Wednesday lunchtime. We're starting in Spain today, where a senior European title was decided by one ball after the leader had needed only one more to win. In Belfast the qualifier who knocked out Ronnie O'Sullivan has now beaten Stuart Bingham without dropping a frame. Plus the Mosconi Cup maths in Manila, a tenth Polish team title for Kielce and the first results from the Blackball Worlds.
Gandia — Petroni steals it 75–74
The 2026 Predator European Seniors Championships started on Monday at the Gandia Palace Hotel on Spain's east coast. There are 166 players from 25 countries across three divisions: men's 46-plus, men's 56-plus and ladies. Straight pool came first, and the first two gold medals were won on Tuesday evening. Results and quotes per the EPBF:
- Men's 46-plus final — Fabio Petroni (Italy) 75–74 Jim Telfer (Netherlands): Telfer, a Scot who now plays for the Netherlands, led 74–29 and needed one ball. He passed up two difficult chances to finish it, and Petroni ran the table. Petroni drew level at 74–74 but couldn't get out, so he played a two-way shot that left him safe. Telfer then tried to pot the 1-ball out of a cluster into the side pocket, came up short and left Petroni an open ball for the title.
- Men's 56-plus final — Henrique Correia (Portugal) 75–50 Reiner Wirsbitzki (Germany): Wirsbitzki opened with a 27-ball run. Correia made a 44 to lead 54–29, Wirsbitzki got back to within four, and Correia then potted the last 21 points himself.
Petroni admitted he thought he was beaten: "I'm surprised that I won because I'd thought I'd lost the match — Jim was in front and needed just one ball and after I get some luck and some good rolls and I finally won."
Correia says that's 15 individual senior golds plus five team golds, so 20 in all. "It's crazy, I'm still doing it, being on the top," he said, and he called Wirsbitzki "the best player of straight pool in the whole championships." In the 46-plus event the bronze medals went to Francisco Rafael Barcelo (Spain) and Roger Lysholm (Norway).
The weather has been a big problem. AZBilliards reports that torrential rain and flooding put the second venue, which has eight of the 28 tables, out of action on the opening day, and turned the road between the two buildings into a river. Organisers expected to have it back in use on Tuesday. Ten-ball starts today, with Correia defending his title this morning and the ladies starting this afternoon. The Championships finish next Tuesday (27th) with the three 9-ball finals and the team events. The Revora Spanish Open, the last Euro Tour event of the year, follows from 29 October. Tables 1 to 3 are streamed on the Pro Billiard TV YouTube channel.
Belfast — Cheung does it again
- Cheung Ka Wai 4–0 Stuart Bingham: on Monday night the world number 106 came from 3–1 down to beat O'Sullivan 4–3. This morning he beat Bingham 4–0, and the live scoring had it finished at about 11.40am. Bingham reached 1,000 career wins earlier in the week, and that's now another of the old guard gone at the Waterfront Hall. Cheung plays Gao Yang or David Gilbert (they meet tonight) in the last 16.
- Pang Junxu v Liam Davies: the other 10am match was still going at the time of writing, and Davies led 3–2 when we last checked. The winner plays Kyren Wilson.
The last 16 so far (Thursday, best of seven):
- Anthony McGill v Mateusz Baranowski
- Kyren Wilson v Pang Junxu or Liam Davies
- Matthew Selt v Sam Craigie or Xu Si
- Elliot Slessor or Jamie Jones v Ricky Walden
- Gao Yang or David Gilbert v Cheung Ka Wai
- Zhang Anda or Mark Williams v Luca Brecel or Martin O'Donnell
- John Higgins or Jak Jones v Daniel Wells or Ryan Day
- Michael Holt or Jordan Brown v Noppon Saengkham or Scott Donaldson
Quezon City — the Mosconi Cup maths
The first round of the Philippines Open is finished. The Inside Spin results table for Gateway Mall now lists every first-round loser. As well as the Reyes Cup winners we covered this morning, Aleksa Pecelj, Ralf Souquet, Jayson Shaw and Dennis Orcollo are all into the last 64. So are Skyler Woodward, Felix Vogel, Oliver Szolnoki, Arseni Sevastyanov, Mickey Krause and Denis Grabe. Lee Van Corteza, Max Eberle, Roberto Gomez and the YouTuber Jacob Parrent are among those out.
