Pazo de Feiras e Congresos de Lugo
Avenida da Fábrica da Luz
27004 Lugo
Galicia
Spain
www.confederacionpool.com
Friday/Saturday/Sunday 26-28 June 2009
Neils Feijen, Daryl Peach (wiinner), Francisco Bustamante, and Marcus Chamat
these 4 players scoop a total of €19,000 from the prize fund by getting on this podium!
Peach edges out The Terminator in hill-hill final!
The beautiful city of Lugo in northern Spain was, for the third consecutive year the venue for this popular event.
This year, largely due to the economic crisis and the proximity of the Qatar Open, the entries were lower than expected.
The event with 30,000 euros in the prize fund attracted only 90 participants but what it lacked in quantity was compensated for by the quality.
No less than 3 current world champions and one ex world champion were attracted to this corner of Spain. Current 8 ball champion and world ranked number one, Ralf Souquet, 9 ball champion Daryl Peach, Straight Pool champion Niels Feijen were joined by ex-champ Oliver Ortmann. These weren’t the only “names” at the event, Francisco Bustamante made the long trip from the Philipinnes to play in the tournament and to stage some exhibitions during the Spanish Championships which take place immediately after the “Open”.
The brackets were littered with household names such as Marcus Chamat from Sweden, David Alcaide from Spain together with last year’s winner Francisco Diaz also of Spain and runner up Manuel Gama of neighbouring Portugal.
The venue was a Congress Centre on the banks of Lugo’s River Minho. 25 Dynamic II tables were set up and there was live streaming from the main table.
"Read More..." for the details.
The sea of tables at the 2009 City of Lugo International 9-Ball Tournament.
As the Spanish championships take place at the same time, 48 7’ tables were also to be seen in this large venue.
Around 3000 players will be taking part during the 10 day festival of pool.
The ” Open” started on the Friday with two groups of 24 players, the format was double elimination and a race to 9 until 8 players remained. The following day saw the same format with the two other groups.
Saturday evening saw the start of the final phase which was single elimination, a race to ten and the bracket was made up of the 32 players that had survived the group stages.
The 16 players that came from the winners side in the groups were seeded and the 16 from the losers side were drawn.
The first major upset came in this first round when Spain’s number 1 and European number 6, David Alcaide was narrowly beaten 10 -9 by another Spanish player, Iker Etxeberria. Souquet wasted no time in demolishing Antonio Gomez with a 10-0 scoreline. Top Spanish junior, 17 year old Francisco Sanchez, took out Croatian player, Bozo Primic, 10 – 6 while the rest of the line up went as expected.
The second round on Sunday morning saw some interesting matches, Marcus Chamat of Sweden versus Ivica Putnik of Croatia, the Croatian, current European straight pool champion, couldn’t quite live with “Napoleon” and went out after losing 10-7. Daryl Peach did what David Alcaide couldn’t, Iker Etxeberria was no match for the Englishman who triumphed with a 10-3 victory.
Bustamante had a TV match against top Spanish player Carlos Cabello who took an early lead but the experience of the Filipino proved too much and he eventually ran out the 10 – 6 winner. The quarter finals saw all the big guns drawn together, Souquet took on recent China Open runner up, Niels Feijen, but on this occasion, the balls weren’t rolling for the “Kaiser” and the Dutchman marched on to the semi finals after his 10 -6 victory over the world’s number 1 ranked player.
The second match up saw two veterans locked in battle, Bustamante took on Oliver Ortmann and with few problems finished off the German player’s hopes with a 10-5 scoreline.
Chamat found himself up against young Spanish hope, Francisco Sanchez who, in the previous round had a narrow 10-9 victory over Serbia’s Sandor Tot. The Spanish player was looking good for a while but once again, experience told and Marcus ran out the 10 – 6 winner.
Daryl Peach in action at the 2009 City of Lugo International 9-Ball Tournament.
Daryl Peach, cruising through the early racks got to 8- 4 with Portuguese player Manuel Gama and it looked over and done with. Gama was having none of it though and scared the British player by running a series of racks until eventually they both got to the hill. Breathing a big sigh of relief Daryl sank the last 9 ball to set up a semi final match with Marcus Chamat.
Semi final 1 saw a hard fought battle between Bustamante and Feijen. This one drew a big crowd of spectators and they weren’t disappointed as they witnessed a battle royal between these two giants of the pool world.
