8th June – 2015 PartyPoker Mosconi Cup
Makkonen makes a move
FINLAND’S PETRI MAKKONEN landed his maiden Euro Tour title in Germany at the weekend and as he crashed the European Mosconi Cup rankings and put himself in the frame for a December trip to Las Vegas. The 27 year-old Finn came through a stellar field at Baunatal and defeated Konrad Juszczyszyn of Poland in the championship match to claim the 20 ranking points.
The win put Makkonen into second place on the Euro Tour ranking list, three points behind Niels Feijen. He also moved into third position on the Combined ranking list, a single point behind joint leaders Marcus Chamat and David Alcaide.
There are three separate ranking lists in operation – the first comprised of a five event Euro Tour series; the second a four event ‘World’ series and the last a combined ranking of the two.
Makkonen has been making steady progress and was a winner of the 2012 World Cup of Pool with compatriot Mika Immonen. The same pairing won bronze medals at last year’s event in the UK.
There are two more Euro Tour events remaining in the Mosconi Cup ranking – Austrian Open (30 July – 2 August) and the Dutch Open (30 September – 3 October)
The next World ranking event is the China Open (15-22 June) with the WPA World 9 Ball Championship taking place from 7-18 September and the whole series concluding with the US Open 9 Ball Championship at the end of October.
At the close of the qualification series, the No.1 ranked player on each of the three lists will be named as part of Team Europe as they look to defend their title in Las Vegas from 7th to 10th December.
In the event that a player tops all three ranking lists, then the second placed players on the Euro Tour and World Rankings respectively would take the other two spots. If a player is top of the Euro Tour list and Combined list, or World list and Combined list, then the available spot would go to the next highest player on the Combined list not already qualified.
Euro Tour Ranking (after three events)
1. Niels Feijen (NED) 32
2. Petri Makkonen (FIN) 29
3. Karl Boyes (ENG) 27
3. Mario He (AUT) 27
5. Marcus Chamat (SWE) 25
6. Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) 23
7. Ralf Souquet (GER) 18
8. Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL) 18
8. Nick Malai (GRE) 16
10. Six players tied 15
World Ranking (after one event)
1. David Alcaide (ESP) 20
2. Marcus Chamat (SWE) 10
2. Ruslan Chinakov (RUS) 10
2. Mieszko Fortunski (POL) 10
2. Radoslaw Babica (POL) 10
6. Darren Appleton (ENG) 5
6. Karl Boyes (ENG) 5
6. Petri Makkonen (FIN) 5
Combined Ranking (after three events)
1. David Alcaide (ESP) 35
1. Marcus Chamat (SWE) 35
3. Petri Makkonen (FIN) 34
4. Niels Feijen (NED) 32
4. Karl Boyes (ENG) 32
6. Mario He (AUT) 27
7. Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) 23
8. Radoslaw Babica (POL) 19
9. Ralf Souquet (GER) 18
10. Three players tied 16
Tickets for the PartyPoker Mosconi Cup are available exclusively through The New Tropicana Las Vegas. Visit http://trop.lv/MosconiCup2015 , call 800.829.9034 or purchase in person at the Show Tickets desk.
There is a single session on each day’s play and tickets are priced at $43.45 per session plus commission. The popular season tickets covering all four sessions are available for $154 plus commission. All prices include LET.
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2015 PARTYPOKER Mosconi Cup is sponsored by PartyPoker, the world’s leading online poker site. The Official Table of the Mosconi Cup is supplied by Diamond Billiards, the cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith by Saluc. Ultimate Team Gear is the Official Clothing Supplier.
Luke Riches, Matchroom Sport: luke.riches@matchroom.com
Notes: Matchroom Sport are one of the world’s leading producers of televised sport and are responsible for over 1,000 hours of original programming across a range of sports. Based in the UK and chaired by charismatic founder Barry Hearn, the Mosconi Cup is one of a stable of pool events that include the World Cup of Pool and the World Pool Masters.