Following the Irish Billiards Open, where Carl Walter Steiner was eliminated from the main event after the group stage as the fourth-place finisher, with a victory over Tommy Murphy from Ireland and three losses against the English players Jonathan Marwood, Barry Russell, and Alex Puan from Singapore, the World Matchplay Championship is also taking place in Carlow at the Snooker & Billiards Ireland (SBI) Training Academy.
The Level-6 event essentially represents the World Billiards Championship in the points format. Additionally, a modified short-format mode introduced by the WBL is being used. CW Steiner is Austria’s representative at this event, which begins on April 15, 2024, and will face the English players Rob Hall, currently ranked third in the world rankings, and Steve Brookshaw, as well as the Scotsman Paul McGowan, who also competed in this year’s Austrian Open at the Snooker and Billiards Academy in Vienna, and Dhvaj Haria from India in Group C. All matches in the group stage will be played in a 5 games to 100 format (no best-of).
Irish Open winner 2024 & World Matchplay titleholder Dave Causier; © WBL
The defending champion is the 2024 Austrian Open winner Dave Causier, who once again secured the title of Irish Open Champion on the evening of April 14, and like last year, he managed to comfortably defeat long-format world champion Peter Gilchrist, the English-born player representing Singapore, in the final. Causier also achieved the highest break of the first event of the thrilling billiards week in Carlow with a series of 670 points.
The World Billiards Matchplay Championship can be followed live via the World Billiards YouTube channel.
Results of the 2024 World Billiards Matchplay Championship
Results of the Irish Billiards Open 2024
SBI Training Academy in Carlow; © WBL/SBI