Live TV broadcast of The Norwegian 9-ball Challenge confirmed!

[BigDave]

Cheers both!

[hegeland]

Sorry, BigDave, didn't think of that!

Hope everything's OK now.

Great site, by the way!

[BigDave]

All is very cool thanks mate! I'm getting pretty excited about this event now.

It's a shame my two qualifiers Kevin Uzzell (UK) and Martin Correia (PT) have both gone into the two toughest groups, but that's the breaks for you!

"The Group of Death" and "The Group of Doom" - ah well, they all have to be beat!!!

[hegeland]

Here are the latest odds for tournament winner:

Niels Feijen (NED) - 4.00
Marcus Chamat (SWE) - 5.50

Mika Immonen (FIN) - 7.00
Oliver Ortmann (GER) - 7.50
Any Norwegian Player - 8.00

Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) - 10.00
Raj Hundal (ENG) - 11.00
Imran Majid (ENG) - 11.00

Tony Drago (MAL) - 15.00
Roman Hybler (CZE) - 17.00

Kevin Uzzell (ENG) - 21.00

Sven Pauritsch (GER) - 34.00

[April madness]

as pointed out on BBC board, TV2 requires a payment to be able to watch these matches...

[Robert602]

It's only about £3 for friday + saturday though, not too bad. I wish I could work out how to subscribe though, is the option there yet, am I just missing it?

[April madness]

register, click on sports, billiards - chose whatever game - and then under the video picture there is button: "Buy".

[hegeland]

BigDave has put this up on his website:

"The Norwegian 9 Ball Challenge has been narrowed down to the final 64 elite players who have survived the group stages.

The bookmakers must have really taken a beating after Sweden's Marcus "Napoleon" Chamat finished his 7 matches with the following unbelievable scores: 5-0, 5-0, 5-0, 5-0, 5-1, 5-1, 5-1.

Tournament Director Roy Steffenson said, "We have a very good Norwegian field here, I think Bjørn L'Orange will do very well. He is a good former European Champion and has played professional snooker back in 1997 with Drago and O'Sullivan. He can do good and although he has a tough draw, I think maybe he will win his upcoming matches".

Norway's Ronnie Oldervic vs. England's Raj Hundal will be a tough match too, according to Steffenson - both player's are highly respected for their abilities in their home countries.

The most dangerous man at the tournament is Tony Drago apparently, he is showing some REALLY good form and has won a legion of admirers on this trip to Norway, with his ultra-fast pace and "never miss" ability.

Even better, Drago will meet another ultra-fast paced Norwegian player in the last 32 stage on Saturday. Roger Lysholm has his own army of fans in Norway and will provide a full test of Drago's talent and determination.

Current "hot tips" for winning the tournament are Tony Drago, Niels Feijen, Mika Immonen and Bjørn L'Orange. Oliver Ortmann isn't actually playing particularly well, but he walked through his comparatively easy group without a hiccup - even his worst match he won with relative ease.

Sweden's Marcus Chamat, you would think, would be hot favourite for the whole event after finishing his 7 group stage matches with nearly a perfect clean sheet... Not bad for an alternate break tournament. (He only conceded 3 racks in 7 matches). But he crashed out in spectacular style when he was beaten by a relative newcomer to the international scene Kurt Maflin.

Maflin, from the host country Norway, has been hotly tipped by other players, was 7:3 down in his match with Chamat, but managed to claw his way back and win the match 9:8!

At hill-hill, Chamat missed a relatively easy shot on the one-ball, trying to get perfect position on the next ball, and in a rare display of "pique", Chamat lost his cool and "he went nuts" according to one spectator!

Visibly raging with himself, it was clear that he didn't want to speak to anyone after the match and he "stormed out" of the playing arena!

Maflin will meet Finland's Pauli Laakso in the final day's play in Oslo, at The Norwegian 9 Ball Challenge tomorrow, Saturday 15th July 2006."

