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“Business as usual” for most favourites in Treviso

Left to right: Mario He, Wiktor Zielinski, Eklent Kaci, Denis Grabe and Albin Ouschan

The first day of the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open 2018 did not provide too many surprises.
 
#1 of the Euro-Tour rankings Eklent Kaci (ALB) had a walk in the park today. Smooth and easy victories over Finish young talent Micke Strom (FIN) with 9:0 and Wilhelm Georg (GER) 9:3 did not take too much of an effort from Kaci. The Albanian will meet Mariusz Skoneczny (POL) tomorrow at 14:00 in the winner’s qualification round.
 
Just like Kaci, Mario He (AUT) was not really challenged today. He played Germany’s Thomas Lindloff and delivered almost perfect pool. „I’ve barely seen such perfect pool“, stated Lindloff on his facebook page after the match. „Mario has not missed any shot until he was 7:0 ahead of me, including 4 jump shots.“ „What a performance from Mario!“ He will play Daniele Corrieri (ITA) tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time in winner’s round 2.
 
Albin Ouschan (AUT), Mario He’s teammate and friend, also did not undergo too much pressure today. He wasted no time against Eric Geppert (ITA) 9:1 and Michele Bianchi (ITA) 9:3 and will now join Kaci in the winner’s qualification round. His opponent there will be Radoslaw Babica (POL).
 
Wiktor Zielinski (POL), currently ranked #4 in the Euro-Tour rankings, was the exception to the rule today. The young Polish lost his opening match surprisingly clear against Germany’s Tobias Bongers with 4:9. On the loser’s side, Zielinski took down Jere Virtaranta (FIIN) 9:3 and is now up against Giovanni Di Martino (ITA). Zielinski will need to win many more matches to make his way to the round of the last 32 players single elimination. However, last year in November he demonstrated almost perfect pool here in Treviso so everyone knows that Zielinski is capable of coming back and far from being eliminated yet.
 
Denis Grabe (EST), who is currently on 5th place in the rankings, had two tough opponents today. In his first match, he had to deal with Henrique Correia (POR) who is always good for a surprise. Today, Grabe remained the upper hand and took the match 9:7 against the Portuguese senior player. Then Grabe went up against Imran Majid (GBR) in winner’s round 2. He quickly gained the lead in that match and achieved a 7:3 advantage over „The Maharaja“. Majid tried to come back but his attempt failed. After 13 racks, the match was over with a clear 9:4 victory for Grabe. The Estonian will now be up against Mieszko Fortunski (POL).
 
Friday through Sunday, EPBF will show two feature matches LIVE on the EPBF Facebook page. The complete tournament is shown on kozoom.com for premium pass holders.
 
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.

First Day In The Books At The Largest Pool Billiard Event In Europe Ever

Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP) at the table against David Alcaide (ESP)

The first day of the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships in NH Conference Centre Koningshof in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, came to an end with as many as 462 straight pool matches played on 60 tables. Expectations were met on some occasions while other athletes had to settle for second best. Some hopes came treu, some were brutally destroyed.
 
In the men’s division, two former Champions surprisingly met on the loser’s side in the qualification round. Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz and David Alcaide, both from Spain, met in a match where one of them had to go home. This was especially tough for them since they live in the same town and are good friends and training buddies for many years now, they normally even share a room when they go abroad on tournaments. But the pool gods had them meet in this do-or-die match. Sanchez had execute do the opening shot. He left an open shot on the 8-ball for Alcaide. But instead of pocketing the 8-ball, Alcaide scratched and allowed Sanchez back to the table with 0:-1. Sanchez cleared one rack and also pocketed the break shot for a 15:-1 lead. He was in a good shape and the balls were nicely spread out on the table in front of him. He pocketed another shot and then scratched on the following attempt which brought Alcaide to the table at 15:-1. With a few safety shots, Alcaide managed to get back to 15:13 with Sanchez Ruiz still being in the lead. At that score, Alcaide missed an easy cut into the side pocket. This time, Sanchez showed no more mercy for his long-time friend. he cleared the table and ran the match out with an inning of 85 points, winning the match with 100:15 to terminate Alcaide’s hopes for another straight pool medal this year.
 
