Ruslan Chinakhov, who earlier this year won a World Pool Series event in New York, added to his impressive resume as he took down the Dutch Open on the Euro Tour to give his 2017 Mosconi Cup chances a real boost.
It was the first Euro Tour win for the ‘Siberian Express’ as he looks to become the second ever Russian player to compete in the Mosconi Cup – Konstantin Stepanov was a Euro winner back in 2007.
The win puts Chinakhov up to fifth place on the ‘World’ list and in second place on a tightly packed ‘European’ leaderboard. Players currently filling the top spots are Joshua Filler and Ralf Souquet (both Germany) on the ‘World’ list and Holland’s Nick Van Den Berg on the European list.
Unlike previous years there will be only two rankings instead of three. The first will be the ‘European Ranking’ which includes the six European Level Two events and five European Level Three tournaments. The winner of this ranking will gain a spot on the Mosconi Cup side.
The second ranking will be the ‘World Ranking’ which will comprise all 13 events. The first and second placed players in this ranking will gain spots on the European Mosconi Cup team.
In the event that the winner of the European Ranking also comes first or second in the World Ranking, then the player filling the third position in the World Ranking will gain an automatic spot. The remaining two players will be wildcard picks.
The next ranking event is the Black Sea Cup which takes place on August 26/27 at Constanta, Romania, which counts towards both the European and World Ranking.
2017 European Mosconi Cup Rankings - World List (After seven events)
1 Joshua Filler (GER) 155
2 Ralf Souquet (GER) 141
3 Nick van den Berg (NED) 134
4 Albin Ouschan (AUT) 123
5 Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) 119
6 Niels Feijen (NED) 116
7 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (ESP) 107
8 David Alcaide (ESP) 92
9 Marco Teutscher (NED) 89
10 Mario He (AUT) 73
2017 European Mosconi Cup Rankings - European List (After six events)
1 Nick van den Berg (NED) 121
2 Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) 119
3 Ralf Souquet (GER) 114
4 Niels Feijen (NED) 103
5 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (ESP) 94
6 David Alcaide (ESP) 92
7 Albin Ouschan (AUT) 83
8 Joshua Filler (GER) 75
9 Mario He (AUT) 73
10 Mark Gray (GBR) 69
Points Cut Off
Events with a field upwards of 80 players – top 32
Events with fields between 64 and 79 players – top 24
Events with less than 64 entries – top 16.
2017 MOSCONI CUP is sponsored by Rasson Billiards who supplies the Official Table; the cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith by Saluc. Predator is the Official Cue and Chalk of the event and Ultimate Team Gear provide all Mosconi Cup apparel.
