Billiard Pulse (original) (raw)

Borg and Jans defend Euro snooker titles

Alex Borg from Malta and Wendy Jans from Belgium came out on top in the European Snooker Championships. The event was held 5-15 June in Constanta, Romania.

Borg beat Jeff Cundy (England) 7-5 in the final while Jans whitewashed Isabelle Jonckheere (Netherlands) 5-0.

The Maltese star probably had his toughest battle in the semis against Norway's Kurt Maflin. That match was decided on the final colors in the deciding frame.

A Main Tour spot was on offer to the winner of the men's event. Cundy had already secured this prize before a ball was potted in the final as Borg was not eligible, having played on the Tour this season.

This was Borg's fourth final. Prior to last year's win he was runner-up in 2004 and 1998.

Jamie Jones (Wales) had the highest break of the tournament with a 132.

It was an all-Finnish affair in the Seniors final. Jyri Virtanen defeated Kimmo Lång 6-4.

The Romanian Open was played just before the tournament. Netherland's Roy Stolk won the event and a place on next season's Main Tour.

Selby and Thompson are new world eightball champions

Snooker pro Mark Selby (England) and Sue Thompson (Scotland) won the IYP.com World Eightball Championship.

Selby, who had to rely on a sponsor's wildcard to get into the tournament, beat favourite Darren Appleton (England) 11-7 in the final. Appleton also finished second in 1994. First prize was £10,000.

Thompson defeated Northern Ireland's Emma Cunningham 8-6 in the women's final. She also beat Cunningham in the 2004 final. Last year the positions were reversed.

Pat McCarron (Scotland) won the Junior title and Karl Read (England) won the wheelchair division. There were also team events in each division.

The tournament took place in Blackpool, England, 5th-15th June.

Please note that this is the English version of the game. Wikipedia explains the differences in detail. Here is an excerpt:

In the version of pool or Eight Ball played in the United Kingdom and Australia, plain unnumbered red balls and yellow balls often replace the solid and striped balls. If not, the terms "bigs" (9-15) and "smalls" (1-7) are generally used instead. The black ball, however, still typically bears a number eight. Another difference is that the UK table has pockets just larger than the balls, whereas the American table has pockets significantly larger.