In his first match at the Dynamic Billard Italian Open, current Euro-Tour and European ranking leader Mark Gray (GBR) has suffered a rough defeat against Christian Sparrenloev-Fischer (SWE).
"I need to improve rapid or home it will be!!!“ stated Gray on his Facebook page after today’s match. Obviously, he did not play his best game. But also his young opponent from Sweden took care about not letting Gray playing like he wanted to. Sparrenloev kept the match open at all times and made sure that Gray could not get an advantage over him. In fact, as the match unfolded it turned out that the opponents took racks in turn and the distance between the two was never bigger than one point in difference. After 14 racks, the match was levelled at 7:7. Sparrenloev broke the 15th rack and had one ball down with a long shot at the 1-ball. He confidently pocketed the difficult shot and went for the rack. Though all balls were playable the rack was not really easy, especially at that stage in the match. But the young Swede mastered the challenge and ran the rack, demonstrating some nerves of steel and going on the hill with an 8:7 lead over Gray. Rack 16 was Gray’s break shot. Now the pressure was on the ranking leader himself. He had two balls down and a very nice spread of the rest of the balls. However, the first shot on the 1-ball was a bit tricky since he could not fully see the ball. It was hiding behind the 7-ball. Gray tried to play the 1-ball rail first but missed it completely, leaving the table with ball in hand for Sparrenloev. What a bad mistake for the Brit that was! Sparrenloev accepted the gift and won the rack, taking the match with 9:7 and proceeding to winner’s round two while Gray needed to seek his chance on the loser’s side of the event now. His first match there was a nice and comfortable 9:4 victory over Jan Wolf (GER). Sparrenloev encountered Wojciech Sroczynski (POL) in winner’s round two. That match went against Sparrenloev’s liking and ended 3:9 in favour of Sroczynski.
American super-star player Shane Van Boening (USA) also plays in this prestigious event. Coming from the World Pool Master which have just been finished in Gibraltar, van Boening wants to seek his fortune on the Euro-Tour in his second appearance after having played in France several years ago. He met Piotr Kudlik (POL) in his first match in winner’s round one and that match turned out to become a thriller. Both players took racks in turn which led to a 7:7 tie after 14 racks. In rack 15, van Boening played pretty good and unspectacular but solid pool and had already lined up the 9-ball. Suddenly, he missed an incredibly easy shot by a big margin and gave the rack away to Kudlik to get an 8:7 lead over him. After that the audience thought that this incident might have destroyed the US player but van Boening is known to be capable to handle these tough situations. In a high tense and action packed match, van Boening ran two more racks and took the match with a thrilling 9:8 victory over Kudlik. In his next match in winner’s round two, van Boening encountered Kim Laaksonen (FIN). Van Boening also took that match 9:6 and is now in the winner’s qualification round where he will have to deal with the winner of Koniar (SVK) and Babica (POL).
The feature match of the day today was newly crowned World Pool Masters Champion David Alcaide (ESP) taking on Karol Skowerski (POL). That match was fully streamed LIVE on the EPBF Facebook page and many viewers from all over the World enjoyed the show. Alcaide was definitely the player to bet on in this match. But Skowerski recovered from trailing 1:3 and 3:5 and turned out to be the winner in the end with 9:7 because Alcaide left the 4-ball hanging over the pocket for him when Skowerski was 8:7 up. Every day, at least one match will be shown LIVE on the EPBF Facebook page and viewers may interact with the organisers and express their opinion about the match, cheer for their respective player or simply watch the action as it happens in Treviso.
Tomorrow, the Dynamic Billard Italian Open will continue at 09:00 CET with matches from winner’s round two.
The Euro-Tour is played on 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 purchased 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.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 his first match at the Dynamic Billard Albanian Open in Tirana, Albania, newly crowned World 9-Ball Champion Albin Ouschan (AUT) took first blood with 9:6 over Jani Siekkinen (FIN).
Having just arrived this morning from Doha, Qatar, where he won the title of the World 9-ball Champion, Albin Ouschan had to be on duty again at 14:00 local time and cross swords with Jani Siekkinen in the Euro-Tour. The match started slow and Siekkinen got a small lead. When Ouschan had the chance to tie the match at 3:3, he even missed an easy 9-ball and allowed Siekkinen to gain a two-rack lead over him with 4:2. The audience was curious whether Ouschan had not yet overcome his travel exertions and whether he was able to bring his level of play on the table today. But that lack of concentration turned out to be a one off thing. In the rest of the match, the World Champion got more and more focussed and improved his performance step by step. After having trailed 3:5 in the match, Ouschan left not many chances anymore for Siekkinen. To the contrary, the Finish missed a few important shots and seemed to show some nervousness. That is a kind of weakness that one should not show when playing a heavyweight like Ouschan. The Austrian cruel-heartedly punished the mistakes from Siekkinen and finally took the match quite convincingly with 9:6.
