The last day of the Dynamic Billard European Championships 2019 saw the finals in the 9-ball individuals in all four divisions. The titles were grabbed by Fedor Gorst (RUS), Jasmin Ouschan (AUT), Pijus Labutis (LTU) and Jouni Tahti (FIN).
Fedor Gorst had a thriller against Joshua Filler (GER) in the men’s 9-ball division. Both player performed tremendously well throughout the event and deserved their spot in the final match. Gorst was always ahead of Filler whose break let him down big time in the match. But the German struck back whenever he could and kept the match open for a long time. Then Gorst got some momentum and went on the hill, taking a nice 8:4 lead over Filler. But one of „Killer Filler’s“ most important talents is that he keeps his nerves together and plays rock solid even when under fire. Filler took some racks off Gorst since the Russian himself had some problems with his break shot in the latter part of the match. Filler even got to the hill and created an 8:8 situation. The heat was on for both players with Gorst having the break shot. He had 2 balls down and an open layout. From there, Filler never got back to the table and Gorst sneaked past the winning line, taking the match with 9:8 over brave Filler.
The women’s final match between Jasmin Ouschan and Nataliya Seroshtan (RUS) turned into a demolition for the Russian. Ouschan determined the match from the start to her liking and Seroshtan could not get a foot on the floor. Having in mind that Ouschan was far below her expectations during this championship, she played up to her standard in the final match and handed a whitewash to Seroshtan with 7:0.
In the Under 23 division, Pijus Labutis was the favoured player over Oliver Szolnoki since he had already taken a title in 8-ball earlier this week. Though Szolnoki performed quite convincing, Labutis was a bit ahead of him because of his focus being set on another title. 9:7 was the final result that brought the second title for Labutis for this week.
In the wheelchair division, all-time favoured Jouni Tahti wasted no time with his opponent Fred Dinsmore. He simply outplayed the Irish and took the match pretty easy with 7:1.
The final medal table displays Russia as the winner of the event, having won 3 Gold Medals, 2 Silver Medals and 2 Bronze Medals. Runner-Up is Poland with 2 Gold, 1 Silver and 4 Bronze Medals with Finland coming in third with 2 Gold Medals, 1 Silver Medal and 3 Bronze medals.
Rank
Nation
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
1.
RUS
3
2
2
7
2.
POL
2
1
4
7
3.
FIN
2
1
3
6
4.
LTU
2
2
5.
AUT
1
2
2
5
6.
POR
1
1
2
SUI
1
1
2
SWE
1
1
2
9.
ALB
1
1
ESP
1
1
11.
GER
3
3
6
12.
GBR
1
3
4
13.
IRL
1
1
2
NED
1
1
2
15.
HUN
1
1
LAT
1
1
UKR
1
1
18.
BLR
2
2
SLO
2
2
20.
BIH
1
1
BUL
1
1
FRA
1
1
SRB
1
1
That concludes the coverage of the 2019 Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women, Under 23 and Wheelchair Athletes from Treviso, Italy. We will be back tomorrow with more news from the upcoming Euro-Tour events for Men and Women.
The Championships were played on 24 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be obtained at www.kozoom.com. Once a premium membership is held, all events for the respective period of time can be viewed LIVE. Additionally, a huge video gallery is contained in the website.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.epconline.eu or visit us on Facebook for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Three more of the seeded nations won through to the second round of the 2018 World Cup of Pool at the Luwan Arena, Huangpu District in Shanghai, as first round action continued on a hot afternoon. There were wins for Alcaide and Sanchez Ruiz of Spain, Carlo Biado and Jeff De Luna for the Philippines and Cheng and Chang for Chinese Taipei.
The $250,000 tournament originated in 2006 and has since moved around the world before touching down in Shanghai. The World Cup features 32 pairs from across the globe including two from host nation China. Running from 15th to 20th May, the event is on live TV in over 100 countries around the world.
Spain opened up the proceedings with a comfortable 7-1 win over unknowns Vietnam who never looked comfortable under the TV conditions.
“I missed one position ball but for 85% of the game we played really well,” said Davis Alcaide.
“It is very important we focus on the next round because if we lose we are out. I hope in the next round we will play better.”
Sanchez boldly added, “Spain haven’t been passed round two before but I think this year we can win.”
The Philippines, one of the hot favourites for the tournament, capitalised on some misses from the New Zealand pair of Matt Edwards and adopted Kiwi, Marco Teutscher to run out 7-3 winners and move into the second round where they will play England or South Korea.
De Luna, making his debut in the event, said, “There is a lot of pressure in this tournament and it is the first time I have played World Cup of Pool. We have a lot of support in the Philippines, though.”
In the final match of the session the relaxed Taiwanese pairing of Cheng Yu-hsuan and Chang Jung-lin took Albania to the cleaners with a 7-1 victory.
Eklent Kaci and Edmond Zaja were both making their live TV debut under the lights and struggled to get to grips whilst their experienced opponents were clinical at all times.
