Pia Filler of Germany won her maiden gold medal at the Dynamic Billard European Championships as she triumphed in the 8-Ball division, over-turning local hope Ana Gradisnik in Lasko, Slovenia. Having won silver in the Straight Pool earlier in the week, Filler cemented her rapid ascent to the top level of ladies’ European pool and she can now look forward to the 9-ball division with renewed confidence and a realistic hope of another gold.
It was disappointment for Gradisnik who was looking to give her host country their first gold medal of the Championships but she will have to regroup for the final division of 9-ball. Bronze medals went to perennial podium finisher Line Kjorsvik (Norway) and 10-Ball gold medallist Eyllul Kibaroglu of Turkey.
Filler said post-match, “I’m absolutely over the moon right now! I’ve been working so hard over these past two years with my husband and coach Joshua, and our common coach Gunter Geisen. All that work paid off and I’m just enjoying the moment right now.”
“It was tough to really find time to prepare for the Europeans as Joshua was playing a lot of world ranking events but I think we made the best out of it and we always try and prepare for whatever is up next. We don’t always have that much time but it obviously worked out!” she added.
WOMEN’S
Final
Pia Filler (GER) 6 – 3 Ana Gradisnik (SLO)
Semi Finals
Pia Filler (GER) 6 – 1 Eyllul Kibaroglu (TUR)
Ana Gradisnik (SLO) 6 – 5 Line Kjorsvik (NOR)
Henrik Larsson
WHEELCHAIR
In the wheelchair division, it was that man again, as Sweden’s Henrik Larsson added to his overall medal tally with another gold in the 8-Ball division, his 12th gold on his European Championship journey. With just the 9-Ball division to play out, the multi-titled Swede has a great opportunity to top his long-time rival Jouni Tahti as the two of them continue to dominate the gold medal positions at successive Dynamic Billard European Championships.
Larsson had too much in the championship match as he defeated Ireland’s Fred Dinsmore, himself no stranger to gold medals, by 5-2.
He said afterwards, “I’m really happy about this final and happy to have a full field. We have 22 players and we have absolutely the strongest players here, and that makes it worthwhile. The standard and the level in wheelchair have been rising and rising, and in this event Jouni got knocked out in the quarter finals by Matej Brajkovic who is a phenomenal player so I think it’s just a matter of time before you finally get rid of us! 9-Ball is my favourite game; a lot of cue action, so I’m really looking forward to that and we’ll see what happens.”
Final
Henrik Larsson (SWE) 5 – 2 Fred Dinsmore (IRE)
Semi Finals
Henrik Larsson (SWE) 5 – 1 Kurt Deklerck (BEL)
Fred Dinsmore (IRE) 5 – 4 Matej Brajkovic (SLO)
Emil Andre Gangflot
UNDER 23s
With a system in place that continues to produce the best players in the world, the Under 23 events at the Dynamic Billard European Championships are a terrific pointer to tomorrow’s global stars of the game. This week, Emil-Andre Gangflot of Norway made his mark as he took the gold medal in the 8-Ball division, defeating Finland’s Arseny Sevastyanov 8-4 in the decider.
Gangflot, from Fredrikstad, turned 19 just two weeks ago and was playing in his first Under 23 division at the Euros, having tasted success in the juniors. As one of the youngest players in this age category, the win was a testament to his maturity as a player as well as his red-hot prospects for the future.
“I’m really surprised. I didn’t think I could win this one in my first year but I’m really happy. It was a great tournament as usual and I’m obviously delighted. In the whole tournament, I was just trying to stay focused and take one game at a time and one ball at a time and to win this title is amazing. I’m going to just try my best in 9 ball and see what happens,” said Gangflot.
Final
Emil-Andre Gangflot (NOR) 8 – 4 Arseny Sevastyanov (FIN)
The 2022 Dynamic Billards European Championship sees 15 separate events across four disciplines – 8, 9 and 10 ball as well as straight pool – plus the men’s and women’s team competitions. In total there are four divisions; men, women, under 23 men and wheelchair users.
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.
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.
The 8-ball individuals at the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 in NH Conference Centre in Veldhoven, The Netehrlands, have been decided. Germany turned out to be the big winner of the day, taking 3 titles and a total of 10 medals in that one day only. This performance catapults team Germany to the top of the medal table after three of five events.
