Kakovskiy and Nechaeva Retain Russian Snooker Titles

Ivan Kakovskiy claimed his fifth Russian National Snooker Championship in the last six years earlier this week in Moscow. 

A total of 57 players took to the tables at the Polygon Billiards Club for the five-day event. Kakovskiy, still only 20 years old, began his campaign by easing through Group A – qualifying top without losing a frame. 

The defending champion continued his relentless progress in the subsequent knockout phase, winning his last 32 and 16 fixtures without reply. He did drop the first frame of his match – and the tournament – during a quarter-final tie against Andrey Karasov, but recovered with breaks of 42, 78 and 55 to advance 3-1. An effort of 58 then helped the St. Petersburg cueist defeat Aleksey Koren 3-0 in the last four. 

His opponent in the final was Evgeniy Sozykin, who began the challenge well by taking the opening frame. Runs of 53 and 88 aided Kakovskiy to square and then gain the lead, although Sozykin levelled up with frame four. However, Kakovskiy wasn’t to be denied yet another title as he finished strongly with breaks of 52 and 58 to win 4-2. 

Earlier in the year the promising youngster reached the quarter-finals of the European Under-21 Championship and the last 16 of the European Amateur Championship. 

In the Russian Women’s Championship played at the same venue, Anastasia Nechaeva followed suit by retaining the title and securing her fifth overall success in the event. 

Nechaeva finished second in her group to qualify for the knockouts before coming back from one frame down to eliminate Aleksandra Bogatyreva 2-1 in the last eight. 

Further victories over Polina Astakhova (2-0) – the teammate whom she won the European Ladies Team Championship alongside in the summer – and Dasha Sirotina (3-1) in the final saw her triumph once again. 

Thank you to Panov Alexey from the Moscow Billiard Federation for his assistance in compiling this article. You can follow Panov on Instagram via snooker_moscow. 

The images are courtesy of the Polygon Billiards Club Facebook page.