Play continues on Wednesday evening with three more first round matches.
Greece (14) v Hong Kong
England (13) v South Korea
USA (6) v Singapore
2018 World Cup of Pool sponsored by Iwan Simonis who supply the Official Cloth; the Official Balls are Super Aramith by Saluc, and Predator is the Official Cue of the event.
After a match against Denis Grabe (EST) which was dominated by him most of the time, Alexander Kazakis (GRE) won the Dynamic Billard Sankt Johann im Pongau Open 2018 with a clear 9:5 result in the final match.
Kazakis’ way into the final was not an easy one in this tournament. Already in winner’s round two he lost 6:9 to Edmond Zaja (ALB). He had a long way in fron of him on the loser’s side. In the loser’s qualification round, he was already 4:8 down to Mieszko Fortunski (POL) when he fought back and stayed alive in the tournament with 9:8. Maybe that match kind of woke him up since the results from then on were much clearer. 9:4 over Oliver Szolnoki (HUN), 9:1 over Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS), 9:2 over Abdullah Alshammari (KSA) and finally 9:5 over Eklent Kaci (ALB) the winner of the last Euro-Tour event in Treviso. The final match with Grabe was close until the score was 5:4 for Kazakis after 9 racks. Then both players went for a time-out. Kazakis came back a lot fresher and had better layouts after his break shot than Grabe did. Furthermore, Grabe played some poor safety shots which Kazakis turned into points for his account. His consistent break shot and his structured performance brought Kazakis the advantage he needed to get on the hill with 8:4. In rack 13, Grabe pocketed a 2-9 combination shot and turned the scoreboard to 8:5 with Kazakis’ break shot coming up next. The likeable Greek fired his break shot and pocketed the 1-ball, 5-ball and 6-ball, having a nice and easy layout in front of him. He did not commit any mistake anymore and consequently ran the table, winning the match and the tournament with 9:5. „I’m playing the Euro-Tour for four or five years now“, stated Kazakis after the award ceremony, „I lost the final twice and once I finished third. those were my best results so far. This time I won it, so of course I am very happy“. „When I started the tournament I was not feeling comfortable at the table. I had hard times making the balls“, Kazakis added, „for whatever reason I don’t know. I have prepared well for this tournament and practised hard but somehow I was thinking other things so I was not focussed on the table.“ „When I was 4:8 down to Fortunski I thought to myself ‚just play pool now an don’t think too much about other things‘ which I did and it seemed to help me. Of course, I was also lucky in that match. When you are 4:8 down in a match, you need luck if you still want to win it.“ „After that match it seemed as if the holy spirit came inside me. I played much better and felt much more comfortable at the table“.
In the women’s tournament which started today, most favourites won their opening matches. Jasmin Ouschan (AUT), Kristina Tkach (RUS) and Oliwia Czuprynska (POL), all ranked in the top 5 of the European rankings are already in the round of the last 16 players single elimination. However, the #1 ranked player Marharyta Fefilava (BLR) lost her first match against Claudia Von Rohr (SUI) with 5:7. She went to the loser’s side and ousted Denise Steinmetz (GER) 7:1 and Ortenzia Haefliger (SUI) 7:2. Tonight, she will face Tina Vogelmann (GER) for a spot among the top 16 women.
Tomorrow, the EPBF Ballazzo Women Open will continue at 09:00 CET with matches from the last 16 players single elimination.
Every day, two matches from the event will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF for free. All Facebook users may check out the high standard of quality which is provided for all the events and see what the Kozoom members receive all the time. You can see all the matches live via www.kozoom.com who stream the whole event on 20 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page every day. Results and schedules can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.eurotouronline.com visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
In an intense match, "The Terminator" Niels Feijen (NED) took down Tomasz Kaplan (POL) by a hair’s breadth with 9:8.
Kaplan had the far better start in the match. He was always ahead of Feijen and looked like the sure winner for a long time. He was ahead 5:2 and 8:3 and it seemed to be just a matter of time before Feijen would be ousted from the event. But Feijen is known to be a tough cookie at times. He does not give up before his opponent pockets the final 9-ball on him. In this match, Kaplan had several chances to finish the match in his favour. Probably the best chance and at the same time his last chance was in rack 15 when he was still ahead 8:6. He had pocketed all balls but lined up the 9-ball a bit negligent. He had a thin angle and attempted to cut the 9-ball in the corner pocket. To the shock of Kaplan and the audience, the 9-ball hung in the pocket. Feijen accepted the gift and ran the next rack with his own break shot to get on the hill himself, tying the match at 8:8. Kaplan executed the break shot in the deciding rack #17, but no ball was pocketed and he left a shot for Feijen. Feijen ran the rack and won the match after a tremendous comeback. „The Terminator“ achieved the mission impossible to turn the match around after having trailed 3:8 and took down Kaplan with 9:8 in order to advance to the round of the last 16 players.