Defending straight pool Champion Niels Feijen (NED) clearly won his opening match over Stefan Noelle (GER) with 100:0, running out in one inning after Noelle gave him a shot in his second visit at the table. Then, Feijen had to deal with Jaroslav Polach (SVK) in the winner’s qualification round. He did not quite find his rhythm as he did in the match before and Polach used his great chance, taking down the Champion with 100:26 after 3 visits to the table. Polach is now through to the single elimination stage of the last 32 players while Feijen needs another victory over Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL).
 
Definitely one surprise today was the grandmaster Stephane Cohen (FRA) taking down David Alcaide (ESP) as clearly as 100:5. While Cohen had smooth sailing, Albin Ouschan (AUT) really needed all his power to defeat unheralded Lukas Kovac (SVK) 100:91.
 
Another well known face in the European pool world is former European Champion Nick Van Den Berg (NED). For private reasons, van den Berg stopped playing the Euro-Tour and international events since the end of 2017 but since this event was on his home soil, he wanted to find out whether he is still on top of his game. The first discipline straight pool was too much of an obstacle for him though. He really had a tough draw and faced Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP) in his first match. The Spaniard played well and won the match clearly with 100:19 over van den Berg. Then on the loser’s side, van den Berg ran into Konstantin Stepanov (RUS). After the break shot, van den Berg allowed Stepanov to see a shot…. and that was the end of the match and the straight pool discipline for him. Stepanov ran 100 and out on van den Berg and played a perfect match in one inning. Van den Berg must now hope to get better draws in the coming disciplines.
 
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In the women’s division, defending Champion Kristina Tkach (RUS) made short work of her opponents so far. After a walk-over in the first round, she smashed Melissa Kuys-Rademakers (NED) 75:40 and then Sara Iannini (ITA) even 75:9. Her toughest opponent in European pool is Jasmin Ouschan (AUT), last year’s runner-up in women’s straight pool and #2 seeded player this year. Ouschan also performed pretty strong today. She overpowered Nina Torvund (NOR) 75:18 and then Silvia Lopez (ESP) with 75:28. This means that Ouschan as well as Tkach is already in the single elimination round of the last 16 women. Though there are still several serious opponents „in the way“, they both left the impression that they want a rematch in the final from last year.
 
In the senior’s division, last year’s runner-up and #1 seeded player Dirk Stenten (GER) lost his opening match to a strong playing Marinus Gennissen (NED) with 46:75. However, Gennissen also could not make it into the round of the last 32 players single elimination yet since he fell to the sharp blade of Thomas Lindloff (GER) in the next round with 23:75. Another seeded player, Danilo Cipriani (ITA) lost in the first winner’’s round today with 37:75 to Sami Karttunen (FIN). The only seeded player in the senior’s straight pool division to make it to the single elimination stage yet is Reiner Wirsbitzki (GER). He took down Markku Toivonen (FIN) 75:23 and Riccardo Sini (ITA) 75:27. Portugal’s hopes Henrique Correia and Manuel Pereira are also among the players who made it over the winner’s round and can be regarded as hot title contenders.
 
The first day’s play also saw the future of European pool take to the stage with both the U17’s & the U19’s in action. The Straight-pool discipline has been a strong point for the Polish youth over the past few years and that looks to continue here in Veldhoven with 4 from the 5 entrants in the U17’s, still flying the Polish flag into the last 32. With Wiktor Zielinski moving up to the U19’s and running amok with his opponents, it’s time to shine for someone in this talented team. Szymon Kural, last year’s 8-ball bronze medallist is leading the way with some stern shooting earning him an elimination match against the Belarusian Mikita Paluyan starting Friday at 10 am local time.
 
The Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 will commence tomorrow morning at 10:00 CET with matches in the straight pool individuals competition men, 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.

 

Surprising Triumph for Lindloff Over Gorst

Thomas Lindloff

At the Dynamic Billard Portuguese Open in Salgados Palace Hotel in Albufeira, Portugal, total underdog Thomas Lindloff (GER) upset Fedor Gorst (RUS) in winner’s round one with 9:8.

