Image: billiard chalk — Jonas Bergsten / Wikimedia Commons (public domain).
Sunday in Marrakech is decision day for blackball’s world week — and, frustratingly for anyone waking up in London without a scorecard, the headline men’s singles semi-final has not yet been confirmed in the open press.
Ireland’s Shaun Sharkey earned his place in the last four the hard way on Friday, overturning a 7–4 deficit to beat England’s Zac Cooper 9–7. That set up a Saturday evening semi-final against Northern Ireland’s Declan Brennan, listed for 18:45 Irish time and flagged for a live stream on the Ultimate Pool Association YouTube channel. As of this Sunday-morning filing (~07:45 BST), Donegal and Lancashire pool pages, Moroccan coverage, and the IEPF Wikipedia roll of honour still show no verified Sharkey–Brennan score — and the 2026 Marrakesh winner lines remain blank. If you have AllScores open, treat that as the live source of truth until the Irish press catches up.
The International Eightball Pool Federation championships at the Aqua Mirage Resort run 17–27 September, with roughly 300 players from around 18 countries across two dozen team and individual categories. Titles across the board are due to be settled today.
Also still to confirm from Saturday’s team programme
- England B Under-23s — already through after an 8–7 thriller over Malta — were due to face Australia at 11:00 on Saturday for a final place (Morocco A vs South Africa in the other semi; U23 final listed 19:30). No verified SF or final score in open reporting overnight.
- England’s senior Men and Ladies were also listed in Saturday’s semi-final programme (Ladies from 09:30). Again: schedule confirmed earlier in the week; medal scores not yet mirrored in the press pack we can verify this morning.
Where to watch
- IEPF Marrakech — Ultimate Pool Association YouTube for table streams; draws and live scoring via AllScores Live (linked from i8pf.org).
- Irish angle updates — Highland Radio / Donegal Daily / Donegal Live have been the quickest public trail on Sharkey’s run.
- English team notes — Lancashire Pool has been filing England B / EPA-side updates through the week.
Delhi’s ₹5 lakh 8-ball week opens
While Morocco crowns world champions, India’s elite are gathering at the NSCI Club in New Delhi for the NSCI Open / 1st NSCI Cup All India 8-Ball championship. Organisers (Delhi Billiards & Snooker Association with the National Sports Club of India) have put ₹5 lakh on the table across a 10-day window variously listed as 26 September–5 October or 27 September–5 October.
The published field is serious: former Asian heyball champion Sundeep Gulati, reigning world billiards champion Sourav Kothari, Kamal Chawla, Bengaluru’s Vidya Pillai, and national multi-discipline champion Chitra Magimairaj among others. No verified day-one frame scores had landed in the English-language sports wires we checked this morning — expect early-session reports as the New Delhi tables settle into rhythm.
Also on the tables / upcoming
- Shenzhen Open (snooker) — inaugural ranking staging at Bao’an Sports Centre, Monday 28 September–Sunday 4 October. Total prize fund £850,000 (winner £177,000). Mark Williams is top seed after his 2025 Xi’an triumph; early held-over ties include Williams–Fan Zhengyi (Mon 02:30 BST), Zhao Xintong–Scott Donaldson, Ronnie O’Sullivan–Jiang Jun, Judd Trump–Huang Jiahao. UK/Ireland: TNT Sports and HBO Max; mainland Europe: Eurosport and HBO Max; China: CCTV5 / SMG / Huya / Migu and partners; elsewhere: WST Play. Mark Allen has withdrawn (Ben Mertens walkover).
- Saigon footnote only — Poland’s Wojciech Szewczyk completed the job on Saturday night, beating Eklent Kaçi 3–1 for a second Iwan Simonis WPA Men’s World 10-Ball title. Full write-up already on the board; nothing new to rehash here.
Global notes
- Blackball / IEPF — Marrakech is the week’s centre of gravity through Sunday evening.
- India — NSCI Delhi is the fresh domestic 8-ball story; older Ludhiana nationals coverage from earlier in the year is a separate chapter.
- China / WST — Shenzhen takes the ranking tour east from Monday; Leicester qualifying is done (Chang Bingyu’s 147 already in the books).
- USA / APA — no major overnight APA or US Open-level result verified for this slot.
We’ll update once AllScores or the Irish press lock in Sharkey–Brennan and the team finals. Until then: chalk up, stream on, and don’t trust a rumour without a frame count.
— Reggie Rutherford, Cueball Talk