In the men’s division, Bahram Lotfy (DEN) defeated Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL) 8:2 in the final match. Lotfy seemed to be on fire throughout the whole tournament. His victims on his way to the final match include Alex Lely (NED), Mario He (AUT), Alexander Kazakis (GRE) and in the semi-final Mieszko Fortunski (POL). This impressive list of players got ousted by Lofty who came to Veldhoven pretty unheralded and can be regarded as a real surprise winner. „I have been focussing a lot on my practice over the last year“, stated Lotfy after the final match. „I practice a lot with Niels (Feijen) and I also do mental training as in meditation“, Lotfy added. „I felt really comfortable throughout the whole competition and I’m looking forward to the 9-ball“.
Top 4 Men
1. Lotfy, Bahram DEN
2. Juszczyszyn, Konrad POL
3. Filler, Joshua GER
Fortunski, Mieszko POL
In the women’s division, Veronika Ivanovskaia (GER) took the title in a final match against Tamara Peeters-Rademakers (NED) with 6:3. Ivanovskaia literally played against the whole arena since the audience was packed with Peeters’ friends, Family and supporters. But also the German contingency managed to make some noise during the final match. The match for Gold was decided by Ivanovskaia playing more solid than Peeters. The German was a bit unlucky on her break shot but she did not commit any mistakes during the racks. Peeters missed too many shots and especially positions which in the end cost her the match. „I had a tough match against Tamara“, said Ivanovskaia after the final, „I could really feel the pressure from the audience.“ „My toughest matches in the whole event probably was against Oliwia (Czuprynska). At hill-hill, she pocketed the 8-ball and scratched. I won that match on pure luck. Maybe that gave me extra strength against Jasmin (Ouschan) in the semi-final“. Tamara Peeters-Rademakers stated: „I committed too many mistakes in the final match. I had such a great support from everyone here but Veronika simply played better than me tonight“, admitted Peeters-Rademakers.
Top 4 Women
1. Ivanovskaia, Veronika GER
2. Peeters-Rademakers, Tamara NED
3. Schade, Vivien GER
Ouschan, Jasmin AUT
In the senior’s division, Reiner Wirsbitzki (GER) claimed the title against Sandor Tot (HUN) in the final with 7:1. Two times already this week, Tot has been the final destination for Wirsbitzki. In straight pool in the quarter-final and in 10-ball in the round of the last 16 players, Tot eliminated Wirsbitzki. Today in the final match, Wirsbitzki wanted payback time. And he received his revenge on Tot. Wirsbitzki played extremely solid and thrashed Tot 7:1 in a single-sided final match. Wirsbitzki has been a constant gold medallist in previous years in the senior’s division, but his last title in the individuals is as far back as 2015 when he won the title in straight pool in Sankt Johann im Pongau in Austria.
Top 4 Seniors
1. Wirsbitzki, Reiner GER
2. Tot, Sandor HUN
3. Cerimagic, Dino BIH
Pereira, Manuel POR
In the „oldest“ division of the youth, the Under 23’s, Casper Matikainen (FIN) snatched the title with an 8:2 victory over Johannes Schmitt (GER). Matikainen pretty much dominated the Under 23 division since he eliminated most of the other favourite players one after the other. Kevin Schiller (GER), Vitaliy Patsura (UKR) and Samuel Santos (POR) are the guns Matikainen put to shame during the 8-ball individuals.
Top 4 U23
1. Matikainen, Casper FIN
2. Schmitt, Johannes GER
3. Labutis, Pijus LTU
Santos, Samuel POR
In the Under 19’s, Christian Froehlich (GER) took his first medal on the European level ever, winning the division in the final match with 7:4 over teammate Alen Salic (GER). The two most contended medals in that division both went to the German team today.
Top 4 U19
1. Froehlich, Christian GER
2. Salic, Alen GER
3. Zielinski, Wiktor POL
Souto, Jonas ESP
In the Under 17’s, Ivan Galic (CRO) took the title against Ole-Kristian Rudshavn (NOR) with 6:4. Ivan Galic already took a medal this week in 10-ball, becoming the runner-up.
