Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) secured her first victory in 2020 by winning the final match 7:1 over Aleksandra Guleikova (RUS).
The whole tournament was a demonstration of Ouschan’s superiority. She defeated all opponents with very clear results. Her first victim was Hannan Memic (BIH) who got beat 7:2. Then, Vania Franco (POR) received a 7:2 lesson from Ouschan in the winner’s qualification round. Yini Gaspar (SUI) and Kristina Zlateva (BUL) were next on the list. they both managed to win 4 racks before Ouschan closed the book on them. In the semi-final. Ouschan met Franco for the second time. This time, the Portuguese only got one rack from Ouschan to leave the event with 7:1, coming in third place. Franco had played a good event so far, defeating high class players like Oliwia Zalewska (POL) and Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR). But Ouschan was in her own class. She went into the final match, having won all these matches with more than clear results. Her opponent, Aleksandra Guleikova, was not necessarily expected to be in the final match. But her decent performance throughout the tournament paid off and she has rightfully booked her seat in the final match against Ouschan. However, the final turned into a nightmare for Guleikova. The only player who was seen at the table was Ouschan. After 8 racks, the Austrian closed the book on the final match with an impressive 7:1 victory over Guleikova.
"I used this tournament as a preparation for my next events", Ouschan stated after the final match. "I was in the middle of preparations and this success shows me that I’m on a good way. My upcoming events are men’s tournaments. I will play Matchroom’s World Pool Masters and then I’ll go to Las Vegas for more tournaments", Ouschan added.
This victory puts Ouschan on top of the Women’ Euro-Tour rankings.
That concludes the coverage of the Predator Treviso Open 2020.
The Predator Treviso Open 2020 were played in the Best Western Premier BHR Treviso Hotel in Treviso, Italy, on up to 21 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 was 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.epbf.com or visit us on Facebook for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Oliwia Zalewska (POL) wins the Predator Antalya Open 2019 with a fortunate victory over Tina Vogelmann (GER) in the final match.
Zalewska, before she married known as Czuprynska, took her second Euro-Tour title in a row since her marriage in October this year. After her impressive performance in Klagenfurt, she was back to Antalya so she could take her good from up and see who would be able to stop her here. In fact, she lost her first match against Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR) with 4:7. Being sent to the loser’s side, she defeated Elise Qiu (NED) 7:2 and Yvonne Ullmann-Hybler (GER) 7:3 to get back to the single elimination stage. There, Zalewska took revenge of Kateryna Polovinchuk and won 7:5 to oust her Ukrainian opponent. The next victim was Melanie Suessenguth (GER) who fell 7:4 to Zalewska. In the semi-final, Zalewska eliminated favoured Kristina Tkach (RUS) with 7:5. That booked her a seat in the final match where she met Tina Vogelmann. The German was playing her first final match and also showed some strong performance here in Antalya. Among others, she overcame Tamara Peeters (NED) 7:6, Marharyta Fefilava (BLR) 7:4 and Christine Steinlage (GER) 7:3. The odds in the final match were clearly in favour of Zalewska. But Vogelmann clung to her chance. In the early stage of the match, Vogelmann even took a lead over Zalewska. After six racks, Vogelmann was 4:2 up. Then Zalewska took three racks in a row to take a 5:4 lead herself. It came to 6:6 with rack #13 having to be the decider. Here, Vogelmann opened the rack and had no ball pocketed. Zalewska played a push-out which was answered by Vogelmann with a nice safety shot. Zalewska had no straight shot on the 1-ball. She went rail first and fortunately made the 1-ball in the side pocket of the opposite rail. Then, Zalewska attempted to pocket the 2-ball in the other side pocket but also missed it. However, the 2-ball went into the corner pocket, leaving an open layout for Zalewska. The Polish ran the table and won the match with the help of lady luck with 7:6 over unlucky Tina Vogelmann.
This concludes the coverage from the Predator Antalya Open 2019.
The Predator Antalya Open were played in the Limak Atlantis Resort in Belek, Turkey, on up to 20 tables which were 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 was 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.womeneurotouronline.com or visit us on Facebook for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Kateryna Polovinchuk, Ana Gradisnik and Kristina Tkach
The four top seeded athletes at the Predator Antalya Open 2019 presented themselves today in top form.