Other remarkable results from today’s matches include Imran Majid (GBR) teaching a lesson to Dimitri Jungo (SUI) 9:1. Alen Muratovic (BIH), first medal winner for his country three years ago at the European Youth Championships, defeated Euro’s ranked #26 Daniel Tangudd (SWE) unexpectedly with 9:7. Tour leader Mark Gray (GBR) wasted no time with unrated local player Arenc Norja (ALB) and overpowered him with 9:1. The all-Polish matchup between Piotr Kudlik and Mieszko Fortunski went 9:8 in favor of Fortunski. Euro-Tour’s #6, Mario He (AUT) had a lot of work to do against young Andreas Madsen (DEN). After a tough fight and 16 exhausting racks, He was the winner with a close result of 9:7 only.
Another favorite who had to struggle more than he liked was BCA Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet (GER). He had to deal with 16-year-old Osman Sanlisoy (TNC). What looked like a walk in the park for Souquet before the match turned into a nightmare for the German legend. After 14 racks, Souquet was with one foot in the grave, trailing 6:8 against Sanlisoy. With his own break coming up, he needed to win three consecutive racks in order to stay on the winner’s side. But he had no ball down on his break. Sanlisoy attempted a safety shot but left the 1-ball open for Souquet. The German cleared the table to get to 7:8. Rack 16 was opened by Sanlisoy then. He had a good break shot but the lowest numbered ball was a very tough thin cut. He attempted it and missed. He left a really tough shot for Souquet who actually made it into the pocket and cleared the table again, leveling the match hill-hill at 8:8. Now the advantage was on Souquet’s side. He had his own break shot coming up and took the last two racks off Sanlisoy. The pressure was strained to the breaking point. This time Souquet played a cut break and succeeded in pocketing the 1-ball in the side pocket. Three other balls broke the kitchen line so the break was legal and he also had a long shot at the 2-ball. He played a safety shot and left no other chance to Sanlisoy than leaving him a shot. Souquet took the chance and sneaked over the winning-line, winning the match 9:8 over strong Osman Sanlisoy.
Today between 19:00 and 20:00 local time, EPBF will go LIVE on Facebook with and interview of Albin Ouschan and others. Spectators are asked to interact with the video.
The Euro-Tour is 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 purchased 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.eurotouronline.com, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
Radoslaw Babica from Poland ousted "The Tornado" Tony Drago (MLT) from the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open Euro-Tour event with a narrow 9:8 victory.
One great and thrilling match happened today in the loser’s qualification round when Radoslaw Babica (POL) faced Tony Drago (MLT). The match went along very leveled and after 10 racks, the scoreboard displayed a tie at 5:5. Then, Babica went on the hill first and got an 8:6 advantage over Drago. But the "Tornado" struck back, winning two straight racks in order to make the match 8:8. Then, Drago was at the table with all balls in the open for him. However, he missed an easy 5-ball and allowed Babica back into the table. The Polish could not run-out but he turned the final rack into a safety exchange. Drago tried a risky bank shot when he had the option of either playing a safety or going for a bank. He missed it and allowed Babica to run the rack and win the match with 9:8.
Another interesting match was the clash between Michal Turkowski (POL) and Marcus Chamat (SWE). After five racks, Turkowski was leading 4:1 over Chamat. But the Swede did not even think about giving up. He fought back and got into the match, turning the scoreboard to 8:7 after 15 racks. Then Turkowski played up to his best and made the match another hill-hill thriller. In the final and decisive 17th rack, a safety battle occurred. Both players tried not to leave a shot for the opponent. Then Chamat left a shot for Turkowski which the Polish had to jump. He flunked the ball in over three rails but it could not be considered to be a lucky shot since he hooked himself again on the next ball. While he attempted to hit that object ball, Turkowski committed a foul shot and gave ball in hand to Chamat who capitalized from it and ran the rack to win the match by a hair’s breadth with 9:8. In the next round, the loser’s qualification round, Chamat fell to Ivica Putnik (CRO) with 5:9.
