Eklent Kaçi

Eklent Kaçi
Born (1999-01-29) 29 January 1999 (age 25)
Laç, Albania
Sport country Albania
Nickname"The Golden Eagle"
Tournament wins
World ChampionTen-ball (2021, 2023)

Eklent Kaçi (born January 29, 1999), also known as Klenti Kaçi is an Albanian professional pool player. Kaçi won the WPA World Ten-ball Championship in 2021 and 2023 and reached the semi-finals of the 2017 WPA World Nine-ball Championship and final of the 2024 WPA World Nine-ball Championship. He has been the top-ranked player in the world of 9-ball pool.[1]

Career

Kaçi started playing pool at the age of eight.[2] He has won the Albanian Snooker championships in addition to national pool championships, even though he never played snooker prior to his Federation asking him to join the event.[citation needed] Kaçi made his first European championship in 2013, for ten-ball, qualifying for the main knockout, and being eliminated in the round of 64.[3] In 2017, Kaçi made the semi-finals of the 2017 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, losing 11–6 to Roland Garcia.[4]

The following year, at 18 years of age, Kaçi won the Aramith Masters,[5] and became world number one later that year.[6] At the 2018 WPA World Nine-ball Championship, Kaçi (as world number 1), lost to 17-year-old Robbie Capito 11–10 in the last 32.[7] Kaçi won two events on the Euro Tour, reaching Euro Tour number one in 2018. He won the 2018 Treviso Open, and the following season the 2019 Austria Open.

In June 2024 Kaçi reached the final of the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but was defeated by Fedor Gorst.[8] In October 2024 Kaçi was part of the European team that were defeated by Asia in the inaugural Reyes Cup held in the Philippines.[9]

Career titles

References

  1. ^ "Ranking - WPA Pool". WPA Pool. Archived from the original on December 16, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  2. ^ "Klenti Kaci". worldpoolseries.com. Retrieved December 19, 2018.[permanent dead link‍]
  3. ^ "Eklent Kaçi, argjend dhe bronz në Europian". panorama.com.al (in Albanian). Archived from the original on May 23, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  4. ^ "FOUR LEFT TO GO FOR WORLD 9-BALL CROWN ON THURSDAY – WPA Pool". WPA Pool. Archived from the original on April 23, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Klenti Has Plenty To Celebrate – World Pool Series". worldpoolseries.com. Archived from the original on July 9, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  6. ^ "Catch Me If You Can! – World Pool Series". worldpoolseries.com. Archived from the original on December 19, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  7. ^ "17 Year Old Hong Kong Native Capito Stuns Kaci To Reach Final 16". azbilliards.com. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  8. ^ "Fedor Gorst Is Champion Of The World". AZBilliards. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  9. ^ Binh, Xuan. "Vietnam's top pool player helps Asia clinch Reyes Cup title over Europ". VNExpress. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  10. ^ "2018 American 14.1 Straight Pool Championship Final". Facebook. Highrockstore.com. Retrieved December 27, 2018.