Niels Feijen in action at the 2009 City of Lugo International 9-Ball Tournament.
Feijen took the victory by the narrowest of margins and his 10-9 win was enough to get himself into the final.
The other semi final between Peach and Chamat saw the Swede not at his best and after a series of unforced errors, he finally submitted to the “Brit” 5 – 10.
The final between Feijen and Peach was everything that the packed arena could have hoped for, they matched each other rack for rack in this alternate break competition until they arrived at the hill.
With one rack left to decide the winner, Peach hooked the Dutchman who was forced to attempt a jump shot, unfortunately for him, he scratched and Daryl made no mistakes as he sank ball after ball until he finally saw the 9 ball disappear.
For his efforts of the weekend, Peach took home the 10,000 euro prize while Feijen had to settle for half as much.
Bustamante finished 3rd with 2,000 euros and Chamat 4th, also received 2,000 euros. Prize money for the 5th to 8th placed players was 1,000 euros, 9th to 16th ended up with 500 euros each and the rest of the 32 took home the consolation prize of 150 euros.
Later that evening, the organizers invited the overseas visitors to a celebration dinner and everyone had the pleasure of sampling the excellent food and wine from the region.
Some players then had to catch early flights as they were due to play the Qatar Open two days later.
The organizers and sponsors would like to thank everyone who took part in this event and hope to see them all next year.
THE CITY OF LUGO OPEN 9-BALL TOURNAMENT | |
PRIZE FUND | |
1st | 10,000 Euros + Trophy |
2nd | 5,000 Euros + Trophy |
3rd-4th | 2,000 Euros + Trophy |
5th-8th | 1,000 Euros |
9th-16th | 500 Euros |
17th-32nd | 150 Euros |
THE CITY OF LUGO INTERNATIONAL 9-BALL TOURNAMENT | ||
THE LAST 32 | ||
Ralf Souquet | 10 : 0 | Antonio Gomez |
Jordi Ribas | 10 : 6 | David Alcoberro |
Niels Feijen | 10 : 3 | Alvaro Garcia |
Luis Gonzalez | 10 : 8 | Brett Armer |
Francisco Bustamante | 10 : 0 | Cristian Tedesco |
Carlos Cabello | 10 : 4 | James Welch |
Oscar Regueiro | 10 : 7 | David Alvarez |
Oliver Ortmann | 10 : 6 | Samir Kaddur |
Ivica Putnik | 10 : 8 | Joao Silva |
Marcus Chamat | 10 : 4 | Bruno Sosa |
Sandor Tot | 10 : 5 | Gabriel Cindac |
Francisco Sanchez | 10 : 6 | Bozo Primic |
Daryl Peach | 10 : 6 | Hector Del Amo |
Iker Etxeberria | 10 : 9 | David Alcaide |
Huidji See | 10 : 4 | Andy Lester |
Manuel Gama | 10 : 1 | Andreas Pettersson |
THE CITY OF LUGO INTERNATIONAL 9-BALL TOURNAMENT | ||
THE LAST 16 | ||
Ralf Souquet | 10 : 1 | Jordi Ribas |
Niels Feijen | 10 : 4 | Luis Gonzalez |
Francisco Bustamante | 10 : 8 | Carlos Cabello |
Oliver Ortmann | 10 : 4 | Oscar Regueiro |
Marcus Chamat | 10 : 7 | Ivica Putnik |
Francisco Sanchez | 10 : 9 | Sando Tot |
Daryl Peach | 10 : 3 | Iker Etxeberria |
Manuel Gama | 10 : 5 | Huidji See |
THE CITY OF LUGO INTERNATIONAL 9-BALL TOURNAMENT | ||
THE QUARTER FINALS | ||
Niels Feijen | 10 : 6 | Ralf Souquet |
Francisco Bustamante | 10 : 5 | Oliver Ortmann |
Marcus Chamat | 10 : 6 | Francisco Sanchez |
Daryl Peach | 10 : 9 | Manuel Gama |
THE CITY OF LUGO INTERNATIONAL 9-BALL TOURNAMENT | ||
THE SEMI FINALS | ||
Niels Feijen | 10 : 9 | Francisco Bustamante |
Daryl Peach | 10 : 5 | Marcus Chamat |
THE CITY OF LUGO INTERNATIONAL 9-BALL TOURNAMENT | ||
THE FINAL | ||
Daryl Peach | 10 : 9 | Niels Feijen |