Kristina Tkach (RUS), the #1 seeded player has shown no mercy with her opponents today so far. First, she overpowered Aleksandra Guleikova (RUS) 7:1, then she defeated Sinem Kokten (TUR) 7:3. None of her opponents had a realistic chance during their respective matches. Tkach has booked her seat in the single elimination stage of the last 16 player which will be played tomorrow morning at 10:00 local time.
Tkach is joined by #2 seed Marharyta Fefilava (BLR). The Belarussian stormed off today to a 7:0 victory over Lynn Pijpers (NED) and 7:2 over birthday girl Yvonne Ullmann-Hybler (GER). Ana Gradisnik (SLO) and Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR) were the next two seeded players who also took clear victories today. A remarkable fact is that out of the eight players who made it to the single elimination over the winner’s round, four are from Germany. Pia Filler, Melanie Suessenguth, Tina Vogelmann and Diana Stateczny (all GER) complete the list of the contestants who booked their seat in the round of the last 16 over the winner’s side.
The Predator Antalya Open 2019 will continue tomorrow morning at 10:00 local time.
Every day, up to two matches will be streamed LIVE over the EPBF Facebook page and on the EPBF YouTube channel. Check for updates and announcements.
The Predator Antalya Open are played in the Limak Atlantis Resort in Belek, Turkey, on up to 20 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.womeneurotouronline.com or visit us on Facebook for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Left to right: K. Polovinchuk, V. Trushevskaia and J. Ouschan
In the Predator Veldhoven Open 2019, Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR) defeated Valeriia Trushevskaia (RUS) in the winner’s qualification round 7-1.
Based upon Trushevskaia’s recent performance, the match was actually expected to be a close affair between the two players. Polovinchuk is a very experienced player with a long history on the women’s tour whereas Trushevskaia is just starting her career, having won the 10-ball title in last week’s Youth European Championships. So the match was experience vs hunger. But Trushevskaia could not live up to her performance in that match. She missed too many shots whereas Polovinchuk played as rock solid as she usually does. Towards the end of the match, Trushevskaia was obviously frustrated with her game and even missed an easy 9-ball at 6-1 down. Polovinchuk ended the match and has booked her seat in the single elimination round of the last 16 players.
The Predator Veldhoven Open 2019 will continue tomorrow at 09:30 CET with matches from the loser’s qualification round.
Every day, up to two matches will be streamed LIVE over the EPBF Facebook page. Check for updates and announcements.
The Predator Veldhoven Open are played in the NH Conference Centre Koningshof in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, on up to 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.womeneurotouronline.com or visit us on Facebook for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Today the European Championship 8-ball competition was in full swing. Men, Women, Under 23 and Wheelchair athletes demonstrated their shotmaking and tactical skills on the battlefield of slate.
In the men’s division, defending Champion Bahram Lotfy (DEN) unexpectedly lost his opening match to Sebastian Staab (GER) 7:8. That brought him to the loser’s side straight away where he needed to win in order to get his ticket for the single elimination of the last 64 players. Lotfy encountered Marios Artemiou (CYP) and it did not take much off him to win this match with 8:1. Then in the single elimination, Lotfy was drawn against Konstantin Stepanov (RUS). That match started out quite even but Lotfy capitalised from his break shot while Stepanov was struggling to make a ball when it was his turn to open the rack. In the end, Lotfy remained victorious with 8:3 and will now face Karol Skowerski (POL) tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET in the next round. Other exciting matches in that round will be the clash between Eklent Kaci (ALB) and Thorsten Hohmann (GER) and the match with Mieszko Fortunski (POL) and Fedor Gorst (RUS), just to name a few.
In the women’s 8-ball, Vania Franco (POR) showed some attractive performance in order to make it to the single elimination stage. After having lost her first match 2:6 to Ewa Bak (POL), Franco went over to the loser’s side where she met Louise Furberg (SWE). The experienced player from Sweden had no chance against Franco who prevailed with 6:2. Then, Franco advanced and took down Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR) in a thrilling combat with 6:5. Right after that match, the Portuguese had to deal with yesterday’s surprise winner, Christine Feldmann (SUI). That match really took an unexpected turn since it was Franco to dominated the match from start to finish. Feldmann did not have the slightest chance and Franco demolished her with 6:1 in the end. In the single elimination stage of the last 16 players, Vania Franco will encounter Eylul Kibaroglu (TUR).