In a loser’s qualification match, former World Champion Oliver Ortmann (GER) met Karol Skowerski (POL). The match was quite open with Ortmann having the better start. However, Skowerski took his time-out and closed in on Ortmann. He even overtook the German and took a 7:5 lead over him. Ortmann then took his time-out and got back to 7:7. At that stage, Skowerski ran another rack which brought him on the hill with 8:7. The 16th rack was shaped by errors from both players. Ortmann had the chance to make the rack and tie the match at 8:8. But he missed the 3-ball. Then, Skowerski ran out of position. Ortmann got back to the table and missed another makable shot. Skowerski in turn ran out of position, again, but fired the 5-ball and the 7-ball over one rail into the center of the pocket. He then ran the remaining balls and took the match with 9:7 over Ortmann. This kept Skowerski alive in the event while Ortmann was sent on his way home.
Other remarkable results include the match in the loser’s qualification round between local hero Albin Ouschan (AUT) and dark horse Edmond Zaja (ALB). It was clear before the match that this would be a fierce fight for both of them. Though Ouschan has much more trophies to show, Zaja was hungry and that says it all about the expectations for that match. The demand of the audience was completely fulfilled since both of them played extraordinary high class pool. Zaja stunned everyone and raced to the hill with an 8:6 advantage over Ouschan. After 16 racks, the showdown was there with both players on the hill at 8:8. Zaja had the break shot. The 3-ball went in and he had a nice and comfortable layout in front of him. But he still needed to pocket eight balls to win this battle. He seemed to be completely relaxed and played all balls at a decent speed, demonstrating a huge portion of confidence to whoever watched him play. Consequently, he pocketed all balls and ran the rack to take the huge surprise victory over Albin Ouschan with 9:8. With this victory, Zaja made his way into the last 32 players of the Dynamic Billard Sankt Johann im Pongau Open 2018. Ouschan however needed another victory in the loser’s qualification round where he faced Sergey Lutsker (RUS). The young Russian gave Ouschan a hard time and in the end won the battle with 9:8 after an energetic match to eliminate Ouschan completely from the tournament.
Tomorrow, the event will continue at 10:00 CET with matches from the last 16 players single elimination. At 09:00, the EPBF Ballazzo Open for women will commence.
Every day, two matches from the event will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF for free. All Facebook users may check out the high standard of quality which is provided for all the events and see what the Kozoom members receive all the time. You can see all the matches live via www.kozoom.com who stream the whole event on 20 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page every day. Results and schedules can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.eurotouronline.com visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Left to right: Alexander Kazakis, Edmond Zaja and Joshua Filler
In winner’s round 2 of the Dynamic Billard Sankt Johann im Pongau Open 2018 Euro-Tour, underdog player Edmond Zaja (ALB) took down favoured Alexander Kazakis (GRE) with 9:6.
The late match between Zaja and Kazakis started just before midnight. Due to the large amount of participants, this late round was necessary. In the beginning, Kazakis was in complete control of the match. But Zaja stood tall and gave Kazakis a hard time. After six racks, the scoreboard displayed 3:3. In rack 7, Zaja even got in control of the match and got a 4:3 advantage over favoured Kazakis. From that time onwards, the match emerged into a close combat between the two contestants. They both took their racks in turns and kept the score tight. It was Edmond Zaja who managed to break that rhythm when he won the 14th rack in order to get an 8:6 lead over Kazakis, being on the hill. He had his own break shot coming up. The break was good and he sailed smoothly through the rack, winning the match with 9:6 over Kazakis.
Earlier today, Joshua Filler (GER) stormed over Daryl Peach (GBR) with 9:1. Filler played very fast but also had several mistakes. However, Peach did not benefit from them at all. Instead, he played very negligent and it looked like he did not want to win that match at all. Maybe Filler’s performance had destroyed him in the early stage of the match already. When Filler committed some positional errors in the first racks, he still cleared the rack using rails and jump shots in order to finish the table to his liking. That was too much for Peach. Trailing 1:8, he even missed an easy 9-ball which was lying close to the corner pocket.
If a trophy for the best sportsmanship would be awarded at the Euro-Tour, today Jan Kjetil Nordrum (NOR) would definitely have achieved it. In his winner’s round 1 match against Friedrich Rassi (AUT) the score was 8:8 when Rassi was at the table after the break shot. The table was completely open. Rassi was aiming at the 2-ball, ready to fire it in. In that moment, Nordrum informed him before the shot that the 1-ball was still on the table. Rassi thanked him and ran the table so that Nordrum lost that match with 8:9. However, he has won a lot of respect from everybody who could witness that action of true sportsmanship.
Tomorrow, the event will continue at 09:00 CET with matches from winner’s round 2.
Every day, two matches from the event will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF for free. All Facebook users may check out the high standard of quality which is provided for all the events and see what the Kozoom members receive all the time. You can see all the matches live via www.kozoom.com who stream the whole event on 20 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page every day. Results and schedules can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.eurotouronline.com visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