Top 4 U17
1. Galic, Ivan CRO
2. Rudshavn, Ole-Kristian NOR
3. Gangfløt, Emil-Andre NOR
Neuhausen, Moritz GER
In the girls’ division, Darya Siranchuk (UKR) won her first title against Palina Chernik (BLR) with 5:1. Siranchuk has already won three medals in the girls’ last year but no title yet. One silver medal and two bronze medals were her achievements in Leende in 2017. Siranchuk had to take the detour over the loser’s side this year in 8-ball since she lost in the winner’s qualification round 4:5 to Aleksandra Guleikova (RUS). Then, she managed to win against Cindy Keller (SUI) 5:0 and Alina Brummer (GER) 5:2 before she encountered Valeriia Trushevskaia. That match turned into a fierce battle. When the smoke settled, Siranchuk was the 5:4 winner in the semi-final. The final match was a more or less clear affair for Siranchuk.
Top 4 Girls
1. Siranchuk Darya UKR
2. Chernik, Palina BLR
3. Trushevskaia, Valerija RUS
Neuhausen, Maximiliana GER
In the ladies’ division, Barbara Bolfelli (ITA) overpowered Anja Hehre (GER) with 5:3 in the final match, winning her 4th European Champion title in the ladies’ division.
Top 4 Ladies
1. Bolfelli, Barbara ITA
2. Hehre, Anja GER
3. Andersson, Ulrika SWE
Haeflinger, Ortenzia SUI
In the wheelchair division, Jouni Tahti (FIN) once more was the guy to beat. He eliminated Henrik Lasrsson (SWE) with 5:2 in the final match. This is the 35th medal for Tahti on European level and his 23rd title. What a domination from Tahti. Unfortunately, the day also saw some donwside. The wheelchair division produced one of the biggest upsets of the tournament so far. The athlete Kurt Deklerck (BEL) was given the black card and therefore disqualified from the whole European Championships and stripped from all his results. Deklerck was judged guilty for cheating in his matches in adding a greasy substance onto the cue ball during his match, manipulating the angles of the game. For that reason, there is only one Bronze Medal awarded in the wheelchair division today.
Top 3 Wheelchair
1. Tahti, Jouni FIN
2. Larsson, Henrik SWE
3. Brajkovic, Matej SLO
Medal table after 3 of 5 events
[photo id=49691|align=right]
This puts Team Germany clearly on top of the medal table after 3 of 5 events with the 9-ball individuals and the team competition coming up.
The Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 will commence tomorrow morning at 10:00 CET with matches in the team competition.
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.
Konstantin Stepanov discussing with EPBF referee Johny Vanrijkel
At the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 in NH Conference Centre, Veldhoven, The Netherlands, Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) defeated Christian Sparrenloev-Fischer (SWE) in 8-ball with the closest of all score 8:7.
The match was close from start to finish. The largest gap between the two contestants was an interim 5:3 lead for Stepanov. Apart from that, both players always took racks in turn and did not allow the opponent to get a comfortable advantage. The match consequently went to a 7:7 hill-hill situation with Sparrenloev-Fischer being on the hill first. He executed the break in rack 15. He had a ball down and an open table in front of him. All lights were green for the victory for Sparrenloev-Fischer. He examined the situation very carefully and decided to go for the stripes. When pocketing the 3rd ball of his group, he turned out to be in an awkward position with the cue ball which forced him to play a very difficult shot. Consequently, he missed the shot and allowed Stepanov back into the table. Stepanov, who was already with one foot in the grave, thankfully accepted the unexpected chance and cleared the table to take the match with 8:7 and advance into the single elimination stage of the 8-ball individuals.
Other remarkable results in the men’s division include Alexander Kazakis (GRE) winning his first two matches in the 8-ball competition. He overpowered Huseyin Borankan (TNC) 8:5 and then wiped the floor with David Zalman (CZE) 8:1. He is now in the round of the final 64 players single elimination which will be played tomorrow at 14:30 CET. In the same round is David Alcaide (ESP). He took consecutively took down Saki Kanatlar (TUR) 8:4 and Andreas Madsen 8:5.
