Blog entry from 2024-04-22
Amir Ibraimov is a junior player and one of the most promising prospects in international three cushion billiards. The Duisburg player is constantly proving his class of play and competitiveness by winning numerous medals at international level. The greatest successes of his still very young career to date include the UMB Vice World Champion title Three Cushion Juniors 2023, the CEB Vice European Champion title Three Cushion Juniors 2024, the Longoni Next Gen Grand Prix victory Three Cushion Juniors 2024 and the CEB European Champion title Biathlon National Teams Juniors 2024. He is also second in the current UMB World Ranking Three Cushion Juniors 03/2024 and the leader in the current CEB European Ranking Three Cushion Juniors 2023/24.
Such a remarkable palmarès and such a steep rise do not go unnoticed and also cause a stir beyond the borders of billiards. Recently and in the course of the UMB World Championship Three Cushion for National Teams, which takes place every year in Viersen, Germany, the media "Rheinische Post", "Sportstadt Duisburg" and "Rheinischer Spiegel" reported on Amir Ibraimov, who had moved into the German squad for the injured Martin Horn and was thus allowed to make his World Championship debut in the general adult class.
It will be interesting to see how well and quickly Amir Ibraimov will adapt to remote billiards and playing tournaments with the MWS system, as the 16-year-old is entering completely new territory for him. The prize money tournaments of our Home Tour Infinity Series are played at several MWS locations worldwide, where players can compete online against players at other locations and thus play one and the same match over the Internet at two different locations. Ibraimov plays at the Billard Center Weywiesen in Bottrop.
Efler wants title number 20, strong competitors expected
Tournament favourite and the big hunted in the three cushion competition is Home Tour record champion Andreas Efler, who has 19 tournament wins across all disciplines on the Tour. The Austrian top player and MWS coach has won no fewer than the last nine three cushion tournaments on the Tour and would like to extend his run of success with a tenth title in a row. However, no observer, and least of all Efler himself, is expecting this to be a sure-fire success. The tournament victory will probably only lead over him, but half the field of participants can be considered to have a good chance of winning the tournament. The field of co-favourites and Efler's strongest challengers according to paper form include the proven top players and 4-time Home Tour winners Georg Schmied (Rosenburg-Mold, AT) and Tay-Dien Truong (Erlangen, DE) as well as the Regensburg (DE) top man Roman Bachmaier and up-and-coming star Amir Ibraimov.
A total of 10 players will take part in the three cushion competition. It is played in round robin mode, so everyone against everyone else. The matches are played to 25 points with a maximum of 30 innings and with equalizing shot, draws are possible. 2 match points are awarded for a win, 1 match point for a draw and 0 match points for a loss. For the classification, match points count before general average before highest run. The total prize money is € 300, of which the tournament winner receives € 150, the runner-up € 90 and the third-placed player € 60.
To the tournament page with all info
Five pins tournament with completely open outcome, three Driessens at three venues at the start
Together they have nine successes on the Tour. Together they form team Yoshikigoi in the Cinque Birilli Team League #1. Now they are competing against each other in an individual competition, each playing from their own MWS location: Veteran Ernest Driessen (Turek, PL) and his two sons Ernst-Jan Driessen (Helmond, NL) and Jeroen Driessen (Komorow, PL).
According to the most recent intermediate ELO ranking, the 6-time Tour champion Ernst-Jan Driessen, who currently holds 5370 ranking points, is the slight favourite for the title. He is followed by Jimmy Riml (Innsbruck, AT), who is also taking part, with 5110 points and Cosimo Antonazzo (Basel, CH) with 4914 points. And no fewer than five of the athletes taking part in the tournament have celebrated at least one five pins tournament victory on the Home Tour so far. The outcome of the tournament can hardly be predicted due to the evenly matched field of participants and the closely matched performance levels of the individual players, so it will definitely be exciting.
11 players take part in the competition and determine the winner in round robin mode. The matches are played in set system to 2 winning sets of 60 points each. Wins before set difference before sets won count towards the final score. A total prize money of € 300 is also awarded in the five pins tournament with the same prize money key as in the three cushion tournament.
To the tournament page with all info
Valuable rating points for ELO rankings
In addition to the tournament victories and the prize money to be won there, the players are also competing for important ranking points for the discipline-specific ELO rankings, which are endowed with prize money too. The current three cushion tournament is of particular importance, as the latest three cushion ranking period ends at the end of this tournament and bonuses are paid out to the best ranked players. Efler is in the lead with 5769 points, ahead of Norbert Röstel (Berlin, DE) with 5470 points and Kenan Canturk (Zurich, CH) with 5353 points, neither of whom are competing in this tournament. They are followed by Truong with 5343 points and Max Augenstein from Pforzheim (DE) with 5203 points. It will therefore be difficult to displace Efler from the top of the rankings. Efler could possibly be caught by Truong, who would probably have to win all his matches and hope for several defeats for Efler.
The latest five pins ranking period includes another tournament following the present competition. The players are currently close to each other in the discipline rankings. Ernst-Jan Driessen leads with 5370 ranking points.
The ELO ranking system is a continuous and dynamic rating system with the aim of reflecting the players' playing strengths as objectively as possible. For this purpose, the players' ranking points are related to each other according to a certain key in order to calculate the probability of victory. The winner gains ranking points, the loser loses ranking points. The less likely a win or defeat is, the more ranking points can be gained or lost.
All MWS individual tournaments are included in our ELO rankings, which are kept separately for all disciplines. Each ranking period consists of three tournaments in the respective discipline. At the end of each ranking period, bonuses are paid out to the top ranked players.
To the ELO rankings with all info
Live broadcast of all matches in full HD and free of charge
We stream all matches in the three cushion and five pins tournament live and freely available on our live sports platform. During the scheduled tournament period until June 30th, we will broadcast all 100 matches there. The game and broadcast dates are agreed by the players themselves and announced in the broadcast calendar.
To the live sports platform with all live streams and broadcast dates
