Austria’s Albin Ouschan, a runner-up here in Doha two years ago will take on Canadian-Filipino veteran Alex Pagulayan in the semi-final of the World 9-ball Championship here today.
The other semi-final pits USA’s Shane Van Boening, a runner-up here last year and a four-time US Open champion, against Taiwan’s Yushuan Cheng, who currently holds the US Open crown.
After a week of most highly competitive pool matches, the field was whittled down to four yesterday at the Al Arabi Sports Club. Both semi-finals, which will be race to 11, alternate break, will be played concurrently and will commence at 11am today. The final, which will be race to 13, alternate break, will begin at 3pm.
It seems near impossible to predict who will emerge as the champion, but American Van Boening can be considered to have the edge,
Van Boening came within of whisker of winning against Taiwan’s Ko Pin Yi last year. Since then, he has continued to play top level pool in every single tournament he has entered.
Except for one hiccup in the group stages, the 33-year-old Van Boening has played impeccable pool this week. Yesterday, in the round of 16, the American found himself down 4-1 early against Kuwaiti upstart Omar al-Shaheen. However, Van Boening simply took his time, stayed in stroke, and beat Al Shaheen, 11-5.   
Van Boening would face a much tougher task in the quarter-finals against Greece’s Alexander Kazakis, who had just come off a convincing victory over China’s Chu Bing Jie in the round of 16. The two traded blows for over an hour with Kazakis always one step ahead of the American. Van Boening didn’t panic and took advantage of one mistake by the Greek to take his first lead at 8-7. Kazakis kept the pressure on but the four time US Open champion did the same, potting flawlessly on the way to a solid 11-9 win.
“I fought my way through” Van Boening said. “I feel confident, comfortable. I know how everybody plays. I’m just here to have fun. It’s not about the money. I’m just going to do the best I can. I’ve won other tournaments, the World Cup of Pool, the World Pool Masters, US Open. This is just another tournament.”
Van Boening will need that no-nonsense steady hand when he goes up against Taiwan’s Cheng. The 28-year-old Taiwanese beat China’s Dang Jin Hu 11-8 and in the quarter0finals he overcame Estonia’s Dennis Grabe 11-3.
Meanwhile, Pagulayan, who won the World 9-ball Championship in 2004, first took down Indonesia’s Muhammad Bewi 11-7. Then he squared off against 21-year-old Ko Ping Chun, the younger brother of 2015 World 9-ball champion Ko Pin Yi.  
Ko raced out to a 5-0 lead but Pagulayan kept his focus and tied the match midway through. From there the two engaged in a brilliant battle of wits that went straight to the cliff. Tied at 10-10, Ko took on a long difficult cut on the 2-ball but missed by a thread. Pagulayan stood up and calmly cleared the colours to claim his first World 9-ball semi-final in 12 years.
“This is completely different than 2004,” Pagulayan said. “For some reason when I was 18 or 19 I looked for this kind of situation. Now it looks like I’m trying to avoid the pressure. I just want to relax. But I love playing 9-ball again. It brings a lot of enthusiasm, inspires me a little bit. I’m just taking it one game at a time and don’t take it too seriously.”
Pagulayan next faces, Ouschan. The Austrian first grinded out a win against his room-mate and compatriot Mario He 11-9. He then headed over to face the red-hot Jayson Shaw, who had just come back from 9-3 down to barely defeat Ukraine’s Artem Koshovoj, 11-10. Ouschan pounced on several early mistakes by the Brit, then put the clamps on for a solid 11-7 win.  
The 2016 World 9-ball Championship is being hosted by The Qatar Billiard and Snooker Federation (QBSF), and is sanctioned by the World Pool Billiard Association, the governing body of the sport of pool.
The winner of the 2015 World 9-ball Championship will receive $40,000. The runner up will receive $20,000. The total prize fund is $200,000.

RESULTS
QUARTER-FINALS
Albin Ouschan (AUT) 11-7 Jayson Shaw (GBR)
Alex Pagulayan (CAN) 11 -10 Ko Ping Chung (TPE)
Shane Van Boening (USA) 11-9 Alexander Kazakis (GRE)
Cheng Yu Hsuan (TPE) 11-3 Dennis Grabe (EST)
RESULTS LAST 16
Jayson Shaw (GBR) 11 - 10 Artem Koshovoj (UKR)
Albin Ouschan (AUT) 11-9 Mario He (AUT)
Alex Pagulayan (CAN) 11 - 7 Muhammad Bewi (INA)
Ko Ping Chung (TPE) 11 - 9 Carlo Biado (PHL)
Alexander Kazakis (GRE) 11-7 Chu Bing Jie (CHN)
Shane Van Boening (USA) 11 - 5 Omar Al Shaheen (KUW)
Dennis Grabe (EST) 11 - 6 Daryl Peach (GBR)
Cheng Yu Hsuan (TPE) 11 - 8 Dang Jin Hu (CHN)

Today’s schedule
Semi-finals (at 11pm)
Albin Ouschan (AUT) vs Alex Pagulayan (CAN)
Cheng Yu Hsuan (TPE) vs. Shane Van Boening (USA)
Final at 3pm
Race to 13, Alternate Break