Szewczyk does it again — this time in Kielce
A dozen or so days after landing his second world title, Wojciech Szewczyk went back to work at home and won again. The GKS Katowice man beat Hubert Łopotko 7–4 in the final of the Polish 9-Ball in Kielce, the last stop of the 2026 Dynamic Billard Best of the East series (per the East European Billiard Council).
It was a proper field: 110 players from nine nations, split across two venues, the Kieleckie Centrum Bilardowe and the PZBil–ERG International Billiard Centre. The group stage claimed some big names early, including every Romanian, Czech and Albanian in the draw.
- Quarter-finals: Macioł 7–5 Hajduk, Szewczyk 7–5 Homza, Łopotko 7–4 Kleinszmit, Pietrzyk 7–3 Bąk
- Semi-finals: Szewczyk 7–2 Daniel Macioł, Łopotko 7–2 Jacek Pietrzyk
- Final: Szewczyk 7–4 Łopotko
The other talking point was the clock. Kielce trialled a chess-clock system, provisionally called "Martin Time", giving each player their own time bank. Head referee Alexandru Balas was a fan: "Billiards needs to be more dynamic and more attractive to the viewer," he said, adding that a pro "can run a rack from the break to the end in as little as two minutes." Players did find working the clock awkward in the opening matches. The event closed the series' 25th season and its 117th tournament, with 286 players from 16 countries on this year's ranking list.
Reyes Cup — Django: "Think about how you'll beat them"
Francisco "Django" Bustamante knows Team Asia are underdogs going into the third Reyes Cup, which breaks off tomorrow (Thursday) at Makati Coliseum. He isn't bothered. At Tuesday's press conference at the Holiday Inn in Makati, his message to the team was simple (our translation from Filipino): "Don't think of them as world champions. Think about how you're going to beat them."
He added: "We're not feeling the pressure. I just told them to do what they need to do. Just play. That's how it is. Just play your best game." (quotes per Spin.ph)
Asia have Carlo Biado, last year's MVP AJ Manas, Dương Quốc Hoàng, Robbie Capito and Albert Januarta. They've won both previous editions, but Ralf Souquet's Rest of the World side (Shane Van Boening, Fedor Gorst, Joshua Filler, Francisco Sánchez Ruiz and debutant Aleksa Pecelj) looks a lot stronger on paper. It's race to 11 again, over four days to Sunday, live on WNT TV and on ESPN+ in the US.
Foulds: Belfast "makes perfect sense", and fingers crossed for Allen
Neal Foulds' first Sporting Life column of the season landed today, and it's mostly about Belfast. He says he's heard "plenty of whispers" about the Waterfront Hall standing in for the Crucible in 2029, while the Sheffield venue is redeveloped, and he wouldn't be surprised to see it confirmed soon. "World Snooker Tour could do a lot worse," he writes.
He also hopes Mark Allen, still in the Northern Ireland Open draw, makes his first appearance since that Crucible semi-final defeat in the spring. Allen is drawn against his friend and practice partner Jordan Brown. Ronnie O'Sullivan is also still in the draw, against Ka Wai Cheung. Elsewhere Foulds warns that Kyren Wilson could even face Crucible qualifying unless his form picks up, and he sends birthday wishes to world champion Wu Yize, 23 today.
Korea — the Vietnamese wave rolls on
Korean outlet Kuki News points out that Quoc Nguyen's Goyang win made him the first Vietnamese player to win two PBA titles, 252 days after his first. It's also back-to-back Vietnamese winners on tour, after T. Nguyen came from 1–3 down to beat Semih Sayginer 4–3 in the SY Championship final in August for his first title. Next up is the NH NongHyup Card PBA–LPBA Championship at KINTEX in Goyang: LPBA from Sunday 18 October and PBA from Tuesday 20th. The LPBA draw was due out this evening Korean time, with the PBA draw on Friday (per the PBA's tournament notice).
Coming up
- Australian Women's Open: Mounties Club, Sydney, from Saturday 17 October. Group and knockout draws are out (World Women's Snooker).
- World Billiards Championship, English Open and Women's World Championship: Landywood Snooker Club, Great Wyrley, 17–22 October. David Causier has won the English Open and world title double in each of the last two years (World Billiards).
- Northern Ireland Open: Waterfront Hall, Belfast, 18–25 October, on TNT Sports and HBO Max.
- Q Tour Europe Event 3: Oberhausen, Germany, 22–25 October (WPBSA).
- IBF World Blackball Championships: Cape Town, South Africa, 23 October to 1 November (International Blackball Federation).
Feature image: “Francisco Bustamante” by Dynamic Billard, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
