Dang Jinhu (党金虎) captures Spanish Open title
Chinese pros are back with a vengeance after the Covid pandemic.
THE “GOLDEN TIGER” FROM CHINA PREVAILED in the inaugural Spanish Open held in Lugo, Spain. Dang Jinhu faced Dutch pro Marc Bijsterbosch in the final and gave fans a nail-biting performance. Dang was among the first pro pool players from China to return to international competition after the country’s lifting of Covid restrictions. His compatriots in this tournament also included Wu Jiaqing, Zheng Xiaohua, Wang Can, and Yang Yu.
Neither finalists really ran away with a lead throughout the match, and both seemed quite comfortable at the final table. Dang appeared to be the better safety player of the pair, but Bijsterbosch came up with a few impressive escapes and caroms to the 9-ball. It was Bijsterbosch who got to the hill first, 12-10, but Dang continued his confident play to force a classic hill-hill battle. In the last rack, Dang broke dry (of course!) but played his safety game to overcome his opponent’s momentum and win the title.
With regards to the Chinese contingent, honestly most eyes were on Wu Jiaqing who has a huge fanbase since his amazing WPA World 9-Ball Championship win at 16 years old. Unfortunately, Wu didn’t make it as far as predicted but it’s very likely fans will see a lot of him again.
This tournament also saw Eklent Kaci’s brother, Kledio, making his debut in the WNT and managed to get into the last 16. Perhaps it’s not surprising as Kledio has been a competitive snooker player. Fans are intrigued as to whether he’ll be playing more pool than snooker in the future — making waves as the latest sibling pair to compete in pool (others include Albin and Jasmin Ouschan of Austria, and the Ko brothers of Taiwan).
Skyler Woodward was the American who advanced furthest in the Spanish Open.
KELLY FISHER WINS IRON CITY BILLIARD. Perhaps it’s not surprising that Fisher won another trophy, but it’s surprising that she actually did it from the one-loss side. It was in the winners 3rd round that Japanese pro Yuki Hiraguchi banished Fisher after winning hill-hill.
REST IN PEACE, DAN JANES. The famous cue maker of Joss Cues passed away on June 20, 2023. Pool fans and movie buffs know that the Balabushka cue used in The Color of Money was actually made by Janes, known as the Joss N7 “Color of Money” cue. Janes was also inducted into the International Cuemakers Association hall of fame in 2012. His son, Stephen, and wife, Debbie, will continue the business.
WORLD CUP OF POOL FOLLOWS SPANISH OPEN. Besides the Mosconi Cup, the World Cup of Pool is probably the next fan favorite. It is a doubles format consisting of teams from 30 countries (host country Spain gets two teams). The tournament begins tomorrow, June 27, and the draw has been set. Some notable first round matchups: Spain v. Philippines, Poland v. Serbia, and Taiwan v. Finland.
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