The results of the last 32 players single elimination are as follows:
That provides us with the following line-up for the round of the last 16 players:
Niels Feijen v Oliver Ortmann
Francisco Diaz-Pizarro v John Tanttu
Alexander Kazakis v Radoslaw Babica
Tomasz Kaplan v Albin Ouschan
Nick van den Berg v Ivica Putnik
Mats Schjetne v Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz
Can Salim-Giasar v Ralf Souquet
Denis Grabe v Mark Gray
Action continues tomorrow morning at 10:00 local time with matches of the round of the last 16 players. At 09:00, the women’s tournament will start with matches of the first round.
The tournament is played on 16 tables of which 12 are in a livestream. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be purchased 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 eurotouronline.com , or contact our press office.
Nick Van Den Berg and Niels Feijen have both made it into the round of the last 16 players at the Dynamic Billard Dutch Open at the Golden Tulip Jagershorst Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands. It looks very promising that we will have Dutch representation in the final stage of the event.
The current Nr. 1 ranked player of the Euro-Tour, Niels Feijen, has won four consecutive matches for his seat in the round of the last 16 players. He defeated Evangelos Vettas (GRE) 9:3 on Thursday, Sebastian Ludwig (GER) 9:6 on Friday and Mieszko Fortunski (POL) 9:7 as well as Petri Makkonen (FIN) with the same result today to show his strength and permanent high level of play in the Euro-Tour. In defeating Makkonen, Feijen also secured himself a spot on this year’s Mosconi Cup Team. Feijen will play against Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP) in the round of the last 16 players.
Nick van den Berg had to play more matches to get to this stage. He lost in the winner’s round to 15-year old Fedor Gorst from Moscow, Russia, yesterday. SO he needed three more victories to make it into the round of the last 32 players. But van den Berg is a fighter and a high profile player. He defeated Karol Skowerski (POL) 9:6, Christian Sparrenloev-Fischer (SWE) 9:3 and Mihai-Robert Braga (ROM) 9:5 in order to get drawn into the round of the last 32 players. And there he was meant to get his revenge since he was drawn against Fedor Gorst again. This time, van den Berg again took an 8:3 lead over Gorst and AGAIN committed a mistake at that score. It looked like history could repeat itself. But at 4:8, Gorst missed an easy 2-ball and paved the way for van den Berg to win the match with 9:4 this time. Van den Berg will play Alexander Kazakis (GRE) in the next round.
Other remarkable matches from today include Can Salim-Giasar (GER) ousting German wonderkid
Matches will continue tomorrow at 09:00 with the round of the last 16 players.
All matches can be viewed LIVE at www.kozoom.com. Up to 11 tables in HiRes quality are providing you with all the action of the event. You do not miss out one single match! Join today!
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.eurotouronline.com
The event will be hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.
Dennis Orcollo (Photo courtesy of Dong Secuya/philboxing.com)
The Philippines Dennis Orcollo wins his second straight 9-8 match in as many days to advance to the knockout stage of the 2015 World 10-ball Championship in General Santos City.
Filipino pool players have a standard answer when asked by the media, “How did you play?” Even if they just played the greatest round of pool in the history of the sport, the comeback will invariably be a humble, “I’m just lucky.”
World number 7 Dennis Orcollo is definitely not being humble today as he profusely thanks the pool gods for the good fortune he’s been the beneficiary of here in General Santos City in the southern Philippines. For the second straight day Orcollo pulled a great escape from what looked like sure defeat, winning 9-8 yet again, and advancing to the single elimination round of 64 at the 2015 World 10-ball Championship.
Playing against Pampanga’s Roland Garcia, Orcollo looked to be cruising into the knockout stages with an 8-5 lead in the race to 9 alternate break match. Garcia, though, stormed back and had only five balls left on the table for the win when, inexplicably, he touched and moved the 8-ball with his hand while lining up a shot on the five ball. Orcollo leapt out of his chair, said a quick thank you to his Lord, and cleared the colors for the win.
“I’m really lucky today,” Orcollo said afterwards and this time you knew he meant it. “I didn’t think I would even get back to the table. I still can’t believe I won that match.”
31 other players are feeling as relieved as Orcollo as they also booked their spots in the final 64 which begins on Wednesday evening. For another 32 players, however, the dream of world pool glory crashed and burned as they each suffered their second defeat in as many days, which meant they were eliminated from the event.
The field for the final 64 will be filled after the first three sessions tomorrow in what promises to be a day of drama and nerves. Judgement Day in championship pool often makes otherwise reasonable men lose their minds, as the prospect of possibly being in contention for a world title suddenly dawns on them.
