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Robin Hull is again the Finnish Snooker Champion

As in the last couple of years, the culmination of the Finnish snooker competition season is the Finnish Championships, which was played at Cabin Street Snooker and Kera Snooker. There were 80 players aiming for success, of which Patrik Tiihonen, the top name in the rankings, and Robin Hull and Heikki Niva were the favourites.

Robin Hull Finish Champion again.

The pre-season favourites Jani Kananen and Tuure Lappalainen held their own and met in the 16-cup. The 2019 Finnish Champion Kananen had to bow out this time, and Lappalainen, who rarely competes today, advanced to the 8-cup 4–2.

Toni Savonen was in good shape all Saturday. In his previous matches, Savonen brutally beat sixth-placed Jirka Maaranen of Joensuu 4–0 on his way home. In the encounter between the young men from Turku, Eelis took the first two frames, but Toni responded by taking a 3–2 lead. Towards the end of the match, however, Savonen froze slightly, Eelis showed his iron talents as a competitor and advanced to Sunday 4–3.

In the third quarter, there were no surprises, and in the 16-cup the placed Tomi Leinonen and Esa Oikarinen met. Leinonen was strong in the 32-cup against young man Patrik Lehtinen from Turku, but advanced 4–3g against Oikarinen, reached the last eight with a clear score of 4–1.

In the bottom quarter of the chart, there was only one favorite, Robin Hull. Among the 16, he faced Paavo Laihonen, who won his first three matches with a set ratio of 12–1.

On Sunday, we continued with the quarter-finals. The match pairings were Juha Erkinmikko-Antti Tolvanen, Ville Pirilä-Heikki Niva, Tuure Lappalainen-Eelis Lappalainen and Esa Oikarinen – Robin Hull.

The first person to secure the medal position was Heikki Niva, who represents EBK but mainly trains with CSS. Pirilä as Niva scored sets 60, 30, 30, 74 in the first three rounds and 124 in the last set. Niva, Oikarinen did have his chances against Hull as Robin took the first two rounds with breaks of 65 and 120, but Esa responded with a break of 74 and narrowed the gap.

Robin knocked in the next 103, but Esa took the fifth set and the score was 3-2. In the sixth, Oikarinen had a chance to equalise, with 47 on the stick when an easy spot-black slipped past. Hull made it 37, but Oikarinen was blessed with one more good chance. However, he was unable to vaccinate again, and Hull reached the semi-finals 4–2.

In the quarter-final between the Lappalainen, Tuure was stronger 4–2. The young men made a nice six sets of charts for six rounds, parhaana Elis’ 59. Great snookerists both, what level would the brothers reach if they were more interested in training? In Turku, however, there is good vibes going on at the WCS gym, as at least Tiihonen, Savonen, Lehtinen, Lappalaiset, Sirkiä, and the 2015 Finnish Champion O-P Virho, who is returning after a few quieter years, are training at the gym.

Going into the fourth quarter-final, Juha Erkinmikko perhaps had a slight advantage, as Antti Tolvanen’s 16-cup match against Ring had stretched well past midnight. The outcome was dramatic. Erkinmikko led with 34 points, but Tolvanen won the safety In the semi-finals, Antti Tolvanen faced Heikki Niva and Tuure Lappalainen faced Robin Hull.

Unfortunately, neither semi-final turned out to be a very exciting match. Niva defeated Tolvanen 4–1, scoring sets of 93, 37, 45, 40 and 72. Tuure Lappalainen’s bangs must have faded into the quarter-final against his nephew, and he was unable to vaccinate Hull from a few positions. Hull clinched sets 91, 79 and 64 and advanced to the final against Niva 4–0. Finnish Championship bronze medals to Antti Tolvanen and Tuure Lappalainen.

The final, judged by Siv Hartikainen, pitted players who competed narrowly in the 2023–2024 season against each other. For Hull, the competition was probably the first of the season, and Nivakan had only participated in 6 Reds Finnish Championships, which resulted in victories, and one ranking competition, in the final of which he bowed out to Patrik Tiihonen.

