish a comfortable lead. Most of the match was spent with only a point or two difference between them though at one point Feijen did lead 8-5 before Souquet began reeling him back in to lead 9-8. But Souquet�s next break came dry and Feijen had an opportunity to take the match to double-hill. He would not disappoint and when he cleared the table both men stood only one rack away from the win. Feijen had the break shot and when he made a ball on the break the handwriting was on the wall. He cleared the table take the win and progress while our defending champion was left to wonder what might have been.

Antonio Gabica - Philippines

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE GROUPS
Group 1 Mika Immonen (FIN) Vincent Facquet (FR) Lee Chen Man (HKG) Raymund Faraon (PHI) Mohammed Hosani (UAE) John Morra (CAN) Ronnie Alcano (PHI) Radislaw Babica (POL)	Group 2 Karl Boyes (GBR) Saeed Al Mutawe (UAE) Won Sik Ham (KOR) Mohamed Al Assel (Egypt) Joven Alba (PHI) Ali Nasih (Maldives) Scott Higgins (GBR) Marcus Chamat (SWE)
Group 3 Ricky Yang (INO) Khaled Sebata (UAE) Chang Pei Wei (TPE) Vicenancio Tanio ( PHI) Sandile Madlala (SA) Mehdi Rasheki (IRI) Hussin Sayeem (BAN) Yukio Akakariyama (JPN)	Group 4 David Alcaide (ESP) Ismail Yaqob (UAE) Ruslan Chinakov (RUS) Moein Khedri (IRI) Oliver Medenilla (PHI) Dennis Orcullo (PHI) Majid Sultan (UAE) Lee Van Corteza (PHI)
Group 5 Darren Appleton (GBR) Francis Crevier (CAN) Kenny Kwok (HKG) Abdullah Yousef (KUW) Jeff de Luna (PHI) Mustafa Hassan (IRQ) Jalal Sarkesi (JOR) Lu Hui Chan (TPE)	Group 6 Shane Van Boening (USA) Masaaki Tanaki (JPN) Omran Salem (UAE) Ko Pin Yi (TPE) Kim Aquino (PHI) Andreas Roschkowski (GER) Abdulatif Fawal (QAT) Thorsten Hohmann (GER)
Group 7 Niels Feijen (NED) Takhti Zarekani (IRI) Amin Fekry (UAE) Shaker Wahdan (JOR) Stephan Cohen (FR) Salah Al Remwy (UAE) Bashar Hussein (QAT) Marlon Manalo (PHI)	Group 8 Antonio Gabica (PHI) Matteusz Sniegocki (POL) Huidji See (NED) Sumit Talwar (IND) Magid Al Azmi (KUW) Ruben Bautista (MEX) Kang Lee (HKG) Ralf Souquet (GER)

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE LAST 32
Jeff de Luna	10 : 8	Ricky Yang
Lee Van Corteza	10 : 9	Dennis Orcollo
Ruslan Chinakov	10 : 5	Mika Immonen
Yukio Akariyama	10 : 6	Frances Crevier
Ronnie Alcano	10 : 3	Scott Higgins
Vicencio Tanio	10 : 6	Jalal Alsarisi
Karl Boyes	10 : 3	Masaki Tanaka
Stephan Cohen	10 : 5	Pei Wei Chang
Ralf Souquet	10 : 0	Huidji See
Niels Feijen	10 : 5	Bashar Hussein
Andreas Roschkowski	10 : 7	Mateusz Sniegocki
Marcus Chamat	10 : 1	Shane Van Boening
Ko Pin Yi	10 : 1	Raymund Faraon
Darren Appleton	10 : 4	John Morra
Antonio Gabica	10 : 6	Marlon Manalo
Joven Alba	10 : 3	Oliver Medinilla

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE LAST 16
Jeff de Luna	10 : 2	Lee Van Cortesa
Ruslan Chinakov	10 : 7	Yukio Akakariyama
Vicencio Tanio	10 : 4	Ronnie Alcano
Karl Boyes	10 : 6	Stephan Cohen
Niels Feijen	10 : 9	Ralf Souquet
Andreas Roschkowski	10 : 6	Marcus Chamat
Darren Appleton	10 : 8	Ko Pin Yi
Joven Alba	10 : 7	Antonio Gabica

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE QUARTER-FINALS
Ruslan Chinakov	10 : 5	Jeff de Luna
Karl Boyes	10 : 5	Vicencio Tanio
Niels Feijen	10 : 6	Andreas Roschkowski
Darren Appleton	10 : 8	Joven Alba

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE SEMI-FINALS
Karl Boyes	10 : 2	Ruslan Chinakov
Niels Feijen	10 : 6	Darren Appleton

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE FINAL
Karl Boyes	13 : 12	Niels Feijen

Jeff de Luna - Philippines

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE PRIZE FUND
1st	$ 17,000	$ 17,000
2nd	$ 12,000	$ 12,000
3rd	$ 8,000	$ 8,000
4th	$ 6,000	$ 6,000
5th-8th	$ 3,750	$ 15,000
9th-16th	$ 2,250	$ 18,000
17th-32nd	$ 1,000	$ 16,000
33rd-48th	$ 500	$ 8,000
49th-64th	$ 300	$ 4,800
TOTAL PRIZE FUND = US $104,800

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