The last 64 is being played today, and this is the last event that counts for Mosconi Cup qualification. Here's the American race as Rack 9 laid it out before the event. The top three on the Team USA list after Saturday's final get automatic places, and captain Johan Ruijsink picks the other two:
- Shane Van Boening: already qualified
- Tyler Styer: $27,470
- Thorsten Hohmann: $25,050
- Fedor Gorst: $24,870
- Lukas Fracasso-Verner: $18,000
That means Hohmann was $180 clear of Gorst for the last automatic place, and both have won their opening matches (Hohmann beat Chezka Centeno 10–5 and Gorst whitewashed Vitaly Pavlukhin). Fracasso-Verner lost 10–5 to Saldy Galliguez in round one. First-round losers get no prize money, so Rack 9 says he can no longer qualify automatically and needs a wildcard. Justin Bergman won his opener 10–2. The Mosconi Cup is from 27 to 30 November in Orlando. The Philippines Open is live on WNT TV on all four tables, and on One Sports in the Philippines.
Kielce — a tenth Polish team title
AZBilliards reported last night that Fortis Bilard Kielce have won the Polish team championship for the tenth time. They beat the defending champions GKS Katowice twice in the Bilardowa Ekstraklasa Grand Final at the Grand Hotel Kielce, 12–10 and then 12–4, so the final didn't go to the shoot-out that cost them the title last season. The winning team was Sebastian Batkowski, Mariusz Skoneczny, Jakub Chrobot and Karol Skowerski, managed by Marek Marcinkowski. Kielce took bronze as well: Fortis Bilard II, the youngest team in the league, beat Strefa Łódź 12–11. GKS captain Dawid Sobiech said both Skoneczny and Batkowski "played brilliantly" in the final session, and added that his side had now reached five finals in a row.
Elsewhere
- Heathrow, Blackball Worlds: the first team results are in. Per the Times of Malta, Malta's Men's A team beat Mauritius 19–6 and Mexico 25–0 on Tuesday, Malta Men's B lost 14–11 to South Africa, and both their Under-18s (against England U15) and Under-23s (against Australia) lost 8–7. Today Malta's A team play England and then Australia. The singles and doubles draws are on CueScore.
- Goyang, LPBA: Billiards & Sports reports that Kim Chae-yeon is in an LPBA last 16 for the first time, in her third season since switching to the pro tour. In the last 64 she came back to beat the first LPBA world champion, Kim Se-yeon, 25–22 in 25 innings, with a high run of seven including three bank shots that turned 15–18 into 22–18. She then beat Kim Bo-kyung 3–0 (11–4, 11–4, 11–2) in the last 32. She plays Lee Seon-young next.
- Doha, Qatar World Cup 10-Ball: the Qatar News Agency reports that four Filipinos, Raymond Faraon, Mark Estiola, Marlon Caneda and Rocky Tullao, have come through Stage 1 into Stage 2. Nasser Al Saadi beat Kuwait's Fahad Al Tuwaitan 7–3 for the hosts' first Stage 1 win, but several other Qatari players went out. The federation also used the event to launch a Qatar Billiards Academy, which will be open to players from Qatar and abroad. The event runs until 29 October.
- Landywood: the Women's World Billiards Championship is being played today, all in one day: groups first and then a final this afternoon. Shruthi L of India is the defending champion, and the other four players are Eva Palmius (Sweden), Michelle Cohen and Mhairi Mackay (Scotland) and Gaye Jones (Wales). The men's World Championship finishes on Thursday, and World Billiards streams Table 1 on YouTube.
- USA: the Billiard Education Foundation has elected Kennedy Meyman, a former BEF junior champion who now plays on the WPBA tour, to its Board of Trustees, and has re-elected Roy Pastor for another three years. "It's a full circle moment for me," said Meyman.
This afternoon and tonight (BST)
- Northern Ireland Open, 1pm: John Higgins v Jak Jones, Daniel Wells v Ryan Day. Then Sam Craigie v Xu Si and Zhang Anda v Mark Williams.
- 7pm: Gao Yang v David Gilbert, Michael Holt v Jordan Brown, Noppon Saengkham v Scott Donaldson. Then Elliot Slessor v Jamie Jones and Luca Brecel v Martin O'Donnell. All on TNT Sports, Eurosport, HBO Max and WST Play.
- Philippines Open: the last 64 at Gateway Mall, live on WNT TV, with Table 4 free on the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel.
- Gandia: 10-ball in all three divisions, on Pro Billiard TV.
Feature image: “14 und 1 endlos - Straight Pool - Rack” by Tmv23, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.
