Player: Robbie Capito
Event: BetVictor 2024 UK Open Pool Championship
Location: Telford, U.K.
Date: May 12, 2024



Last month's UK Open Championship put on by Matchroom Pool proved to be a coming out party for Robbie Capito. The Hong Kong native with roots in the Philippines was hardly an unknown character, having a handful of top 10 finishes at international-level events. But the 23-year-old took his first major title with an impressive run through a deep field in Telford, U.K.

His semifinal race-to-11 against Lithuania's rising star Pijus Labutis was an intense battle that tested the nerves of both young guns. Labutis himself just 26 years old, took the first three racks to grab an early lead. But an errant cut on the 7 ball brought Capito to the table in the scenario shown in the diagram to the right.

He could see a slight edge of the 7 ball against the footrail, but he didn't have enough of the object ball to pocket it into the bottom left corner, even with a shot that required such a thin cut. Instead, Capito needed to send the cue ball off the short rail before hitting the 7 — not the largest detour for a kick shot, but it would still prove tricky in pocketing the object ball while controlling it for a shot on the 8.

Loading up on low right English, Capito sent the cue ball into the rail, spinning it into the 7. While the object ball fell neatly into the corner pocket, the cue ball circled the table, hitting two more rails while the inside English opened the rebound angles for it to stop in perfect position on the 8.

Capito took this rack and the next five to gain control of the set. While Labutis would fight back throughout, Capito prevailed, 11-8, before topping Mieszko Fortunski, 13-10, in the final.

(Video clip provided by Accu-Stats Video Productions.)

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