Nikolaos "Nick" Malai (born 9 April 1987) is an

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

n professional pool player. Malai is a former winner of an event on the

Euro Tour The Euro Tour is a series of professional pool events set around Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlanti ...

, winning the ''2012 North Cyprus Open''.

Career

In February 2008, Malai reached his first

knockout round at the ''2008 French Open''. In the round of the last 32, however, he lost against Sweden's

Marcus Chamat Marcus Chamat (; born 6 May 1975) is a Swedish language, Swedish professional eight-ball and nine-ball Pocket billiards, pool player. He was Nickname, nicknamed "Napoleon" due to his personality and standing at tall. He is a two time European Po ...

. Malai played at the 2011 European Pool Championships reaching the knockout stage in 9-ball before losing to eventual champion

Nick van den Berg Nick van den Berg (born 24 May 1980) is a Dutch professional pool player. He was the runner up at the 2005 WPA World Eight-ball Championship, where he lost to Wu Chia-ching 11–5 in the final. He is a multiple time winner of events on the Eu ...

with 3–9. In January 2012 Malai finished third at the Paris Open. In the 2012 European Pool Championships he reached the semi-finals in the 9-ball and lost 6–9 against to the eventual champion Francisco Díaz-Pizarro. In July 2012, Malai first participated in the 2012 WPA World Nine-ball Championship reaching the round of the last 64, in which he lost against

Ralf Souquet Ralf Souquet ( ; born 29 November 1968) is a German professional pool player. His nickname is "The Kaiser". Souquet is considered one of the greatest pool players of all time. Since 1988, he has won over 100 professional tournaments, including 2 ...

. At the 2012 North Cyprus Open after victories against

Daryl Peach Daryl Peach (born 8 March 1972) is an English professional pool player, from Lancashire, who resides in Blackpool, England. He won the 2007 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, where he defeated the Philippines' Roberto Gomez 17–15 in the final ...

Jasmin Ouschan Jasmin Ouschan (; born 10 January 1986) is an Austrian professional pool player from Klagenfurt, Carinthia. Her first professional competition occurred in 2002, but she did not officially become a professional member of the Women's Professional ...

and Dominic Jentsch he reached the final, in which he defeat

Albin Ouschan Albin Alois Ouschan (born August 14, 1990, in Klagenfurt, Austria) is an Austrian professional pool player. Ouschan was the 2016 WPA World Nine-ball Championship winner, as well as the runner-up in 2014. He also won the 14.1 Continuous European ...

9–5 to win his first event on the Euro Tour. At the 2013

European Pool Championships European Pool Championship (also called Dynamic European Championships) is a Pool (cue sports), pool competition organized by the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF). The tournament is held annually since 1980. It should not be confused with ...

, Malai reached the semifinals in 10-ball, before losing 4:-8 against

Konstantin Stepanov Konstantin Stepanov (born 26 September 1983) () is a Russian professional pool player. In 2002 he was the Russian 8-ball champion. During the 2006 WPA Men's World Nine-ball Championship he survived the group stages, the round of 64 and the round ...

. In the 2013 WPA World Nine-ball Championship he reached the round of the last 64 before losing to John Morra. In February 2015, he reached his second Euro Tour final, at the 2015 Italian Open, where he lost 2–9 to

Niels Feijen Niels Feijen (born 3 February 1977, The Hague) is a Dutch professional pool player, from the Hague. His nickname is "the Terminator". In 2014 he won the WPA World 9-ball championship. Career In 2001, Feijen reached the finals of a nine-ball to ...

Titles

* 2011

Kremlin Cup The Kremlin Cup () is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts, which was suspended in 2022. It was part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour and was a Premier Tournament on the WTA Tour. It was held annually at the ...

* 2012

North Cyprus Open

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malai, Nick 1987 births Living people Albanian pool players