Double Wins for Indian Billiards Champ

Indian billiards master Pankaj Advani is ending 2007 holding two major titles: World Billiards Championship (for the 3rd time) and the National Billiards and Snooker championship.

For Advani, it is the third World Billiards Championship title and the second time holding both billiards and snooker titles at the same year;  Advani enjoyed double wins back in 2005.

Billiards Hall Raid in Kuwait

The Kuwaiti  police has raided a local billiards hall and  internet cafe and arrested three of its employees for breaching the country labor laws. The arrestees, three women of Indonesia, who were hired by the pool hall owner to attract more male customers, are now facing deportation.

Ronnie O’sullivan wins UK Snooker Championship

Ronnie “The Rocket” O’sullivan won 10-2 Stephen Maguire in the Maplin UK Championship, which took place last week at the Telford International Centre. Following his 4th UK Championship victory, the 32 years old snooker player climbed back to number one spot in World Ranking.

Europe Takes Mosconi Cup

The 14th Mosconi Cup ended up yesterday, December 16 2007 with the victory of the European team 11-8. The European billiards team victory was declared after Ralph Souquet of Germany had defeated Hawaiian pool player Rodney Morris 6-4.

For Souquet it was the 11th participation in the European team for Mosconi Cup. This time, he had finally brought Europe the desired trophy for the first time since 2002.

Southeast Asian Games

The Philippines billiards team is ruling the 24th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games). The men’s 8-ball singles gold was gained by Ronnie “Toothless” Alcano, former World 9-ball pool, who’ve beat his Singapore contestant. The women’s gold in 9-ball singles was captured by Rubilen Amit, while Philippines’ currently number 1 8-ball pool player had only made it to the bronze in the women’s 8-ball singles.

Breaking News: New Breaking Rules on 2007 Mosconi Cup

New 9-ball breaking rules will come into effect at the he 2007 Mosconi Cup, which is scheduled to take place on December 13 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas. Instead of the recently dominant soft break, the power break will be brought back to the scene. According to the new breaking rules, the breaker will be required to:

1. Rack the balls higher up the table with the 9-ball resting on the spot.
2. Strike the cue ball from within a break box in the center of the table.
3. At the end of the break shot, three balls must pass the head string (including pocketed balls excluding the cue ball).
4. Strike the rack lightly

I guess we’ll have to wait and see how these changes will affect the teams’ performances…

Robber wounded by his Robbed Near a Billiards Hall

Billiards players are no suckers! According to Charlotte Observer, a robber was shot and wounded after his attempt to rob the owner of the billiards hall Dilworth Billiards in central Charlotte, North Carolina last Sunday.

Currently, the incident is still investigated by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, which tend to find the billiards hall owner claim reliable. The decision whether to charge file on any or both of the men involved in the billiards hall shooting event is still unsettled.