Many of those who have already qualified don’t seem to be in any danger of losing their cool any time soon. World number 1 Chang Yu Lung of Taiwan continued to fly under the radar today with another superb performance, beating Finland’s Petri Makkonen, 9-5, to advance. I say “under the radar” because Chang, with his stoic and emotionless demeanor, attracts little to no attention. If you watch him closely, however, he plays fearless pool and that quiet confidence will surely carry him far in this event.
Canada's Jason KlattWith a third of the field of 128 players, the Philippines was a lock to dominate the final 64 and several notable names have looked exceptionally good so far. Jeff De Luna has given up just one rack in two matches and he could very well find himself the number one seed in the knockout rounds. Other Filipinos advancing today with fine performances were Francisco Bustamante, Alex Pagulayan, Lee Vann Corteza, Warren Kiamco, Roberto Gomez, Elmer Haya, Antonio Gabica, Raymund Faraon, and Carlo Biado.
When boxing legend and hometown boy Manny Pacquaio brought the World 10-ball to General Santos, one of his aims was to give the legions of lesser known Filipino pool players the chance to shine and this is exaclty what is taking place at the SM Mall. Several of the younger and not so well known Filipino players also advanced today and it’s clear that several will be establishing their credentials here this week. One of those looking to make a name for himself is Roland Dela Cruz, a relatively unknown Filipino who took down two-time World 9-ball Champion Thorsten Hohmann on the losers’ side. Hohmann’s early exit represented the biggest upset so far in this year’s event.
England’s Darren Appleton came up against two young Filipino players today. Appleton, the 2008 World 10-ball champion, has spent enough time this country to know that top notch pool talent is waiting every corner in every city in the Philippines. To take anyone lightly is akin to pointing a gun at your own head. After handily defeating Angelo Ariola 9-2, the Englishman found himself in a tight tussle with Ruben Cuna. Appleton had to fight to the finish to advance to the Final 64 with a well-earned 9-7 win.
Afterwards, Appleton revealed he knows not to take any of the Filipinos lightly and in fact, he employed a strategy to thwart any chance of an upset.
“He’s a good young Filipino player,” Appleton said of Cuna. “My experience got me through that one. I played two Filipinos today and my game plan was to not show any emotion, not show any weakness to them. Because obviously they are very young and they’re not used to tournament play. They are not used to playing big names so I think that helps in the end because he missed a couple of balls that he wouldn’t miss in the pool room. I wanted to make him work for it.”
Also winning their second match and advancing to the knockout round were Germany’s Ralf Souquet, Taiwan’s Chang Jung Lin, Fu Che Wei and Ko Ping Chun, Canada’s Jason Klatt and John Morra, and Estonia’s Denis Grabe.
The group stages will finish up on Wednesday over the first three sessions. The round of 64 in the single elimination stage begins in two evening sessions Wednesday, and continues Thursday morning over one session.
The semi-finals and final will take place on Saturday.
The winner of the 2015 World 10-ball Championship will receive $40,000, while the runner up will receive $20,000
**The 2015 MP Cup World 10-ball Championship takes place at the SM Mall in General Santos City, Philippines from February 15-21 and is sanctioned by the World Pool & Billiard Association(WPA), the world governing body of pool.
The WPA will be on hand in General Santos throughout this year’s World 10-ball Championship providing up to the minute information, photographs and in depth articles with insights and analysis from WPA Press Officer Ted Lerner.
Day 1 at the 2015 MP Cup World 10-ball Championship in General Santos City sees some favorites cruise while others struggle to find their form.
One thing that is a constant in any world championship in the sport of pool is good old pressure. But as the 2015 MP Cup World 10-ball championship kicked off on Tuesday in the Philippines southernmost city of General Santos, it was not the usual nerve rattling pressure that makes grown men cry and brings back the fans time and again that was on display. It was, rather, that nagging pressure to get out of the gates quickly, to find that championship spark that can carry you to glory later in the week.
“There’s two kind of pressure in these events,” said an obviously relieved Karl Boyes after he took down former world 9-ball champion Ronnie Alcano of the Philippines 9-7 in their first match of the group stages. “The first pressure is trying to get through the group stages, to just get those two wins and get into the single elimination. There’s nothing worse in this game than going out in a world championship in the group stages. All of us feel that the tournament doesn’t really begin until the single elimination stage. Then, if you can then make it to the final 16, that’s when you look around and realize you’ve got a chance to win the world title.”
