After traveling across the Atlantic Ocean, the World Pool Series gets underway today, with the some of the world’s most accomplished pool players competing in the 8-Ball Classic Championship at the IDM Club in Bucharest, Romania.
Competition opens with seven first-round matches beginning at noon and eight additional contests starting at 2:30 pm and the action continues into the evening with 16 more contests. Five matches will be streamed for free via Facebook live throughout the day.
Seventeen of the 47 players entered have received first-round byes, including Joshua Filler – the winner of June’s Rasson 10-Ball Players Championship. Playing at New York’s Steinway Billiards, the young German overcame a first-round loss to Shane Van Boening and won eight consecutive matches, besting Alex Kazakis 17-10 in the championship match.
Also receiving a bye is Elkent Kaci, a young man who is no stranger to the WPS 8-ball Championships. The Albanian took home two titles last year, earning top honors in the Aramith Masters and also taking home the season-ending Predator Grand Finale in November. Kaci also placed third in last summer’s RYO Classic Championship and was a runner-up in October’s U.S. Open 9-Ball Championships.
Two additional past WPS champions have also made their way to Romania: Russia’s Ruslan Chinahov and Estonia’s Denis Grabe.
Playing in the inaugural WPS event – the Molinari Players Championship – Chinahov posted an undefeated 7-0 record, using a strong break and flawless pattern play to soundly defeat Lee Vann Corteza 16-6 in the finals of the 119-player event.
After suffering a loss in his second match of April’s Aramith 9-Ball Players Championship, Grabe won six consecutive matches to earn his first WPS title. He capped off the tournament by using solid safety play to frustrate and easily defeat Kazakis, 17-7.
Kazakis has also received an early bye as he continues to try and claim his first WPS title. The young Greek has used clutch shot making and some good luck to reach the finals in this year’s Aramith 9-Ball and Rasson 10-Ball Championships but has come up short in the title match. Kazakis also placed in the top five at last year’s 8-ball formatted Predator Grand Finale.
Also entering today’s event with early byes are 2017 Mosconi Cup team members Jayson Shaw and Ralf Souquet as well as World Pool Masters champion Niels Feijen.
The first game to be streamed today will be between Arjan Matrizi and Nick Malaj to be followed by the match between Thomas Pöschl and Albin Ouschan.
The 8-Ball Classic Championship is the third event of the four-tournament 2018 World Pool Series. This event will be held at the IDM Club in Bucharest, Romania from August 7th to 10th 2018. The World Pool Series is sponsored by Rasson, Aramith, Predator, Iwan Simonis, Tiger, and Kamui. Our suppliers and partners are Billiards Digest, CueScore, Outsville, and the WPA.
For more information on the World Pool Series, please visit www.worldpoolseries.com.
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