On only his second appearance in the event, 19-year-old William Bjerregaard Jakobsen defeated Jakob Lund Andersen 4-3 in the final to win the 2021 Danish National Snooker Championship at the Copenhagen Pool and Snooker House.
Organised by the Danish Billiard Union, a total of 56 players entered this year’s event in the capital city, with the country’s top 16 ranked players automatically placed into the last 32 where they met the qualifiers. First held in 1990, this was the 32nd edition of the championship.
After receiving a walkover in the last 32, Jakobsen eliminated Carl-Emil Hartig Rysgaard 3-0 in the last 16, national ranked number one and last year’s runner-up Per Micki Christensen 3-2 in the quarter-finals and five-time Danish champion Allan Norvark 3-1 in the semi-finals.
On his way to the final, Andersen ousted record 13-time champion Rune Kampe 3-2 in the last 16 and then eight-time defending champion Daniel Kandi by the same score in the last four. Kandi – who registered a 147 in this event in 2018 – had not long returned home from the UK having taken part in Q School.
Featuring two maiden finalists, the title match was a nervy and topsy-turvy affair with both players holding the lead and never more than a frame between them. Jakobsen came back from 2-3 down, claiming the last two frames for a 4-3 victory to become only the eighth different winner of the event.
Jakobsen’s progress in the sport is very notable. He began playing a Danish billiards game called Skittlebillard when he was just 4-years-old and briefly tried snooker when he became a teen. After an absence from the baize, Jakobsen has returned to snooker over the past 18 months and now trains between 60 to 80 hours a week in the hope of turning professional in the future.
Following his triumph, Jakobsen – who is from the small town of Vig and mainly hones his skills at the Asnæs Grevinge Billiard Club – said “It feels so incredibly good that all my training has been successful and that I achieved what I had set out for. It’s something surreal and a huge relief, while at the same time I’m proud of my achievement. I look forward to representing Denmark in future tournaments.”
Article by Michael Day.