Winning ways lead to Wels

Hans Nirnberger once more underlined his dominance in Austrian snooker this year. The SEBC player took home his fifth trophy of the season on Sunday after winning the last ASL Grand Prix of 2007/08 in the Graz Snookerlounge. It was the first ever Grand Prix event in Graz, which was broadcasted by webcam on the Internet. Nirnberger gained another 1,000 ranking points, which saw him finish on a total of 6,250 points. A great achievement as the maximum amount would be 7,000 points for winning all seven Grand Prix events in one season. Nirnberger won five tournament and reached a final [lost to Chau Zi Kim, 15 Reds] and a quarterfinal [lost to Bernhard Müllner, also 15 Reds] at the other two. Jack had already been assured the No. 1 spot before last weekend's event, but that fact caused no lack of motivation. Nirnberger had four matches with final-frame deciders - and he won them all, including a 4-3 win over Kim in the final.

A respotted black in the decider
Nirnberger had a difficult start dropping 1-2 behind in his opening match against 15 Reds Alex Trinkl, but he ultimately won it on a respotted black in the decider. He also beat Dominik Urich [15 Reds] in the group stage, 3-0, before downing Christian Hackl [Top Snooker Graz] 3-2 from 1-2 down. He eased past Graeme Fish [ISC] 3-0 before taking on reigning national champion Felix Pleschek [Top Snooker Graz] in the semifinals. Nirnberger had breaks of 61, 51 and 30 for a 2-1 lead, before Pleschek took the next two with a best run of 31. Nirnberger, finally, won the last two tight frames for an edgy 4-3 victory that earned him his sixth final spot of the season.

...The winner's lineup of the ASL Grand Prix in Graz: Chau Zi Kim, Hans Nirnberger, Alexander Pichler...

By that time, the tournament had already seen some highly remarkable results. CSC player Richard McHugh, who dominated the Austrian snooker scene a year ago but retired before the start of the current season, made a one-time comeback to get prepared for the Irish Championships in Carlow next month. McHugh certainly hoped for more than three matches in Graz, but that was all he got... Ebrahim Baghi withdrew from the event which left McHugh with only one round-robin match - but what a match that was: against Pleschek, who went 2-0 up thanks to a 62 break before the Irishman claimed three in a row, including the tournament's highest break of 74. McHugh then beat Tegshee Nyamaa [Snooker Club Graz] 3-1 before he fell to Alexander Pichler [Snooker Bulls] in the quarterfinals. McHugh came back from a frame behind twice, but lost a scrappy decider: 2-3.

Other surprises
Other surprises included early eliminations of Robert Burda [SEBC], Sebastian Hainzl, Robert Bütof and Bernhard Müllner [all 15 Reds], who all went down in Saturday evening's round of the last 16. Burda's exit [1-3 against ISC's Clausdieter Franschitz] hurted most, as he desperately needed to collect some more ranking points to get himself a chance of qualifying for this year's IBSF World Snooker Championships in Austria. That was his main reason for founding the Künstlerbüro Snooker-Team and re-entering the competitive game this season, but Burda unfortunately ends the campaign outside the top 10 of the ASL rankings. His teammate Bütof, however, finished sixth which probably will prove to be enough for a ticket to the Worlds. Bütof lost in the last 16 to Kim, who went on to whitewash Garry Balter 3-0 before outplaying Pichler in the semifinals, 4-1. Pichler won the small final against Pleschek, 3-1, and climbed to a shared third position in the rankings.

Kim reached his third Grand Prix final of the season - and the No. 2 spot in the rankings. Kim and Nirnberger played a high-class final. Jack had a 51 break on his way to a 3-1 lead, and Kim had a 38 to pull one back. In the sixth frame, Nirnberger hit a 63 but that was not enough to win frame and match as Kim snatched it 71-63. However, Nirnberger won his fourth final-frame decider of the event to take yet another title.

Austrian Snooker League rankings
The results of the last ASL Grand Prix mean that the final standings [*] in the Austrian Snooker League rankings for the 2007/08 season are as follows:

1. Hans Nirnberger [SEBC Vienna] - 6250 points.
2. Chau Zi Kim [15 Reds Vienna] - 4010.
3. Bernhard Müllner [15 Reds Vienna] - 3410.
[tie] Alexander Pichler [Snooker Bulls Salzburg] - 3410.
5. Sebastian Hainzl [15 Reds Vienna] - 3100.
6. Robert Bütof [15 Reds, Vienna] - 3035.
7. Garry Balter [no club, Vienna] - 2800.
[tie] Felix Pleschek [Top Snooker Graz] - 2800.
9. Christian Hackl [Top Snooker Graz] - 2570.
10. Graeme Fish [ISC Vienna] - 2520.

[*] No warranties - this is an unofficial list compiled by Maximumbreak and not provided nor approved by the ÖBSV!

The top 4 players Nirnberger, Kim, Müllner and Pichler are guaranteed to have qualified for the IBSF World Snooker Championships, which runs from October 26 until November 8 in Wels, Austria. If other nations competing at that event don't use their full contingent of players, Austria - as the organizing country - will be allowed to enter more players into the draw. Which means that players ranked 5th and lower are still in with a chance to take part. Last year, for instance, Thailand as host of the 2007 World Championships had up to eleven players entering the event. More on the 2008 Worlds, which also includes a ladies and a seniors event with Austrians taking part, soon on Maximumbreak. But before that, the Austrian snooker scene will turn its attention to the Österreichische Staatsmeisterschaft in May, which will also be staged in the Snookerlounge in Graz, home club to defending champion Pleschek.

7. ASL GRAND PRIX 2007/08
[Graz, 12/04 - 13/04]

Results:

quarterfinals:
Hans Nirnberger - Graeme Fish 3-0
Felix Pleschek - Clausdieter Franschitz 3-0
Chau Zi Kim - Garry Balter 3-0
Alexander Pichler - Richard McHugh 3-2

semifinals:
Nirnberger - Pleschek 4-3
Kim - Pichler 4-1

final:
Nirnberger - Kim 4-3

Break list:

- 74 Richard McHugh
- 63 Hans Nirnberger
- 62 Felix Pleschek
- 61 Nirnberger
- 57 Nirnberger, Bernhard Müllner
- 56 Chau Zi Kim
- 55 Nirnberger
- 54 Nirnberger, Müllner
- 53 Nirnberger, Kim
- 51 Nirnberger

Click here for full tournament results.

text: Eric Willemsen [Vienna] / picture: Top Snooker Graz