| Born | 9 April 1987 |
|---|---|
| Sport country |  Albania |
| Tournament wins | |
| Major | 2011 Kremlin Cup |
| Ranking info | |
Nikolaos "Nick" Malai (born 9 April 1987) is an Albanian professional pool player. Malai is a former winner of an event on the Euro Tour, winning the 2012 North Cyprus Open.
In February 2008, Malai reached his first Euro Tour knockout round at the 2008 French Open. In the round of the last 32, however, he lost against Sweden's Marcus Chamat. Malai played at the 2011 European Pool Championships reaching the knockout stage in 9-ball before losing to eventual champion Nick van den Bergwith 3–9. [1]
In January 2012 Malai finished third at the Paris Open. [2] In the 2012 European Pool Championships he reached the semi-finals in the 9-ball and lost 6–9 against to the eventual champion Francisco Díaz-Pizarro. In July 2012, Malai first participated in the 2012 WPA World Nine-ball Championship reaching the round of the last 64, in which he lost against Ralf Souquet. At the 2012 North Cyprus Open after victories against Daryl Peach, Jasmin Ouschan and Dominic Jentsch he reached the final, in which he defeat Albin Ouschan 9–5 to win his first event on the Euro Tour. [3] [4] [5]
At the 2013 European Pool Championships, Malai reached the semifinals in 10-ball, before losing 4:-8 against Konstantin Stepanov. In the 2013 WPA World Nine-ball Championship he reached the round of the last 64 before losing to John Morra. In February 2015, he reached his second Euro Tour final, at the 2015 Italian Open, where he lost 2–9 to Niels Feijen. [6]
Nick van den Berg is a Dutch professional pool player. He was the runner up at the 2005 WPA World Eight-ball Championship, where he lost to Wu Chia-ching 11–5 in the final. He is a multiple time winner of events on the Euro Tour, winning 10 tournaments between 2002 and 2017, the fourth highest in the history of the tour. A six-time winner of the European Pool Championships, Van den Berg has represented Europe at the Mosconi Cup on eight occasions, winning the event on six occasions as well as tying the event in 2006.
Jasmin Ouschan is an Austrian professional pool player from Klagenfurt, Carinthia. Her first professional competition occurred in 2002, but she did not officially become a professional member of the Women's Professional Billiards Association (WPBA) until 2007. She is currently one of the top-ranked women in the world according to the 2010 prize money list and by the WPBA rankings. At times, she has been ranked as the number one female player in the world. Since 2006, she has been listed among the top-ten women in the annual prize money rankings. Ouschan competes regularly with men on the Euro Tour and in 2008 became the first woman to earn a medal in an open world pool championship.
Marcus Chamat, is a Swedish professional eight-ball and nine-ball pool player. He was nicknamed "Napoleon" due to his personality and standing at 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) tall. He is a two time European Pool Championships winner, and one of the most successful players on the Euro Tour, winning four events, and finishing runner-up on twice. Chamat reached the semi-finals of the 2004 WPA World Nine-ball and the 2008 WPA World Eight-ball Championships, but did not reach the final of a world championship event.
Daryl Peach is an English professional pool player, from Lancashire, who resides in Blackpool, England. He won the 2007 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, where he defeated the Philippines' Roberto Gomez 17–15 in the final to become the first British player to win the WPA World Nine-ball Championship.
Fabio Petroni is an Italian pool player.
Albin Alois Ouschan is an Austrian pool and billiards player. Ouschan was the 2016 WPA World Nine-ball Championship winner, as well as the runner-up in 2014. He also won the 14.1 Continuous European championship the same year. Ouschan is a multiple time Austrian champion in 8-ball, ten-ball and straight pool. Ouschan alongside partner Mario He won both the 2017 World Cup of Pool, 2019 World Cup of Pool and reached the final of the 2018 World Cup of Pool. They would lose 10–3 to the Chinese team of Wu Jia-qing & Liu Haitao. He won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship for the second time in 2021, beating Omar Al-Shaheen 13–9 in the final. He won the International Open in 2021, defeating Dennis Orcollo 13-6 in the final.