Hull has not lost many games in the Finnish Championship in his career, nor did they lose this time either. Niva missed a good chance to take a 3-1 lead, but in the fifth frame Hull scored a 69 and when Niva was unable to use his opportunities in the sixth, Robin Hull won the 15th of his career.

Congratulations to Finnish champion Robin Hull and medalists Heikki Niva, Tuure Lappalainen and Antti Tolvanen. I would like to thank all the referees who were once again seen at the venues thanks to the Finnish snooker judging boom, a delightfully large number of them, thirteen in all. Thank you also to everyone who helped organize the competition and above all to all the snookerists who participated in the competitions! See you again next season and remember to practice!

Tero Nappari wins Senior Championship

Oulu City Billiards played the MN40 Senior Finnish Championship in snooker on 4-5 May. 29 players came to the Games to aim for a Finnish Championship medal. The competition started on Saturday and the day changed to Sunday before the last 8-cup place was decided. Saturday’s longest break was made by Ville Pirilä, putting 95 points on the board. A total of 11 sets of more than 50 points were scored on Saturday.

Tero Nappari Finish Seniors Champion.

On Saturday, Petri Ahola, who had completed his refereeing examination just a month earlier, refereed two games with convincingly. Anu Sivonen judged a long day on the streaming table from the first round. Sami Liimatainen judged one game after his own performances. The Tournament Director stuck to the one-hat tactic and did not referee the games, but focused on promoting the games without any extra delays.

Sunday’s 8-cup started at ten o’clock and there were referees on three tables. Three of the first four games played all seven frames, while one was solved with six frames. In the semi-finals, Nappari and Häkkinen played all available rounds before Nappari crossed the line and reached the final.

In the second semi, Pirilä was in a better position than his opponent, taking the place in the final with a 4-0 result. In the final, all rounds were again played up to the deciding frame to decide the championship, and after a tight battle, the gold medal was won by Tero Nappari.

Sunday saw four sets of over 50 points, with the largest being Ville Pirilä’s 68 in the third frame of the semifinals.

Congratulations to Janne Häkkinen and Seppo Ojala for the bronze medal, Ville Pirilä for the silver medal and Tero Nappari for the Finnish championship with the gold medal.

Salovaara and Lam beat the pre-season favourites

Snookerin Pari SMs were played in Oulu at City Billiards gym. There were 21teams in the doubles event from all over the country signed up for this competition, so the format was a straight cup best of 7. On Saturday, the games of the first round started at ten o’clock in the morning with five tables. At twelve, three second-round games were started in which both teams had received a w/o from the first round. The games in the first rounds lasted from just over an hour and a half to almost six hours of wringing. Playing snooker, which is mostly an individual sport, seems to make it harder for players to get into their own rhythm, lengthening the games longer than usual.

In the bracket on the long games side, the last pair to reach the semi-finals was not decided until shortly before half-past three after the turn of the day to Sunday.

On Sunday, the semi-finals were played, starting at ten o’clock, and the final ended at half past eight in the evening. These games had referee’s on the tables, Koskela/Krokvik and Tiihonen/Oikarinen Petri Ahola, Nivasalo/Hiltunen and Salovaara/Lam Sami Liimatainen. After a short break, Sami continued judging in the final.

The balance of the weekend was 4 bronze medals and 2 gold medals in Oulu, as the silver medals travelled with Tiihonen and Oikarinen, who had also collected gold from previous years, to more southern parts of Finland.

Congratulations to all the medalists! Thank you to all the partners involved, and thank you once again to the very brilliant City Billiards staff!

The EBSA wish to thank Marko Kekkonen for the report a the photos.

Calendar of Finish Snooker Events over the coming months.

U21 Finnish Championships 16.-17.11.2024

Women Finnish Championships 16.-17.11.2024

6 Reds Finnish Championships 21.-22.12.2024

Shoot Out Finnish Championships 2025    Date not published yet

Senior Finnish Championships 26.-27.4.2025

Men Finnish Championships 23.-25.5.2025