In the under 23 division, defending Champion Casper Matikainen (FIN) is straight on track. After having won a silver medal in the men’s 10-ball last night against Mieszko Fortunski (POL), Matikainen had his first matches in the Under 23’s division. He wasted no time and defeated Josef Nechvile (CZE) 8:1 and Daniel Lang (SVK) 8:4 to book his seat in the quarter-finals already. He will be joined there by Vitaliy Patsura (UKR), Pijus Labutis (LTU) and Jan Van Lierop (NED) who are also through to the single elimination over the winner’s side. The quarter-finals in 8-ball will be played tomorrow afternoon at 16:00 CET.
In the wheelchair division, the biggest of all upsets possible did happen. Unheralded David Himpe (BEL) handed a whitewash to defending Champion Jouni Tahti (FIN), defeating the Finish with 5:0. In the next round, Himpe had to give in 4:5 to another underdog, Leszek Blumczynski (POL) with 4:5. Tahti needs to overcome Kurt Deklerck (BEL) for his spot in the quarter-finals tomorrow.
The Dynamic Billard European Championships 2019 for men, women, U23 and wheelchair athletes will commence tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches in the 8-ball individuals competition Men and Women.
The Championships are 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.
Jasmin Ouschan, winner of the EPBF Klagenfurt Open 2018
Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) just won her 16th Euro-Tour tournament title in her hometown, Klagenfurt in Austria. She defeated Ana Gradisnik (SLO) 7:4 in the final match of the EPBF Klagenfurt Open.
Once again, Jasmin Ouschan dominated the field at a women’s Euro-Tour tournament. It is always special for her to perform in her hometown in front of her home crowd. But nonetheless, she demonstrated pool in high class quality. She smashed all of her opponents on her way into the final with the exception of Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR) who took Ouschan to the limit. Polovinchuk demanded everything from Ouschan and got to hill-hill when Ouschan kept her nerves together and took the match against Polovinchuk. Ana Gradisnik on the other hand had some tough struggles to survive on her way into the final match. Like Ouschan, Gradisnik was undefeated but with Sandra Baumgartner (AUT) and Kristina Tkach (RUS) she had to deal with two extreme powerful opponents. However, today she took care of them and made it into the final match against favoured Ouschan.
The final match started as expected. Ouschan gained the upper hand in the early stage of the match and Gradisnik did not have too much to oppose to her stable and solid performance. After six racks, Ouschan had a comfortable 5:1 lead over Gradisnik. But then the Slovenian started a little comeback. Ouschan could not finish the match and Gradisnik made use of the opportunities that she was given. After ten racks, the scoreboard displayed 6:4 in favour of Ouschan and the heat was on for the local player. But Ouschan is so experienced that she knows how to handle heat and pressure. She played her style and took rack #11 to win her hometown tournament, the EPBF Klagenfurt Open 2018 with 7:4 over a tough opponent Ana Gradisnik.
„I did not have the best start into the match“, stated Ouschan after the match, „but I stayed calm and got back into the match by finding my rhythm and staying cool“. „There was a stage in the match when I kind of lost my focus,“ Ouschan admitted, „since I had a long day and I am very happy that I was able to overcome that stage and get back into gear to be able to take this title and keep it here in Klagenfurt.“
That concludes the coverage of the Dynamic Billard Klagenfurt Open 2018. Tomorrow, the EPBF Klagenfurt Open 2018 for Women will continue at 10:00 with matches from the last 16 players single elimination.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organised by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). Play starts Thursday at 09:30 local time, for further information and reference please go to the federation website eurotouronline under the Eurotour tab. You can also visit us on our Facebook page or check out the EPBF YouTube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
The team competition at the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 have been decided. Team Germany once again dominated the day and took 4 out of 7 Gold Medals.
