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

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

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, founded in 1992, and created by the European Pocket Billiard Federation. The Tour's first event was the ''Belgium Open'', held on May 29 – 31, 1992. The event was won by M ...

, 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 professional eight-ball and nine-ball pool player. He was nicknamed "Napoleon" due to his personality and standing at tall. He is a two time European Pool Championships winner, and one of the most ...

. Malai played at the

2011 European Pool Championships The 2011 European Pool Championships was a series of professional pool (billiards), pool championships that took place at the Steel Palace, in Brandenburg, Germany. The events were played between 23 March and 3 April 2011 were part of the Eur ...

reaching the knockout stage in 9-ball before losing to eventual champion Nick van den Bergwith 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 The 2012 WPA World Nine-ball Championship was a professional nine-ball pocket billiards (pool) championship, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and organised by Matchroom Sport. It was held from June 22 to 29 in Doha, Qatar, ...

reaching the round of the last 64, in which he lost against Ralf Souquet. 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 fina ...

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

Konstantin Stepanov Konstantin Stepanov (born 26 September 1983) (russian: Константин Степанов) 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 th ...

. In the

2013 WPA World Nine-ball Championship The 2013 WPA World Nine-ball Championship was the 22nd event in the annual WPA World Nine-ball Championship. The event took place from September 2 to 13, 2013 in Doha, Qatar. Germany's Thorsten Hohmann became world champion by a 13–6 victo ...

he reached the round of the last 64 before losing to

John Morra John Morra (born May 25, 1989) is a Canadian professional pool player. Morra has represented Canada at the World Cup of Pool on seven occasions, partnering Jason Klatt in 2011, 2012 and 2015, and Alex Pagulayan in 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2019. Morra ...

. In February 2015, he reached his second Euro Tour final, at the 2015 Italian Open, where he lost 2–9 to Niels Feijen.

Titles

* 2011

Kremlin Cup The Kremlin Cup (russian: Кубок Кремля) 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 ...

* 2012

North Cyprus Open

References

External links

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