In the senior’s division, long-time Dutch team member Jimmy Worung (NED) lost a heartbreaker in the first round with 6:7 against Joakim Gunnarsson (SWE). He then went up against Christian Messerli (SUI) on the loser’s side and quickly found himself trailing with 2:4 after six racks. But then Worung got himself together and played much better and more solid than in the beginning of the match. He did not allow Messerli to win one more rack and won the encounter with 7:4, eliminating Messerli from the 8-ball individuals.
In the women’s division, Sara Rocha (POR) got off to a good start. She played her first 8-ball match against Helen Nyberg (SWE). The match was expected to be quite close but Rocha completely dominated the encounter and in the end, 6:1 was displayed on the scoreboard in favour of Rocha. In the next round, the Portuguese faced favoured Ina Kaplan (GER). Kaplan soon had a 5:2 lead over Rocha and things looked quite promising for her. But then Rocha struck back and found momentum. She pulled back rack after rack from Kaplan and even managed to tie the score at 5:5, hill-hill. Kaplan broke the final rack but no ball went in. She left an open table for Rocha. The Portuguese selected the high numbered balls and started clearing the table. She finished her group and left a long and tough shot on the 8-ball to win the game and the match. Rocha focussed on the ball, took her time and pocketed the 8-ball in the center of the corner pocket, snatching the match with 6:5 from Kaplan. Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) remained victorious against yesterday’s 10-ball Champion Yana Shut (BLR). After having trailed 0:3 already, Czuprynska launched a great comeback. She played stronger and that obviously confused Shut a lot. The athlete from Belarus started committing mistakes which seemed to be quite unusual for her, having her strong performance from yesterday still in mind. Czuprynska got on a roll and used her chances and took 6 racks in a row from Shut, winning the match 6:3 to advance to the single elimination stage.
In the girls’ division, #1 seeded player Darya Siranchuk (UKR) is right on track. She became 3rd last year but since last year’s Champion Kristina Tkach (RUS) grew out of the girls’ division and nowadays plays in the women’s division, and last year’s runner-up Weronika Karwik (POL) has not been nominated for this year, Siranchuk got the #1 seed. And she justified that seed already, having a walk-over in round one and then taking down Milena Murha (BLR) 5:1. The same seeding situation was given in the Under 17’s division where last year’s bronze medallist Szymon Kural (POL) was seeded #1 for the competition. Unlike Siranchuk, Kural lost his opening match quite clearly with 3:6 to unheralded Alexandar Georgiev (BUL).
No seeded players are attending the 8-ball individuals in the Under 19’s category. The „big guns“ from last year have advanced to the men’s division. On the other hand, the medalists from last year’s Under 17’s are now probably the favourites in this division. Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH), Wiktor Zielinski (POL), Mustafa Alnar (TNC) and Dmitrii Shkudov (RUS) all won their first matches and booked their seat in the single elimination already. Any Champion in the Under 19’s would probably be a surprise.
In the new Under 23’s division, the reigning Champion Joshua Filler (GER) is playing in the men’s division and therefore cannot defend his title this year. However, with Pijus Labutis (LIT), Aleksa Pecelj (SRB), Vitaliy Patsura (UKR) and Casper Matikainen (FIN), there are still some high profile name in the field. All of the ones mentioned won their matches on the winner’s side so far and are now playing for a seat in the quarter-finals.
In the wheelchair division, two of the strongest players met in the first round match. Kurt Deklerck (BEL) faced Fred Dinsmore (IRL). Both of them have titles under their belt. Today, Dinsmore was the luckier player in the end, winning the match 5:4 over Deklerck. In the upper half of the draw, defending Champion Jouni Tahti (FIN) will play his all-time rival Henrik Larsson (SWE) tomorrow for a spot in the quarter-finals.
In the ladies’ division, defending Champion Susanne Wessel (GER) got smashed by newly crowned 10-ball Champion Ine Helvik (NOR) with 2:5. Wessel will get another chance over the loser’s side but needs to win three consecutive matches now. Last year’s runner-up Karin Michl (GER) showed no weakness and won her match with 5:3 over Gum Zwijnenburg (NED).
The Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 will commence tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches from the 8-ball competition.
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.