 

The writing for the match was on the wall. Lindloff, an amateur player from Germany who participates in his second Euro-Tour versus Gorst, a young, hungry and talented two-time European Champion in the Under 17 division. Nobody really expected the match to become thrilling or even exciting at least. All odds were in favour of Gorst. But, as often, life has surprises. One of them happened today. Lindloff managed to win the first two racks and drew first blood against the Russian who took his time-out already when the scoreboard displayed 2:1 in favour of Lindloff. When he came back, he won the next rack and levelled the match at 2:2. But again Lindloff managed to escape with a two-point-lead, making it 4:2. It took ten racks before Gorst was all square with Lindloff and tied the match at 5:5. Now again the odds were all in favour of Gorst. But to the astonishment of the audience Lindloff continued his strong performance and even got to the hill with an 8:6 lead after 14 racks. Rack number 15 was opened by Thomas Lindloff. He executed a nice break-shot, had two balls down and everything speed out nicely in front of him to clear the table for is possible victory. He played a good safety shot on the 4-ball and forced Gorst to commit a foul. With ball in hand, Lindloff approached the table and had all the chances in the World to finish the match. But his nerves left him and he scratched while pocketing the 5-ball which now brought Gorst to the table. The Russian used his chance and pulled the rack back from Lindloff. 8:7 was the small lead which was left for Lindloff. Then Gorst showed nerves of steel and ran the next rack with his own break shot to tie the match at 8:8. What a dramatic finish. Again, the odds were in favour of the Russian since the pressure on Lindloff went through the roof. The German again had two balls down and a nice layout in front of him. Would his nerves let him down again or would he be able to stand the heat? This time, Lindloff took the chance and ran the rack, clearing the table for an amazing 9:8 victory over favoured Fedor Gorst. „It was a tactical victory for me“ stated Linloff after the match, „and Lady Luck was more on my side than his.“ „Gorst was probably not shooting at his best level“, Lindloff added, „so I think routine defeated class today“. This victory was his second today already since he defeated Avelino Madeira (POR) in the first round with 9:8. Lindloff will be up in winner’s round two tomorrow at 09:00 GMT against Vitaliy Patsura (UKR), last year’s European Champion 8-ball men’s division.

 

Today, the featured match on the EPBF Facebook page was the clash between Quang Trung Le (VIE) and Sebastian Staab (GER). Both players played on an equal level with Staab being a bit more on the lucky side in the end, winning the match with 9:7 over Le.

 

Other remarkable results from today include Nr. 1 seeded player David Alcaide (ESP) winning his opening match by a whisker over unheralded Kenneth Rognstad (NOR) with 9:8 only. Former World 9-Ball Champion Daryl Peach (GBR) had the same problems and sneaked through past Andrey Seroshtan (RUS) with 9:8, having trailed 1:5 and 5:8 in the match already. Eklent Kaci (ALB) once again took down Oliver Ortmann (GER) 9:6 in winner’s round one. Ralf Souquet (GER), winner of the recent Euro-Tour in Treviso, Italy, wasted no time with Polish top player Tomasz Kaplan (POL) smashing him 9:1.

 

In the women’s event, Monika Zabek (POL) outplayed Sara Rocha (POR) 7:5 and proceeded to the next winner’s round while Rocha needs to seek her fortune on the loser’s side. Marta Tavares (POR) overmastered Kristina Grim (GER) 7:6 and handed her an unexpected defeat in winner’s round one. European flagship of women’s pool, Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) won both her matches today without bigger efforts. She took down Tamara Peeters-Rademakers (NED) 7:2 and then Yini Gaspar (SUI) even 7:1.

 

The Dynamic Billard Portuguese Open in Salgados Palace Hotel in Albufeira, Portugal will continue tomorrow at 09:00 GMT with matches from winner’s round 2 in the open event and matches from loser’s round 1 in the women’s event.

 

Every day, one match from the event will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF. All Facebook users may check out the high standard of quality which is provided for all the events and see what the Kozoom members receive all the time. You can see all the matches on up to 24 tables live via www.kozoom.com who stream the whole event on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page around noon every day. Results and schedule can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Italian Open starting Thursday 30thMarch at 09:00h

 

The event will be 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, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.