#1 Ranked Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz
157 players are gathered in the sunny southern Bulgarian town of Petrich for the fourth tournament on the annual roster of six events on the Dynamic Billard Euro Tour. Taking place in the Petrich Arena, 20 tables are in operation as the event is set to get underway on Saturday 6th and conclude on the evening of Monday 8th August. With temperatures outside sizzling in the mid-30’s, the arena is an air-conditioned oasis, and the current top ten players are all in attendance as they bid to consolidate their positions.
With the rankings consisting of a players’ best five finishes from a rolling six-tournament tally, the oldest event drops off the list with the completion of each tournament. Still holding the No.1 spot is Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (Spain) who is defending a semi-final finish – 480 points – from Austria in 2021 so he will need to finish deep this week to maintain his position.
Still holding the No.2 rank is Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski who, despite his youth, has become one of the feared players in world pool. He is 160 points behind Sanchez Ruiz and a further 75 points back in third is and Joshua Filler, fresh from his triumphant visit to the World Games where he took gold in Birmingham, Alabama.
Those three at the top of the rankings have dominated the Euro Tour of late, having won six of the last seven tournaments, but their
stranglehold on the trophies was loosened at the last Euro Tour event – the Dynamic Billard St Johann im Pongau Open in Austria – as veteran Niels Feijen swept all before him to move himself into the top ten.
In the single elimination stages in St Johann, the multi-titled Dutchman beat Daniel Maciol, Eklent Kaci, Zielinski and Oliver Szolnoki before defeating Sanchez-Ruiz 9-4 for the title. It was Feijen’s first Tour win since 2016 and his tenth in a stellar career that shows no signs of abating.
As well as the prize money, there are Tour ranking points on offer as well as world ranking points, so there is everything to play for. All Euro Tour tournaments are 9-ball and players compete in a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 32 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are races to 9 racks with alternate break.
All the matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com as well as selected matches on Facebook Live on the EPBF page. In addition, the semi-finals and final, played out on Monday night, will be live or highlights on the following television stations across Europe;
SportKlub HD – Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia,
Bosnia Herzegovina, Greece
Eyecons – Netherlands)
SportKlub – Poland
ORF – Austria
B1B Box – Bulgaria
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