Jasmin Ouschan, Albin Ouschan and Max Lechner
The winner of the “Top of Austria 9-Ball Challenge” on October 28th is Albin Ouschan. The former 9-Ball World Champion of 2016 prevailed at the summit meeting of domestic pool billiards professionals in the ORF center at Küniglberg in Vienna, Austria with 5-0 win against his sister Jasmin Ouschan, followed by a 5-2 win over his Austrian National teammate Maximilian Lechner.
“In the match against Jasmin, I got comfortable right away and I was very satisfied with my performance. I also showed some of the disgusting facets of 9-Ball with a few lucky shots. This can be tough for an opponent to overcome – especially with a short race to five. Unfortunately, Jasmin was only able to sink a few balls, although she didn’t really do anything wrong. Her break just didn’t come as expected, ”the Carinthian analyzed his victory in the sibling duel.
Against Lechner, Ouschan started very strong and quickly went ahead 3-0. The Tyrolean, currently ranked 19th on the WPA World Rankings and the highest ranking Austrian player on the list reached the hill first at 4-2 and then broke and ran the final rack for the 5-2 win.
“When I was ahead 4-2, I was briefly afraid that Max might come back again. It would have been big if he had won the 7th rack, but in the end I had it under control ”said Ouschan.
Lechner had previously been successful 5-4 in the exciting opening match against Jasmin Ouschan. The Tyrolean made an avoidable pocketing error on the decisive nine ball when he led 4-3, but then benefited from a dry break by Jasmin Ouschan in the last rack.
“When I missed the nine, I saw that I didn’t have much time left. and thought that I still had the extension (extension of the shot clock by 30 seconds), but this was not so. Then it got a bit stressful and I wasn’t quite stable with the shot. It all added up to cause the mistake, ”explained Lechner, who was initially struggling to get comfortable at the table.
“It was a rather bumpy start on my part, but after the first two racks I felt quite good and got into the match well. Of course there were also a disproportionate number of mistakes, but after the two and a half month break that was also to be feared, ”said the Tyrolean.
“In my two matches, I think you saw exactly how different these encounters can be. With Max and me it was a constant back and forth and in my match against Albin I was actually only on the defensive and I have to say that Albin is incredibly strong in the defensive game. He then played with a lot of calm and one or two lucky balls to the end, but luck is also part of it,”said Jasmin Ouschan.
