Pijus Labutis has reflected on his recent dream run at the marathon Derby City Classic, revealing that ‘loud snoring’ from a spectator distracted him during his matches in the early hours of the morning.
Labutis, who reached the semi-finals of last year’s Spanish Open Pool Championship during a landmark campaign, emerged as a surprise runner-up at the most gruelling event on the World Nineball Tour calendar.
The Lithuanian needed to compete for 24 hours straight and come through ten matches with only short breaks on the final day, overcoming the likes of world number two and defending champion Fedor Gorst, Naoyuki Oi, Vitaliy Patsura, Tyler Styler and Lee Van Corteza.
Labutis had defeated Gorst during that Spanish Open run in June and he repeated the feat in Louisville, before denying former Texas Open winner Patsura as fans in attendance struggled to keep themselves awake.
“It wasn’t 2am, it was more like 4am or something but it was later,” Labutis told the Doggin’ It podcast. “The funny thing was during the match I was shooting and there was a guy watching nearby who started snoring, like really loud snoring.
“I said to the guy ‘can you just try not to snore’ but five minutes after he started again and I said it again. Five minutes after he started again and [Vitaliy] Patsura got really mad at him and was like ‘don’t snore’ and the guy then freaked out.
“I think he then just sat there awake. You’re tired and every sound makes you annoyed a little bit and he was sitting just nearby the table. I don’t blame him too much but just try and keep away somewhere.”
Labutis encountered former world champion Joshua Filler at approximately 9am local time at the final hurdle, initially being beaten 9-5 before utilising his buyback option after a previously unbeaten tournament.
“I knew it was going to be really tough. Josh was also really tired which I could see in his face and [his wife] Pia was already sleeping on the chair,” the Lithuanian number one added.
“He’s been a monster. When you see him, it doesn’t seem like he’s tired, he’s just stroking the ball so good, maybe making one or two mistakes because of fatigue.
“It’s so tough with him, it never seems like he’s going to make any mistakes and it’s tough to play perfectly at the time too. I just went for the buyback after the first set and hoped for the chances.”
Having briskly found himself 7-1 behind, Labutis battled back from behind before a crucial error in the deciding rack proved decisive, with the Lithuanian missing position on the five and subsequently striking the ball too thick.
Perhaps severe fatigue played its part at the business end, with Labutis admitting that he needed some time to recover as Filler landed the prestigious Derby City Classic nineball title for the first time in his career.
“The first few hours it’s always like ‘what the f*ck man’,” he reflected,” because you always get your emotions in the way and you’re like ‘I should have won this, I’ve just had the best chance of my life’ and you just beat yourself for two or three hours.
“That’s until you start slowing it and analysing it and then you know what happened happened and that you just have to keep moving and just take the good things out of it.”