There was a tinge of sadness in the air at the Wheelchair Cuesports Academy in Aylesbury, for the BWPPA Predator British 9-ball Championship. A few weeks before the event everyone involved with the British Wheelchair Pool Players Association heard of BWPPA stalwart Nick Oliver’s passing. As the first scheduled matches lagged for break there was a clear sense that there was an atmosphere in the air that it was appropriately the end of another season on the worlds largest wheelchair pool tour.
The action got underway following the observation of 30 seconds of applause in memory of Nick, nicknamed “The Great N.O”. Daniel Lee had a tough opening match, he was pushed all the way by his Great Britain Nation Continental Cup team-mate Dave Beaumont before Lee came through a 7-6 winner. In his previous match Beaumont beat Ifty Hussain 7-2, Hussain from Birmingham was returning to wheelchair cuesports for the first time in a number of years.
BWPPA veterans Danny Luton, Roy Kimberley and Tony Southern all had solid performances in their opening matches of the weekend. For Kimberley, Southern and Lee it was significant as a few days after this event they travel to Finland for the wheelchair World 9-ball Championship in Tampere. Chris Brown, the oldest player on the BWPPA tour returned for his second event of the season, following defeats to Matthew Lester and Beaumont, Brown would be back to compete in the Challenge Cup the following day.
As we approached the close of the first days play, on the losers’ side of the draw there was a tense encounter between Newport’s Craig Welsh and Luton. It looked like it was going all the way to a decider, but Luton, who was sent to the losers side following a 7-3 defeat to Lee sunk the 9 in the penultimate rack to take it 7-5. As if that wasn’t enough the drama was cranked up a notch in the other losers’ qualifier. Beaumont taking the hill-hill decider against Southern 7-6, from 4-6 down, after Southern had lost 7-3 to Kimberley.
In the semi-finals Lee booked his place in yet another final with a classy 7-1 win over Beaumont. In the 2nd semi-final between old rivals Kimberley and Luton, it was Kimberley who came through a 7-4 winner.
The final lived up to all expectations. The match went all the way to a tense hill-hill finish. Kimberley missed a combination on the 9, which allowed Lee off the hook; he cleared the table to complete a hat-trick of main event titles.
In the Challenge event Brown (+3) beat Lester (+2) 5-4 to book his place in a BWPPA event final for the first time. Brown met Southern, who came through a hill-hill semi-final with Welsh 5-4. It was Southern. In the final, with Brown receiving 3 racks start. There was yet another decider in this drama filled weekend, with Southern taking it 5-4.
Lester was confirmed as the no.1 in the Challenge rankings following Beaumont’s 7-6 win over Southern in the main event, thus making him ineligible for the Challenge Cup.
A video of the main event final is available to watch here. Pictures of the event can be found here in the BWPPA gallery.
All the players were given goody bags from our tour sponsors Kamui. Daniel Lee collected the beautiful Predator 8k3 cue as the no.1 player in the main event rankings. Matthew Lester collected a Poison Strychnine Cue as the no.1 in the challenge cup rankings.
Further prizes of a Predator Roadline cue, Predator BK3 break cue, Predator Sport cue case and a Predator Blak cue case were won by players who ended the season in the top 6 in the main event rankings.
Daniel Lee and Matthew Lester would both like to dedicate their performances to Nick Oliver.
Everyone at the BWPPA would like to congratulate Daniel Lee, Roy Kimberley, Tony Southern and Matt Duffy on their performances at the recent wheelchair World 9-ball Championship in Tampere, Finland. All four players demonstrated the quality of the tour, and did us all proud. Especially Roy and Dan who collected bronze medals as semi-finalists.
The BWPPA would also like to extend our congratulations to former BWPPA no.1, Ireland’s Fred Dinsmore. 2017 wheelchair World 9-ball Champion, beating Kurt Deklerck 9-4 in the final.
Results and videos of the matches can be found here.
The BWPPA would like to thank all of our sponsors:
World Pool Series, Gentlemen’s Night Out, Simonis cloth, Aramith billiard balls, Kamui, Predator Cues, Talisman Billiards, Escape Pool Bar in Barnsley, Tiger Cues of Warrington, Cheqio, Ultimate Team Gear, A.B Wallace Trophies, Gosport Pool Arena and Fred Dinsmore Billiards
We also are always looking to expand the sponsorship side of the tour, so if you or your company would like to become one of our sponsors, please visit our contact us page.