Probably the most prestigious division was won by team Poland today. The Polish team was up in the final match against the „hometown heroes“, the Dutch team. The match was action-packed and filled with excitement and pressure. The first point went into the account of The Dutch team when Ivar Saris took the 8-ball match with 8:4 against Konrad Juszczyszyn. Some time later, Tomasz Kaplan was able to tie the match for the Polish team, winning the 10-ball match with 8:6 over Marc Bijsterbosch. The tension rose and the atmosphere was great. Karol Skowerski had to deal with „The Terminator“ Niels Feijen in 9-ball. That match was almost over when Feijen missed a shot, trailing 7:8 to Skowerski. But the Polish also showed some nerves and missed one of the four remaining balls, letting Feijen back to the table. „The Terminator“ went for it and cleared the table, levelling the match at hill-hill 8:8. The crowd went crazy and supported Feijen big time. One could hear a pin drop when Skowerski broke the rack in the deciding 17th rack. The 1-ball went in the side pocket but the 3-point-rule was violated so Feijen came to the table. He did not have a shot at the 2-ball so he passed the table back to Skowerski. The 2-ball was lying in the area of the corner pocket with the 6-ball blocking its way in. Skowerski played a push-out so that the 2-ball way playable but it did not have a pocket to go in. Feijen passed the shot back and Skowerski’s moment of glory was there. He took careful aim and fired the 2-ball into the 6-ball which was pocketed. From then on, the table had no more problems and Skowerski cleared it in order to win the 9-ball over Feijen with 9:8 and take the title with a 2:1 team result over team The Netherlands. „We are all playing at an equal level“, stated Skowerski after the final match, „we win together and lose together. We eliminated some really strong opponents and are now back on top with the team after 2015.“ „Hopefully, this victory will give a big boost for the game in our country“, Konrad Juszczyszyn added.
Top 4 Men
1. Poland
2. The Netherlands
3. Croatia
Estonia
In the women’ team competition, the final match between Portugal and the Ukraine was pretty surprising since the „usual suspects“ got eliminated in earlier rounds. Team Russia who played the final match in the previous four years and won it twice got ousted by the Ukraine in the semi-finals this year. However, the final match went to the liking of team Portugal. Sara Rocha quite quickly took the 9-ball with 7:4 over Kateryna Polovinchuk. Also Vania Franco did not have many problems with Viktoria Nagorna, winning the 8-ball clearly with 6:2.
Top 4 Women
1. Portugal
2. Ukraine
3. Russia
The Netherlands
The senior’s division was taken by team Germany, defeating the team from Portugal 2:1. Like in the men’s division, the first point went quite promptly into the account of the losing team. Henrique Correia who is known to play as fast as a whirlwind took the 10-ball over Germany’s #1 senior player Reiner Wirsbitzki with 7:3 after 1 1/2 hours. Around that time, Mario Maerz was 5:5 with Sergio Silva in 8-ball and Dirk Stenten was 6:6 with Manuel Pereira in 9-ball. The match was totally open with all odds in favour of the Portuguese team. But Germany managed to turn the tide in that match. Almost at the same time, Stenten and Maerz finished their respective matches, having not given away any more racks to their opponents from the moment mentioned. Maerz won in 8-ball 7:5 while Stenten took the 9-ball 8:6.
Top 4 Seniors
1. Germany
2. Portugal
3. The Netherlands
Finland
The next Gold Medal of the day was collected for the German team by the Under 19’s team in their match against Russia. Christian Foehlich and Alen Salic took their matches pretty clearly. Foehlich won the 10-ball over Egor Trifonov 7:1 while Salic defeated Ilia Nekleenov in 9-ball 8:5. Only Luca Menn was outplayed by Dmitrii Shkodov in 8-ball with 5:7.
Top 4 U19
1. Germany
2. Russia
3. Denmark
Sweden
Also in the Under 17’s division, Germany was victorious today. Having lost the winner’s qualification round to team Norway with 0:2, the Germans won the loser’s qualification round with 2:0 over Bulgaria and then ended the Finish hopes for the title with 2:1 in the semi-final. In the final match, Germany met team Poland. For many years, Poland has strong athletes in the youth. Just like this year. But Germany also seemed to have invested in their youngsters. Jacques Wollschlaeger won his 8-ball with 6:2 over Dominik Jastrzab while Dennis Laszkowski won the 9-ball 7:5 over Szymon Kural. That turned the scoreboard already to 2:0 for Germany. At that time, the 10-ball was aborted with Oskar Jamorski leading 5:3 over Moritz Neuhausen in a race to 6.