Some pictures: http://jani.vikingmud.org/gallery/v/...006/?g2_page=1

THE STATS

LAST 64

Kurt Maflin 9 : 8 Marcus Chamat

Pauli Laakso 9 : 5 Harald Zimmermann

Kevin Zarakani 9 : 4 Pål Hatteberg

Roman Hybler 9 : 7 Rune Bratbergsengen

Morgan Cederstrøm 9 : 3 Stig Dahl

Henrik Larsson 9 : 7 Christian Laland

Joonas Ohtonen 9 : 8 Line Kjørsvik

Matey Ullah 9 : 5 Stein Inge Kvalvik

Oliver Ortmann 9 : 1 Roy Flaate

Valtteri Virtanen 9 : 3 Petri Makkonen

Christoffer Magnusson 9 : 8 Kevin Uzzell

Ola Johnsen 9 : 7 Courtney Symons

Knut Kvaal Pedersen 9 : 7 Vesa-Ville Virtanen

Paddy McLoughlin 9 : 6 Martin Havnvik

Tony Drago 9 : 2 Lars Harald Riiber

Roger Lysholm 9 : 4 Lars Harby

Niels Feijen 9 : 3 Tommy Strøm

Christian Johannessen 9 : 3 Allan Lande

Raj Hundal 9 : 6 Tuomas Riipinen

Ronny Oldervik 9 : 4 Per Henrik Pedersen

Askild Hansen 9 : 8 Leif Loogna

Bjørn L'Orange 9 : 5 David Larsson

Tron Engebakk 9 : 3 Harri Suni

Mika Immonen 9 : 1 Jørgen Nilsen

Mahmut Mutto 9 : 5 Malvin Bjelland

Jasmin Ouschan 9 : 4 Bengt Lind

Christopher Koba 9 : 2 Kenneth Rognstad

Kim Soo Garmark 9 : 5 Mohamed Al-Hosani

Jorg Wilhelmi 9 : 5 Per Y. Hodnebrog

Brian Beekers 9 : 5 Timo Mäkelä

Mikael Mutto 9 : 8 Joakim Haugen

Rolf Jensen 9 : 4 Anders Westgaard


LAST 32

Kurt Maflin 9 : 7 Pauli Laakso

Roman Hybler 9 : 2 Kevin Zarakani

Henrik Larsson 9 : 7 Morgan Cederstrøm

Joonas Ohtonen 9 : 7 Matey Ullah

Oliver Ortmann 9 : 4 Valtteri Virtanen

Christoffer Magnusson 9 : 4 Ola Johnsen

Paddy McLoughlin 9 : 2 Knut Kvaal Pedersen

Roger Lysholm 9 : 6 Tony Drago

Niels Feijen 9 : 6 Christian Johannessen

Raj Hundal 9 : 5 Ronny Oldervik

Bjørn L'Orange 9 : 4 Askild Hansen

Mika Immonen 9 : 3 Tron Engebakk

Jasmin Ouschan 9 : 7 Mahmut Mutto

Christopher Koba 9 : 4 Kim Soo Garmark

Brian Beekers 9 : 6 Jorg Wilhelmi

Mikael Mutto 9 : 8 Rolf Jensen


LAST 16

Kurt Maflin 0 : 0 Roman Hybler

Henrik Larsson 0 : 0 Joonas Ohtonen

Oliver Ortmann 0 : 0 Christoffer Magnusson

Paddy McLoughlin 0 : 0 Roger Lysholm

Niels Feijen 0 : 0 Raj Hundal

Bjørn L'Orange 0 : 0 Mika Immonen

Jasmin Ouschan (only women still in the tournament) 0 : 0 Christopher Koba

Brian Beekers 0 : 0 Mikael Mutto


TV schedule (CEST, UK +1):

13:30: Quarter Final
15:30: Semi Final
17:30: Semi Final
19:30: Final!

[Jules_USA]

I can't really follow this format.

I just watched a last 16 game involving Niels Feijen and Raj Hundal. Now they are suddenly showing the semi-final.

Hundal won 9-8 after Feijen potted the 9 ball and scratched...

[Jules_USA]

Oh well, it's over.

Mikka Immonen won in the final against Ortmann.

He was a bit lucky to get to the final, after his opponent in the semi-final missed the 9 ball when leading 8-7.

An interesting experiment but there was no lighting in the room, no captions on the screen to tell you the scores and apparently next to no one in the audience.

I wonder how players who don't reach the final actually even cover their costs.