You too can be a part of the world’s largest wheelchair pool tour; please keep checking on http://www.bwppa.com and http://www.pro9.co.uk for further information. In addition to our national tour stops there is also the possibility of representing Great Britain in international tournaments such as the EPBF European Championship and WPA World 9-ball Championship for wheelchair players.
We hope to see you all on the BWPPA tour in 2018. Event details will be announced in due course. All of the BWPPA players and committee would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Escape Pool Bar in Barnsley. Hosted the penultimate event on the 2017 BWPPA calendar the Kamui 9-ball Shootout. There was a star-studded field as this weekend was a double header with the inaugural Nation Continental Cup team event running alongside it. Belgium’s Kurt Deklerck, Norwegian Kim Ronny Nygård, Finland’s Jouni Tahti and current wheelchair World 9-ball champion Sweden’s Henrik Larsson were among the entrants.
As expected there was some close matches in the early stages of the competition, among them Deklerck’s 7-5 win over Nygård, Roy Kimberley’s 7-5 win over Dave Beaumont and Larsson beating Aslam Abubaker 7-4.
Daniel Lee began his campaign strongly with a 7-3 win over Adam Pearson, he followed that up with an impressive 7-2 win over Ireland’s Dinsmore. Alexander Prokopiev from Yakutsk in Russia returned to England for his second BWPPA event of the year. Prokopiev had a tough opening match losing 7-1 to Tahti. In the one loss side of the draw Prokopiev went onto beat Matt Lester 5-1 before running into Dinsmore, who beat the Russian 7-0.
The quarter-final line up could have graced any European or World Championship; in the first quarter-final it was Lee who beat Kimberley 7-4 to advance through to the semis. Leicester’s Aslam Abubaker came through a 7-5 winner over Deklerck. Dinsmore booked his place in the last 4 with a 7-0 win over Tony Southern. Tahti completed the quartet with a 7-4 win over Larsson.
We had contrasting semi-finals; Lee beat Abubaker 7-2 to go through to his third BWPPA main event final of the season. In the other semi Dinsmore edged a hill-hill classic Jouni Tahti, Dinsmore the victor with a 7-6 score line.
In the latest chapter of the Lee v Dinsmore rivalry that we’ve seen on the BWPPA tour in recent years it was Lee who came through a 3-1 winner to confirm his place as the no.1 British wheelchair pool player for another season. The final was curtailed to best of 5 with both players agreement to start the final NCC session.
In the challenge event Beaumont beat Nygård and Craig Welsh before beating Prokopiev 5-3 after overcoming Prokopiev’s 2 racks race start. Beaumont now leads the way in the Challenge Cup rankings sponsored by World Pool Series with just the BWPPA Predator British 9-ball Championship remaining.
Due to the issues around NCC timing, the final was not filmed in full; a partial video of the main event final is available to watch here.
Pictures of the event can be found here in the BWPPA gallery.
The BWPPA would like to thank all of our sponsors:
World Pool Series, Gentlemen’s Night Out, Simonis cloth, Aramith billiard balls, Kamui, Predator Cues, Talisman Billiards, Escape Pool Bar in Barnsley, Tiger Cues of Warrington, Cheqio, Ultimate Team Gear, A.B Wallace Trophies, Gosport Pool Arena and Fred Dinsmore Billiards
We also are always looking to expand the sponsorship side of the tour, so if you or your company would like to become one of our sponsors, please visit our contact us page.
You too can be a part of the world’s largest wheelchair pool tour; please keep checking on http://www.bwppa.com and http://www.pro9.co.uk for further information. In addition to our national tour stops there is also the possibility of representing Great Britain in international tournaments such as the EPBF European Championship and WPA World 9-ball Championship for wheelchair players.
See you all at the final event of the year, the Predator British Wheelchair 9 Ball Championships 2017 at the BWPPA/BWCSA Wheelchair Cuesports Academy from 4-5th November 2017.
