Predator Euro Tour Series
BHR Best Western Hotel, Treviso
2026 Longoni Italian Open
ITALIAN JOB ALL SET FOR TREVISO
19th August 2026
TREVISO IS THE venue as the fourth event on the PREDATOR EURO TOUR gets underway on Thursday 20th August with the Longoni Italian Open. After making its debut at the BHR Best Western Hotel in 2010, this is the Euro Tour’s 26th visit to the popular Northern Italian location.
The men’s tournament has 199 starters representing 30 countries, including three players from Argentina and one from China and 16 of the top 20 ranked players are in attendance this week. 10-ball is the game and the races are to seven for the double elimination and then to nine from the last 32 onwards.
Ranked No.1 on the Predator Euro Tour rankings is Poland’s Wojciech Szewczyk. After many years of trying, he finally got his maiden Euro Tour win earlier this year in Turkey and a runners-up finish in Luxembourg, losing out to Joshua Filler, added enough to his points tally to give him a solid lead at the top. A former WPA World 10-Ball Champion, Szewczyk is well refreshed after a summer break and ready to go.
He said, “The last tournaments I played were the Euro Tour and Predator Pro Billiard Series in Austria in June. I had some family time and holiday so now I’m ready to get back into it. There’s a run of events coming up for me so I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself to do well here but if I do well then that will be great. It’s a tapped rack and if I can get my break going, it puts the opponent under pressure and also gives you some good table time to figure out the conditions.
Making a welcome reappearance on the Euro Tour is Tony Drago of Malta. Something of a late starter at the game, Drago started playing pool alongside his successful snooker career in the early 00s, and quickly found success. He won the 2003 World Pool Masters, the same year he picked up a bronze medal at the WPA World 9-Ball Championship. MVP honours at the 2007 Mosconi Cup were followed by two big wins in 2008 – the Predator International 10-Ball Championship and the French Open on the Euro Tour.
Now semi-retired, the lure of competitive pool has drawn Drago back to Treviso.
He commented, “I always love coming to Treviso – I used to come here all the time. I always loved playing Euro Tour and I’m going to choose two or three a year and play them. It’s in Europe and it’s comfortable for me to travel. I’ve not been practicing at home – it’s 40 degrees so no way, so I’m just going practice as much as I can today to get ready for tomorrow.
“I still love playing pool and love playing snooker which is number one but 9-ball comes a close second. Obviously, I want to do well here but no goals – I haven’t played for too long to set a goal and I know I don’t know many of these players but I know they’re all very good!”
The Longoni Italian Women’s Open sees an entry of 51 players representing 19 different countries. Commencing on Friday and played over three days, the 10-ball tournament features races to five in the double elimination phase before expanding to races to seven for the closing stages.
All top ten players on the rankings are in the field including No.1 Sandra Baumgartner who is still chasing her first win since she resumed playing in all events in 2025. WPA No.2 ranked player Pia Filler will be going for her second title in three events following on from her win over Mayte Ropero in Luxembourg in May.
Play commences at 9.00 on Thursday in the men’s event. The women start on Friday at 9.00 in the women’s. Play continues through Friday and Saturday with the two championship matches scheduled for 20.00 on Sunday. As of 2026, WPA World Ranking points are now available on both men’s and women’s Predator Euro Tours.
Tables 1 and 2 at the Longoni Italian Open will be streamed throughout on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV
For all results, live scoring and draw, visit www.epbf.com
EPBF Sponsors
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