Huidji See is a Dutch pool and billiards player. He was the 2011 10-Ball Pool world champion.
Mario He is an Austrian professional pool player. He is a former winner of the European Pool Championships, and winner of both the 2017 and 2019 World Cup of Pool events alongside Albin Ouschan.
The 2011 European Pool Championships was a series of professional pool championships that took place at the Steel Palace, in Brandenburg, Germany. The events were played between 23 March and 3 April 2011 were part of the European Pool Championships; and featured events for men, women and wheelchair players across four pool disciplines: straight Pool, eight-ball, nine-ball, and ten-ball. The tournament was hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation and organised by the International Billiard Promotion, with the final of the men's nine-ball event broadcast on Eurosport. Austria was the most successful nation, winning three events – all by Jasmin Ouschan. Jouni Tähti won two of the three wheelchair events, losing just one match in the final of the nine-ball tournament to Henrik Larsson.
Wiktor Zieliński is a Polish professional pool player. He is the youngest player to ever win a Euro Tour event, winning the 2017 Treviso Open at the age of 16.
The Dynamic Billard Leende Open 2019 was a nine-ball pool tournament, and the first Euro Tour event of 2019. The event was held between 7–10 February 2019, at the Golden Tulip Jagershorst hotel in Leende, Netherlands. The event was won by Germany's Joshua Filler, who defeated Ruslan Chinakhov 9–7 in the final. This was Filler's first Euro Tour win, having previously been a runner-up at three previous events.
Marco Teutscher is a professional Dutch pool player.
Christoph Reintjes is a German professional pool player. He is best well known for being the runner-up at the 2017 Dutch Open.
The 2019 Dynamic Billard St. Johann im Pongau Open was a professional nine-ball pool tournament and the third Euro Tour event of 2019. The event was held from 13 to 16 June 2019, at the Alpina, Wellness & Sporthotel in Sankt Johann im Pongau, Austria. The event followed the Treviso Open, won by Poland's Konrad Juszczyszyn, and preceded the Veldhoven Open.
Kristina Olegovna Tkach is a Russian professional pool player. She became the 2017 WPA World Nine-ball Junior Championship winner, defeating Lee Woo-jin in the final 9–6. Tkach is a four time European champion having won the eight-ball event in 2016 and 2019, as well as Straight pool in 2017 and 2019. In addition, she is a nine-time Junior European Champion.
Ina Kaplan is a German professional pool player. She is an eleven-time German national champion and is the second female player to win three of four disciplines in one event at the championships.
The 2019 Veldhoven Open, officially known as the 2019 Dynamic Billard Veldhoven Open, was a professional nine-ball pool tournament and the fourth Euro Tour event of 2019. It was held at the NH Koningshof in Veldhoven, Netherlands. The men's event was held from 1 to 3 August, and the women's event was held from 2 to 4 August. The event followed the Austria Open and preceded the Klagenfurt Open.
Veronika Hubrtova is a Czech professional pool player. Hubrtova is most notable for reaching the last 32 stage of the 2009 WPA World Ten-ball Championship. Hubrtova is also a regular on the Euro Tour, having reached two semi-finals in 2019, at both the 2019 Austria Open and 2019 Veldhoven Open.
Veronika Ivanovskaia is a German pool player. She began to play in 2003, and later became part of the German national team. She was the winner of the 2018 European Pool Championships eight-ball event, and the runner-up at the 2017 Austria Open.
The 2019 Antalya Open was a professional nine-ball pool tournament held from 7 to 10 November 2019 in the Limak Atlantis Resort in Antalya, Turkey. The event was the sixth and final Euro Tour event of 2019, following the Klagenfurt Open. The men's event was won by Estonia's Denis Grabe, who won his third Tour win, defeating Eklent Kaçi 9–2. The women's event was won by Poland's Oliwia Zalewska, who won her first Tour event. She defeated Tina Vogelmann in the final 7–6.