Piotr Kudlik (Metal Fach LP Sokolka) took all by surprise with his overall win of the Dynamic Billard Best of the East – Polish Open 2009 in the club „Frame” in Lodz, Poland. The player, formerly trained in UKS Spartan Chodow, is just 19 years old and before the Polish Open 2009 he had achieved two bronze medals of the European Juniors Championships (Teams Competition) alongside with six Polish Juniors Championships medals (1 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze). However, this particular win shows clearly, what a tremendous potential this young player has. In the final match, he defeated 10 times Polish Champion, 2005 European Championships Runner-up, Tomasz Kaplan (Osemka Rzeszow).

     Before the start of the Polish Open 2009 there was a nice surprise – an artistic one. The Nosan Kielce Club Player, Ziemowit Janaszek performed a mini-concert, singing a few songs. The performance was awarded with a huge applause of fellow players.

      In the first part of the tournament there were the Round-Robin matches in groups with best two of each group to advance further. Some upsets were loses of the winner of the Dynamic Best of the East 2003 – Robert Zachar (Baribal Lubin) and the Romania Open 2008 Runner-up, Christea Ovidiu  – they did not qualify. On the other hand, some players did not lose a single match in their groups – the „undefeated nine” were: Mariusz Skoneczny , Mariusz Roter , Michal Czarnecki , RadosLaw Babica , Mateusz Sniegocki , Szymon Rodewald , Piotr Kudlik , Tomasz Kaplan , Karol Skowerski  i Marcin Filusz .

      And then, there was the single knock-out draw: most of best players landed in the middle of the chart but the absolute hit was created with the first card drawn: the match announcing the „sudden yet premature death” of one of the two brothers A. SKONECZNY vs. M. SKONECZNY.

      Current second place in 2009 Overall Ranking, Mariusz Roter (Mario Unitor B Mikolow), took advantage of such a draw; easy wins over junior Marcel Fortunski , 7-3, and Krzysztof Draka , 7-1, secured him the Ranking second position with 430 points, even though, in his next match, he lost fast to Slawomir Nowak (Konsalnet Warszawa) 3-7.

      The Winner of the first Best 2009, the Serbian Open, Mariusz Skoneczny finished in 17th place following his defeat to his very brother, Adam, 6-7. However, with 447.5 points he still remains as the Ranking Leader.

      Other „early bird” hits were also:

– the Euro Tour Czech Republic Open 2007 Winner, Wojciech Trajdos (Konsalnet Warszawa) played against the 2008 Dynamic Best of the East Ranking Winner, Karol Skowerski (Nosan Kielce); Trajdos quickly whitewashed Skowerski,

– Babken Melkonian  defeated 3 times Junior European Championships Runner-up Bartosz Rozwadowski (Nosan Kielce), 7-2.

      Emotions were rising even higher with the time. In the 1/8 final, Trajdos sent R. Babica’s hopes „to the pits” winning 7-4 whilst, Polish Ranking No 1, Mateusz Sniegocki, thanks to just two mistakes in the closing stages of his match against T. Kaplan could do nothing but pack his suitcase too. The guest from Armenia, B. Melkonian was also quite surprised when P. Kudlik clearly „checked him out”, 7-2. Still the junior division player Konrad Piekarski (Metal Fach LP Sokolka) played well; reaching the quarter-finals he took the prize for the Best Junior Player (under 16 years old). There was also the Best Female Player Prize: it went to experienced Izabela Lacka (Falcon Sosnowiec), deservedly, for her solid and graceful performance. Best Foreign Player Prize shared B. Melkonian  and Michal Patrowicz , who, in the KO stages, defeated Sz. Rodewald (MDK 4 Bydgoszcz), 7-4, but later lost to S. Nowak (Konsalnet Warszawa), 3-7. Both finished in the 9th place.

      In the quarter-finals P. Kudlik won over Piotr Ostrowski (Duet Lipinski Dachy Tomaszow Maz.), 7-4; Trajdos defeated K. Piekarski, 7-3; T. Kaplan saw away Michal Berkec (Zakrecona Bila Poznan), 7-2 and S.Nowak flew home M. Roter, 7-3. Generally, S. Nowak usually performs well in Lodz.

      For the semi-finals, if there was a bookmaker present, he would take 10-1 bets for the match Trajdos vs. Kudlik. Life wrote its own scenario, match was not so interesting, the final score, however, was a surprise indeed – P. Kudlik, 7 and to the final, Trajdos, 3 and „home I must go”. Second semi went according to general expectations, Kaplan : Nowak, 7-3.

      The final match was brightened up with the TV TELE5 spotlights. The pair was: the „Master” Kaplan against the „I am so happy already” Kudlik. It was 5-3 for the „Master”, later on: 6-4. Well, the match was almost over for Kaplan but almost definitely „isn’t good enough” in Pool. Anxious Kaplan makes two mistakes and Kudlik equals it up at 6-6. In the frame „13th and the last” 19 years old did not make any mistakes, clear run-out gave him the win, a big trophy and a significant financial prize. The total prize money paid out by Mak Marketing for the Polish Open 2009 winners amounted to over PLN 20 300.

      As a general summary – the Polish Open 2009 was a total success for the Polish Players. However, the number of guest from abroad was not, at all, impressive (just 3 countries – Armenia, Romania and Canada). Unfortunately, it may be the sign of the total financial crisis that can be observed within European federations, especially those of „eastern Europe”.

      For the smooth running of the tournament the two handsome, professionally smart and hardworking referees were appointed; the job was done just close to perfect by: Waldemar Debski – Head Referee and Marek Marcinkowski – Assistant to Head Referee. Again, there was the on-line scoring and the internet TV live-broadcast on www.tvsports.pl (you can still watch some matches from the archives section).

      The host of the Polish Open 2009, the Sports Billiards Association Club „Frame” in Lodz with the patronage of the Mayor of the City of Lodz prepared the venue, as usual, to the best possible standards. Again, it was the pleasure to be there.

      Also, a big thanks to the Best of the East Polish Open 2009 sponsors: Dynamic Billard – , Iwan Simonis and Saluc (Aramith) – , „Cleaner” Lodz; also ZPC �Brzesc” that is the sponsor of the TV broadcast of the final match. The match can be watched on the TELE5 on Saturday 23 of May 2009 at 15.05 hrs.

	1/4 final				1/2 final				Final
	Piotr Ostrowski 4 Piotr Kudlik 7
					Piotr Kudlik 7 Wojciech Trajdos 5
	Wojciech Trajdos 7 Konrad Piekarski 3
									Piotr Kudlik 7 Tomasz Kap�an 6
	Micha� Berkec 2 Tomasz Kap�an 7
					Tomasz Kap�an 7 S�awomir Nowak 3
	S�awomir Nowak 7 Mariusz Roter 3