Carl Walter Steiner jumps into the WBL Top 60; Peter Gilchrist wins Sydney Open

Peter Gilchrist from Singapore lives up to his role as favorite and, in the absence of serial winner Dave Causier (ENG), reclaims the top spot in the World Billiards rankings at the Sydney Open held at the Marconi Club.

For the first time in WBL history, a local athlete also competed in Australia. Austria’s currently most active international billiards player, Carl Walter Steiner, appeared in the field of participants and secured third place in his group with two match wins in the group stage against local favorites David Kool and Di Merrit. Although this was not enough to advance to the knockout stage, it did allow Steiner to break into the top 60 of the world rankings.

In Steiner’s Group E, two other Australians—Graeme Wright and Snooker & Billiards legend Joe Minici—advanced. In the 43-player field, Australians formed a clear majority, alongside seven international competitors from England (2), India (1), Ireland (1), Malaysia (1), Singapore, and, of course, Austria.

The WBL tour now moves on to New Zealand, where two more ranking events are scheduled to take place from September 10 to 14 at the Papatoetoe Cosmopolitan Club in Auckland – and thanks to Carl Walter Steiner, Austria will be represented at WBL level there for the first time as well.