Indeed with 51 matches in the books after a long Day 1, nobody amongst the 128 players from nearly two dozen countries is touching the subject of winning the crown. For the next two days, it’s all about winning the required two matches, getting out of your group and securing a spot in the money rounds, the Final 64, which begins Thursday night. It’s a pressure to perform, and, especially for the top players, to not embarrass themselves.
There was a host of terrific matches inside the SM City Atrium today with many contests featuring top names squaring off against each other, adding that extra element of drama and gravity to the proceedings. Plenty of matches went all the way to the wire, leaving one player greatly relieved and the other suddenly staring at elimination.
In a match featuring two up and coming quality players, Canada’s John Morra found himself down to 8-5 in a race to 9 to the Philippines Jundel Mazon. But just when Mazon thought he had the match won, he slipped and allowed the Canadian a lifeline. Morra turned the tables on the Filipino and sent him to the losers’ side of the group with a brilliant comeback.
“He made a few mistakes when he was up 8-5,” Morra said. “I just started putting pressure on him and I could see he was feeling it. I played really well at the end.”
The Philippines Dennis Orcollo is surely one of the favorites here this week, but he struggled against fellow Filipino Oliver Medenilla. Down most of the match, Orcollo discovered his groove just in time to win a squeaker, 9-8.
“I didn’t feel that good today and I didn’t break that well,” said Orcollo, the world number 7. “There’s always pressure in the first match because you don’t know the tables and how to break. But I finally figured out the break. That’s the key to winning this tournament is the break shot. If I can break good, I’ve got a chance. And I know how to deal with the pressure in the knockout stages.”
The Philippines veteran Warren Kiamco is coming off a massive victory in the US at the Derby City 9-ball and could surely find himself in the winner’s circle here this week. But young Filipino upstart Raymart Comomt proved yet again that the talent pool in the Philippines runs as deep as Sarangani Bay here in Gen San. Comomt took Kiamco to the limit before falling to his elder at the finish line, 9-8.
Two-time World 9-ball Champion Thorsten Hohmann has found lots of success in the Philippines but he’ll have to bear down over the next two days, as he fell in a nail biter to Indonesia’s Sharoni, 9-8. China’s talented young star Wang Can had his hands full with Philippine veteran Antonio Lining, winning a tight match, 9-8.
One player who seems to play pressure free these days is World number 1 Chang Yu Lung of Taiwan. He opened the day in a quality matchup against Spain’s David Alcaide. Smooth and steady as always, Chang cruised to a 9-6 victory and looks set to go far this week.
Perhaps the finest performance of the day was put in by the Philippines’ Antonio Gabica. The Qatar based Gabica, who two years ago took runner up in the World 9-ball Championship in Qatar, stomped on world number 11 Lui Haitao of China, 9-3.
Another Qatar player, Waleed Majid, currently ranked number 12 in the world, continued his fine tournament form as he defeated the Philippines Jordan Legaspi 9-6. Majid is the highest ever ranked player out of the Middle East and his dedication to the sport is paying big dividends.
The Netherlands big stars, including World number 2 Niels Feijen, Nick Van Den Berg, and 2011 World 10-ball Champion Huidji See are not entered in this year’s event but a rising Dutch player clearly wants some of that limelight. Marco Teutscher defeated world number 8, and Mosconi Cup star Nikos Ekonomopoulos, 9-5.
Play in the group stages continues on Day 2 of the World 10-ball Championship. The field of 128 will be cut in half by late on Day 3 on Wednesday when the final 64, single elimination stage of the tournament begins. The semi-finals and final will take place on Saturday.
The winner of the 2015 World 10-ball Championship will receive $40,000, while the runner up will receive $20,000
**The 2015 MP Cup World 10-ball Championship takes place at the SM Mall in General Santos City, Philippines from February 15-21 and is sanctioned by the World Pool & Billiard Association(WPA), the world governing body of pool. The entire event is sponsored by Manny Pacquiao.
The WPA will be on hand in General Santos throughout this year’s World 10-ball Championship providing up to the minute information, live scoring, photographs and in depth articles with insights and analysis from WPA Press Officer Ted Lerner.
The Dynamic Billard Dutch Open started this morning according to plan at 09:00 CET with the first round matches in the Golden Tulip Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands. Actually, more or less according to plan. Sometime, things are a bit rough around the edges at the beginning. That is true for players as well as for organizers.
Two players from France have missed the fact that this event lasts one day longer which means that play started Wednesday instead of Thursday. They arrived in the afternoon in a good mood just to get the information that their first round matches have been forfeited due to no-shows… Not the best start into a Euro-Tour event.