Top 4 U17
1. Germany
2. Poland
3. Finland
Norway
In the girls’ division, the final match was played between team Russia and The Netherlands. Valeriia Trushewskaia won the 9-ball very fast with 6:1 over Megan Rademakers. Lynn Pijpers was trailing 2:3 to Viktoriia Gurova at that time. But Pijpers wanted that title. She hung in there and pulled track after rack from Gurova, eventually winning the 8-ball with 5:3. The match had to be decided by a shoot-out. Both teams showed that the pressure was on. Only one athlete stood out: Valeriia Trushewskaia. She pocketed all of her attempts in the shoot-out and brought the victory and the title in the girl’s division to Russia.
Top 4 Girls
1. Russia
2. The Netherlands
3. Belarus
Norway
In the ladies’ division, once again Germany was the winner defeating Sweden in the final match. Annika Nilsson overcame Karin Michl surprisingly clear with 6:2 in 9-ball. Nilsson’s teammate Ann-Sofie Loefgren was all square with Susanne Wessel in 8-ball at 2:2. Then, Wessel took the steering wheel in the match and managed to outplay her opponent with 5:3 in the end. The final match had to be decided in the shoot-out. Here, the Germans were better and won with 3:1, taking the title in the ladies’ division.
Top 4 Ladies
1. Germany
2. Sweden
3. Italy
Switzerland
Medal table after 4 of 5 events
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Having won 4 Gold Medals today only, team Germany is probably already the winner of the medal table of this 40th anniversary European Championships of the EPBF.
The Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 will commence tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with loser’s round matches in the 9-ball individuals.
The Jubilee Championships are played on 60 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.
It is really hard to speak of „surprises“ or „upsets“ in this stage of the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships since there are so many top names in the event where everybody could beat everybody. Except one exception in the men’s division which will be described in the following. However, Mieszko Fortunski’s (POL) victory with 8:7 over BCA Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet (GER) is definitely worth mentioning. Two rounds later, Joshua Filler (GER) took revenge on Fortunski for his friend Souquet and eliminated the Polish with 8:3. Filler’s opponent in the quarter-final will be Tomasz Kaplan (POL) who might be up in turn to take revenge on him now. Kaplan eliminated Francisco Diaz-Pizarro (ESP) in an epic thriller with 8:7 earlier. Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) managed to break the run of defending Champion Marc Bijsterbosch (NED). He overpowered him with 8:5 and will now face his teammate Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) in the next round. Albin Ouschan (AUT) is up against total surprise player Iker-Andoni Echeverria (ESP) in the quarter-final. The Spaniard shocked the hometown audience and ousted their local hero Niels Feijen (NED) 8:6. That was probably „the“ surprise of the day today! Feijen was already 6:4 up in the match and everybody expected the Dutch to make it through the match relatively easy. But Echeverria was a tough piece of work for „The Terminator“. Too tough, as it was to turn out. Echeverria took the next four consecutive racks from Feijen and rode the winning wave with 8:6 over the Dutch #1 player.
In the youth division, matches went mostly as expected. The Under 19’s are once more dominated by Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH), Wiktor Zielinski (POL), Mustafa Alnar (TNC) and Jan Van Lierop (NED). Though they are still so young, they all have a tremendous amount of experience and use it to get the needed advantage over their opponents. Jonas Souto (ESP) might be a contender to keep an eye on in that division. Among the Under 17’s, Ivan Galic (CRO) is still left in the field while his younger brother Luka was ousted by Arseniy Kovalerchik (RUS) 6:3. Together with Ivan Galic, Quinten Pongers (NED), Christoffer Lentz (DEN) and Moritz Neuhausen (GER) are the athletes „on fire“ in that division. In the girls’ competition, Darya Siranchuk (UKR) was the #1 seeded player but received two whippings back to back. On the winner’s side, she fell to Daria Cheprasova (BLR) with 3:5. Then, she straight away lost to Viktoria Gurova (RUS) 1:5 even. Out of eight remains athletes, two come from Belarus and two from Russia. This division is definitely dominated by the Eastern members these days.
