Matchroom Major Event-European Open (8-13 Aug), Fulda, Winner $30K Prizefund $200K

Not sure if anyone else recalls that Raga also lost hill-hill at the finals of the 2019 China Open to Wu Jiaqing. Raga now has a legitimate monkey on his back.
In my year in review writeup for 2019, I called this China Open final the match of the year. It featured some of the finest play imaginable.
 
That was always going to be close no matter how he hit it. Personally I think he should have hit the 7 fatter but I have not seen any replay to know for sure.
Darren Appleton did a fb post about this. Says he just didn’t hit it hard enough should have punched it and taken what the 7 gave him but that it was absolutely the correct shot
 
win or not, raga's result will inspire more filipinos to play in these events. just imagine their top 10 going and what damage they can do..
 
What a lot of pool to watch this weekend! (and I still got to play in a local 9ball tourney)
Anyway, couple of thoughts:

- Phil Yates spent way too much time talking up Filler. It was almost embarrassing. He does it to SVB as well. Their accomplishments and play speaks for themselves. I understand it was in germany, but just seemed a little too fanboy-ish for my tastes. Then as soon as he lost he was not mentioned again.
-The US had 3 folks in the final 32. Except for Germany, that was as much as any other country. Not too shabby, and great tourney for Styer and Lombardo.
- Maybe someone else can chime in, but how is our pipeline talent? I remember seeing an interview with Jayson Shaw of all people and he commented that the future of US pool is bright, and mentioned a couple of kids that play out of his room.
-At one point Karl mentioned that Styer doesn't work on his game and practice as much as Shane and Skylar. Not sure why, Styer always struck me as someone who would put in tons of table time.
 
What a lot of pool to watch this weekend! (and I still got to play in a local 9ball tourney)
Anyway, couple of thoughts:

- Phil Yates spent way too much time talking up Filler. It was almost embarrassing. He does it to SVB as well. Their accomplishments and play speaks for themselves. I understand it was in germany, but just seemed a little too fanboy-ish for my tastes. Then as soon as he lost he was not mentioned again.
-The US had 3 folks in the final 32. Except for Germany, that was as much as any other country. Not too shabby, and great tourney for Styer and Lombardo.
- Maybe someone else can chime in, but how is our pipeline talent? I remember seeing an interview with Jayson Shaw of all people and he commented that the future of US pool is bright, and mentioned a couple of kids that play out of his room.
-At one point Karl mentioned that Styer doesn't work on his game and practice as much as Shane and Skylar. Not sure why, Styer always struck me as someone who would put in tons of table time.
Tyler probably can't physically handle the practice time because he's too mechanical. It would be exhausting practicing the way he plays. If he just worked on his rhythm alone, I think he would get better.

Of course that's just my opinion.
 
Has Raga commented on the shot, or the loss?

he has now:

Screenshot_20230815_215100_Chrome.jpg
 
Speaking of the Shane match, I think for the first time I heard JJ call a shot wrong, unless he was faking it to make Shane look good. Shane hit the ball before the 9 (I forget if it was the 7 or 8) too fat. So instead of bouncing off the rail for a good shot on the 9, he hit it full in the face and drew back a lot instead, leaving a very hard shot on the 9. He made to get to 10-7. JJ said he might have been playing it off the corner of the side pocket, instead of saying he just hit it too fat.
I think JJ was so surprised that he actually thought that that was what Shane was trying to do. I thought the same thing before JJ said it
 
win or not, raga's result will inspire more filipinos to play in these events. just imagine their top 10 going and what damage they can do..
Better yet, imagine a WCOP paring of Raga and Chua. They would be tough to beat.
 
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