Also the live stream has to cope with some problems due to very low bandwidth on site. Broadcasting is currently pretty difficult. The organizers do their best in order to improve the situation but sometimes things just don’t work the way one wants them to.
The same thought was probably valid for Mark Gray (GBR) today.
Being constantly among the top ten Euro-Tour players for some years now, Gray had to play his fellow countryman Karl Boyes (GBR) in the first winner’s round already. This happened because Boyes has not played the Euro-Tour regularly and is not seeded. From Gray’s point of view a pretty unlucky draw since Boyes still has the wind underneath his wings from winning the World Cup of Pool last week, together with his teammate Darren Appleton.
The match between Gray and Boyes promised to be the toughest match of the day so far… at least on paper. But it turned out to be a one-sided affair to the benefit of Boyes. He stormed off like a hurricane and before Gray even knew what happened, the score was 6:0 in favor of Boyes. That progress of the match was definitely not foreseeable. Gray only managed to open his account in the 7th rack, turning the score 1:6. From then on, both actors took turns in winning racks but Gray’s resistance was already broken. 9:3 was the clear final score in favor of Boyes who will proceed to the 2nd winner’s round while Gray needs to find his rhythm over on the loser’s side.
Other interesting results of the early rounds today include Marco Teutscher (NED) defeating his teammate Ivo Aarts (NED) with 9:3 in winner’s round 1. Both players belong to the „young orange“ team around coach Alex Lely. It is interesting to see that Aarts probably does not have the best year in 2014. He was rising high in 2013 and early 2014 but his performance seems to be stuck at the moment. Hopefully for him he will be able to find his way back into the tournament on the loser’s side while Teutscher continues in the winner’s bracket.
All time favorite and BCA Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet (GER) had a heartbreaker in his first match with youngster Danie Tangudd (SWE). Souquet won by a whisker with 9:8. Tangudd, who had already defeated Thomas Poeschl (GER) 9:5 this morning, is representing the new generation of European Pool. Coming just out of the youth, he obviously managed to give a hard time to legend Souquet. He almost had him down. This time, experience won over youth. It is going to be very interesting to follow the course of players like Tangudd. There is definitely more to come from him.
In the all-Polish clash between Piotr Kudlik and Radoslaw Babica, Kudlik remained the upper hand and sent Babica to the left side of the draw, winning with 9:6.
Four out of 11 tables can be watched LIVE throughout the event on www.kozoom.com. The event will be hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion, IBP. For further information, please check the event website at www.eurotouronline.com or contact the EPBF press office at press@epbf.com
Last weekend completed the second stage of the Olympic-Online Baltic Pool League 2013 and the game was 10-ball. The location was the beautiful town of Ketrzyn in Poland. The Polish players were really in form in both the mens and women's divisions by winning 6 out of 8 medals and among them both brightest medals. In mens division Piotr Kudlik took the gold and in the women's division Katarzyna Wesolowska accomplished the same. Another significant fact was the number of participants on this event. We scored a record high 138 players.
Poles took all four medals in mens division
Although it was expected that Poles triumph in the mens division it was still anticipated that maybe Denis Grabe and Henrikas Strolis (Team Olympic-Online) would be able to do something about it. However it was only an anticipation as Strolis lost out in the last 64 and Grabe lost in the last sixteen to the polish twelwe years old wonderkind Wiktor Zielinski 6:3. It was Zielinski that finished third only by losing to the latter finalist Mariusz Skoneczny in the semi final 6:4. In the second semi final it was again all about Poland when Piotr Kudlik and Piotr Ostrowski battled it out for the place in the final. The two Piotr battle went for Kudlik with a score of 6:3. After the confident semi final Kudlik did not change his manners and won the final over Skoneczny 6:2.
Womens division was dominated by Wesolowska
The women's division was controlled for the whole event by Katarzyna Wesolowska. In the semifinal she won over Latvian athlete Ana Prizjazniuka 5:2 and in the final she crashed Margarita Fefilova from Belarus 5:0. The second bronze medal went to polish player Eva Bank.
The organizers are grateful to all the sponsors, including Olympic-Online, Strachan, Bilijardai, Mezz Cues, Kamui Tips, Boombapwear.com, Entry Piljardiklubi, Baribal Piljardiklubi, Aveiras, AZ Billiards, Insidepoolmag, Pro9 and all other individuals that made the event possible.
For now the Olympic-Online Baltic Pool League will rest for the summer and will return on 14th of September in Riga, Latvia.
