THE FINAL MATCHES of the 2025 Predator WPA Junior World Championships played out this afternoon in Gandia, Spain and there were victories for Felix Vogel (GER) in the Boy’s Under 19s, Jakub Chrobot (POL) in Boy’s Under 17s and Wang Ming-Ling of Chinese Taipei in the Girls. The events started with 24 athletes in the Under 19’s and Girls and 26 in the Under 17s, as the best of the best youth players gathered from around the globe.
After a highly successful career in youth pool, Germany’s Felix Vogel played his last-ever match as a junior and it was good enough to finally land him a World Championship title as he defeated Japan’s spirited Aoi Kanazawa by 7-5. To add the icing on the cake, it was also Vogel’s 18th birthday as he signed off on a stellar junior career.
The match itself proved exciting as Kanazawa’s unorthodox style and happy-go-lucky demeanour saw him open up a sizeable lead. Vogel, though, wasn’t done and he battled back to make it 5-5. Suffering from a bug that was doing the rounds, he stormed on and reached the hill and then closed the match out with three-fouls as Kanazawa failed to connect.
Commented Vogel, “It feels very, very good to win in my last year. It made it very special, being my birthday, and for all the people who supported me and text me, they gave me energy today as I don’t feel very good, kind of sick. But it gave me the energy to make it today.
“It didn’t start good in the beginning as I was nearly 4-0 down but I got lucky that he missed the 9-ball for 4-0 and I came back and nearly played perfect. I didn’t want to win on three fouls but it was the best option there in the moment. I think I’m going sleep now for a few hours!” he added.
Bronze medals went to Walter Laikre (SWE) and the USA’s Eddie Vonderau (USA).
The first final to finish saw Chrobot edge out Slovenia’s Maks Benko winning 7-5 in a hard-fought encounter. The Slovenian had the early lead at 2-1 but Chrobot battled back to lead 5-3. That became 5-all as the match became a race to two. The Pole edged onto the hill and then trapped Benko with three fouls to become a World Champion.
He said, “I still can’t believe that I’m a world champion, it still doesn’t feel like this. I think I deserved it; I played really well through the whole tournament and I was calm and tried to enjoy the pool and not the tournament.
“I did my best and I can now rest. It’s really special as last year was my first big match with a shot-clock and I got some experience and I was way better prepared for this tournament. I just focused on the game and played my best. I think it will be a very good day for me!”
Bronze medallists were Wiktor Kaczmarek (POL) and Revo Maimre (EST)
Finally, in the Girl’s final it was Wang Ming-Ling (TPE) who prevailed as she defeated the USA’s Savannah Easton, also by a 7-5 scoreline. Like the other two finals, the match was anyone’s at 5-5 before Wang made a composed run-out to reach the hill. Easton, looking to improve on her silver medal from last year, was set to take it to a decider but missed a makeable 10-ball to hand it to Wang.
Commented Wang, “I’m so excited and feel so lucky to win this tournament and I’d like to thank my parents and friends who helped me so much when I felt stressful and nervous. They helped calm me down as did my coach. They all gave me confidence when I wasn’t feeling it. My birthday wish was to win the world championship but I never thought it would come true. I want to go home quickly now and share this with my family and friends.”
Third placed finishers were Linnea Hjalmarstrom (SWE) and Jordan Helfery (USA).
Streaming of Tables 1 and 2 for all events can be found on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel - https://www.youtube.com/@
For all results, live scoring and draw visit the events’ homepage https://