From the 9-11 November, a GB team consisting of Lee, Southern, Kimberley and Matt Duffy will be competing in Tampere, Finland at the World Wheelchair 9-Ball Championships. Good luck from all at BWPPA.
The BWPPA season approached the midway point as the players arrived at the Wheelchair Cuesports Academy based at Stoke Mandeville Stadium in Aylesbury. It was to be an action packed weekend of pool, as in addition to the Talisman Billiards British 10-ball Championship (tour stop 3 of the regular season) there was the small matter of who would win the qualifier to be the last man onto the Great Britain Nation-Continental Cup team.
Before that could be decided the main event of the Talisman British 10-ball Championship got underway. The tour welcomed back Chris Brown who returned to the BWPPA tour for the first time since 2015. Ireland’s Fred Dinsmore also returned to the tour after missing the first 2 tour stops of 2017, as did Aslam Abubaker fresh from winning the WEPF English 8-ball pool World Championship for wheelchair players in Blackpool.
Abubaker who won the Simonis Grand Prix main event in May got off to a flyer with a 7-0 win over Birmingham’s Adam Pearson. He followed that up with a 7-4 win over Daniel Lee. That defeat sent the defending British 10-ball Champion and UK no.1 into the losers bracket. Elsewhere in the first round tie between Fred Dinsmore and Craig Welsh, Dinsmore came through in the end 7-4. Dinsmore was then involved in a tense hill-hill battle with Danny Luton, which he came through 7-6. He followed that with an impressive 7-1 win over Abubaker.
Into the one-loss side of the draw, in the top half it was Abubaker who advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-4 win over Dave Beaumont. In the bottom half Lee did it the hard way with a 6-3 win over Nick Oliver. Before a 6-2 win over Luton, and then a 6-4 win over Tony Southern to join Abubaker in the semi-finals.
As expected both semi-finals were close affairs with Lee beating Dinsmore 7-5 in a repeat of last years final. In the second semi-final Abubaker defeated old rival Roy Kimberley 7-5.
In the final, a missed 7-ball from Abubaker allowed Lee to step in and take the opening rack. In the next Abubaker returned the favour by pouncing on a missed 6-ball from Lee to level the scores. The high standard continued, and in the end it was Lee who was crowned Talisman British wheelchair 10-ball Champion with a 7-5 win over Abubaker.
In the Challenge Cup sponsored by the World Pool Series Danny Luton overhauled a 3 rack start to defeat Matt Lester 5-3.
A video of the main event final is available to watch here. Pictures of the event can be found here in the BWPPA gallery.
The BWPPA tour now looks forward to a double header at Escape Pool Bar, Barnsley from 15-17th September as we have the Nation-Continental Cup. A team contest styled on the famous Mosconi Cup, but this time it’s team Great Britain taking on Team EUROPE. Dave Beaumont won the qualifier for the last spot on the Great Britain team. He will join Daniel Lee, Tony Southern, Roy Kimberley and Aslam Abubaker. The Europeans are the favourites on paper with a strong team consisting of Sweden’s Henrik Larsson, Finland’s Jouni Tahti, Ireland’s Fred Dinsmore, Belguim’s Kurt Deklerck and Poland’s Emil Malanowski.
The Nation-Continental Cup will be held over the same weekend as tour stop 4 of the BWPPA tour, the Kamui 9-ball Shootout. Where we are expecting our largest field for a number of years.
The BWPPA would like to thank all of our sponsors:
World Pool Series, Gentlemen’s Night Out, Simonis cloth, Aramith billiard balls, Kamui, Predator Cues, Talisman Billiards, Escape Pool Bar in Barnsley, Tiger Cues of Warrington, Cheqio, Ultimate Team Gear, A.B Wallace Trophies, Gosport Pool Arena and Fred Dinsmore Billiards
We also are always looking to expand the sponsorship side of the tour, so if you or your company would like to become one of our sponsors, please visit our contact us page.
You too can be a part of the world’s largest wheelchair pool tour; please keep checking on http://www.bwppa.com and http://www.pro9.co.uk for further information. In addition to our national tour stops there is also the possibility of representing Great Britain in international tournaments such as the EPBF European Championship and WPA World 9-ball Championship for wheelchair players.