In the women’s division, the #1 seeded player got eliminated today. Ana Gradisnik (SLO) was clearly ousted by Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) 3:6 in the round of the last 16 players. In the same round, the two „big ones“ in the women’s field also had to struggle to overcome their opponents. Kristina Tkach (RUS) was already down 0:3 against Pia Filler (GER), when Filler started losing her game. She made errors in positioning as well as pocketing the balls which Tkach capitalised from in her usual effective way. those mistakes made Tkach grew stronger and she turned the match around completely, throwing Filler out of the 10-ball event with 6:3 in the end. Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) also was trailing big time against Eylul Kibaroglu (TUR) with 2:4 in a race to 6. But also Kibaroglu started to feel the heat in the match against the favoured Austrian and showed some weaknesses towards the end of the match. She ran out of position in rack 7 which she should have won easily but completely ran out of position for the 7-ball so Ouschan could make the point. Ouschan’s experience definitely helped her a lot to turn the tide in that match. She did not allow Kibaroglu to the table too many times anymore and grabbed all remaining racks for her to win this encounter with 6:4 and advance to the quarter-finals where seh will have to deal with Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR).
The seniors and ladies are also down to the quarter-finals by now. Sandor Tot (HUN) ended Reiner Wirsbitzki’s (GER) hopes for another title in 10-ball by smashing him 7:1 in the round before. Together with Henrique Correia (POR), Tot is the hottest challenger for the title now. Ine Helvik (NOR), defending Champion in the Ladies’ division, did her work so far and will face Ann-Sofie Lofgren (SWE) in the quarter-final round. Amazingly, Helvik as the treasurer of the EPBF has to work all through the day but still seems to find the time and the energy to perform on the highest level of the game and be a tough piece of work for her opponents.
In the wheelchair division, only four matches in the loser’s qualification round took place today. Probably the biggest surprise was Tony Southern (GBR) ousting multi-time Champion Henrik Larsson (SWE) with 5:3. Defending Champion Kurt Deklerck (BEL) just made it to the quarter-finals over the loser’s side with a close 5:4 victory over Kim-Ronny Nygaard (NOR).
The last round of the day was a team competition round. The first team matches were completed. The team competition always creates a special atmosphere among the audience. It seems that routing for countries and national teams is more uniting the different groups of supporters here in the NH Conference Centre Koningshof in Veldhoven, The Netherlands. All results can be found on the event website at www.europeanpoolchampionships.eu
The Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 will commence tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches in the team competition. The 10-ball finals are scheduled for 16:00 CET.
The Jubilee Championships are played on 60 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.
In a remarkable match in the men’s division, Mario He (AUT) managed to outplay the defending Champion Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) and sneaked past him with an 8:7 victory. After 6 racks in the match, Bijsterbosch was on track and had a 4:2 lead over Mario He. He was half way there already. But Mario He is known to be a really dangerous player when it comes to comebacks since he never surrenders. Just like today. The Austrian levelled the match at 4:4 and from then on it was both players scoring points in turn. This led to an inevitable 7:7 hill-hill situation with Mario having the break shot. The pressure was on for He, being up against the defending Champion. Mario he broke and the 8-ball went in the pocket. He had a nice layout in front of him with a clear shot on the 1-ball but the 2-ball was very close to the 4-ball. Mario He pocketed the 1-ball but overran the position. He now had a really thin cut on the 2-ball in front of him. Having in mind the pressure that must have been on him, the difficulty of the shot could not have been higher. However, Mario He mastered the situation and pocketed the 2-ball, having all of his problems solved from now on. The rest of the layout was smooth sailing for the Austrian. Mario cleared the table and took the match with the closest of all results, 8:7 against a disappointed Marc Bijsterbosch who will get another chance on the loser’s side while Mario he is already qualified for the single elimination round of the final 64 players in men’s 10-ball.
