Fedor Gorst
There is both the expected and the unexpected to come in the formation of the 2023 Mosconi Cup Teams, with the USA scheduled to compete against its European rivals from December 6-9 at the Alexandra Palace in London. The last event that impacted the rankings that determine selections for three of each team’s members (not including the Hanoi Open, currently underway; Oct. 10-15) was the 2023 Peri Open 9-Ball Championships, also held in Hanoi a week ago (Oct. 5-9).
Fedor Gorst, currently at the top of our AZBilliards Money Leaderboard, went undefeated at the Peri Open 9-Ball event, defeating the Philippines’ Michael Feliciano in the finals. As of today, according to Matchroom Pool’s Mosconi Cup site, Gorst (4th in the rankings) and Skyler Woodward (13th in the rankings) have already been selected for the USA team. It’s not clear why Shane Van Boening, second in the overall rankings, behind Spain’s Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz, is not one of the first two to have been selected for the USA team, but it seems likely, given his ranking, that he will be the third, rounding out the rankings-selected portion of the USA team. Sanchez-Ruiz and countryman, David Alcaide are currently the only two selected for the European team. Alcaide is 11th in the rankings list (after the Peri Open 9-Ball event), with Joshua Filler (3rd), Jayson Shaw (6th), Mario He (7th), Albin Ouschan (8th), Wiktor Zielinski (9th) and Eklent Kaci (10th) ahead of him. This would suggest (though not guarantee) that Filler would be the third, pre-selected member of the European team.
The remaining two Wild Card spots on both teams are designated as Captain selections, meaning that Jeremy Jones for the USA and Ralph Eckert for team Europe will pick two competitors each, basing their selections on the rankings (though not necessarily in ranking order) and communication with others about which competitors might ‘fit’ the team best, regardless of their ranking (Earl Strickland, as an example, was chosen for the 2022 USA team, though there were a number of US competitors ahead of him in the rankings when he was chosen). If the Captain’s selections were to be influenced strictly by rankings, and assuming that the third rankings-selection were to be Filler for Europe and Van Boening for the USA, Jones would be considering the next five USA competitors; Shane Wolford (42nd), Tyler Styer (47th), Billy Thorpe (48th), Oscar Dominguez (51st) and BJ Ussery, Jr. Eckert’s possibles for the two European Wild Card picks could be Jayson Shaw (6th; a good bet to get one of the Wild Card picks, if Filler gets the third rankings-selected spot) and the above-noted group behind Shaw in the rankings – He, Ouschan, Zielinski and Kaci.
Gorst was joined in his quest for the Peri Open 9-Ball title by Sanchez-Ruiz, Shane Van Boening, Skyler Woodward, Billy Thorpe and BJ Ussery, Jr. Not having far to travel afterwards, they are competing at the final rankings event before final Mosconi Cup selections, the Hanoi Open, along with Jayson Shaw, David Alcaide and Shane Wolford.
Once among the Peri Open’s Final 64, bound for the winners’ circle, Gorst’s path went through New Zealand’s Matt Edwards, Vietnam’s Nguyen Manh Tung, Philippines’ Dennis Orcollo, and Taipei’s Fu Che Wei to arrive at the event semifinals against the Philippines’ Anthony Raga.
Michael Feliciano in the meantime, got by Vietnam’s Ngo Quang Trung, Bosnia’s Sanjin Pehlivanovic, Philippines’ Jefrey Consigna Roda, and Tapei’s Kuo Po Cheng to arrive at his winners’ side semifinal against his third countryman, James Aranas.
Gorst eliminated Raga 11-5 and was joined in the final by Feliciano, who’d defeated Aranas 11-8. Grost claimed the Peri Open title with a 13-6 victory over Feliciano.
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