The 10-ball competition in both youth divisions, U17 and U19 had one thing in common: almost no seeded players were attending the event. This had to do with the fact that 7 out of 8 players reached the time limit in their respective division. The only seeded player was Ivan Galic (CRO) in the U17 division. He became 3rd last year and therefore was seeded #1 this year. Galic had a walk-over in the first round and then outplayed Arseniy Kovalerchik (RUS) 6:3 to make it to the round of the last 32 athletes. Galic’s younger brother Luka joined him there with victories over Mehmet Ozbay (TNC) 6:5 and Ihor Lialin (UKR) 6:2. The earliest possibility for the to see each other would be the final match though. It’s noticeable this year that not only „the usual suspects“ with regards to nations make their way in the tournament. The single elimination is composed of players from many different nations which is a proof that the level of play in the „weaker“ nations has grown throughout the last years.
Same goes for the senior’s division. Athletes from 13 different nations are among the 16 players who have already qualified over the winner’s bracket into the round of the final 32 players. Also here the bandwidth of nations represented has increased compared to previous year which can be regarded as a very positive development for the sport of pool billiards. Last year’s winner as well as one bronze medallist are not playing this year. The other two medallists from last year Reiner Wirsbitzki (GER) and Murat Ayas (SUI) have reached the round of the final 32 players.
In the women’s 10-ball division, the two names that normally dominate European pool events are Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) and Kristina Tkach (RUS). However, last year was not their 10-ball year and they were both not among the medallists. Therefore, they were not seeded this year. Defending Champion Amalia Matas (ESP) is not present, so Ana Gradisnik (SLO) was seeded #1. She and some other names are definitely worth keeping an eye on in this year’s 10-ball competition as well. In this group belong Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR), Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) and Marharyta Fefilava (BLR). All those athletes are still on the winner’s side except Fefilava who lost 1:6 to Polovinchuk.
The wheelchair athletes have also entered the stage today and started their first discipline, the 10-ball game. 19 athletes have enlisted into the competition. Defending Champion Kurt Deklerck (BEL) received a pretty tough debacle in his first match, losing to fellow countryman David Himpe (BEL) 2:5 in the winner’s qualification round. Deklerck will go on the loser’s side and meet Kim Ronny Nygaard (NOR) for another shot at making it into the round of the last 8 athletes.
The Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 will commence tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches in the 10-ball individuals competition girls, seniors, U17 and U19.
The Jubilee Championships are played on 60 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.
Austrian superstar Jasmin Ouschan just won the EPBF Ballazzo Women Open in Sankt Johann im Pongau, Austria, with an impressive 7:2 victory over #1 ranked player Marharyta Fefilava (BLR).
The day did not start off too well for Ouschan. In her first match against Christine Steinlage (GER), she committed several easy errors and won the match just because Steinlage also played not her A-game. Probably Ouschan know that she had to improve drastically. 7:5 was the final score which brought Ouschan into the round of the last eight players where she had to deal with Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR). The Ukrainian had performed quite well so far and against her, Ouschan played way better than in the match before. With 7:4 she advanced into the semi-final against Kristina Tkach (RUS) who is one of the few women in Europe that are really a huge challenge for Ouschan. However, Ouschan improved once again and Tkach suffered from her pretty bad break shot. 7:2 was the clear sore that Ouschan needed to get into the final match. There she met the current #1 ranked player in Europe, young Marharyta Fefilava (BLR). As often, Ouschan was again very dominant in the final match. She gave Fefilava no real chance. The young lady from Belarus committed a few errors when attempting to pocket a ball which was brutally punished every time by Ouschan. In the end, Ouschan stood tall and won the final match which was Live on Austrian TV with 7:3. That was Ouschan’s 21st appearance in a women’s Euro-Tour event out of which she won 14. That is an impressive quota.
When asked, what her secret was, Ouschan answered: „I wish I knew. Just like all the other women, I practice very hard and I am very thankful to be in that position“. „I’ve done a lot for this victory but I also know that I needed a lot of luck to win in the end.“ „I would like to congratulate Marharyta for her second place. I have played her a couple of times now and it is simply amazing how much better she got in the past years.“ „So many young players are coming and playing really good pool now. It is really great to see this development in our sport.“
That concludes the coverage from Sankt Johann im Pongau, Austria. The next event will be the European Championships in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, July 19th through 31st.
The event was 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.
