Unexpectedly close results in the ladies' division
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina:Pascal Budo (BEL) just eliminated Mika Määttä (FIN) with 9:6 from the 9-ball individuals.
Both players did not necessarily have a good start yesterday. Määttä received a disastrous 9:0 defeat from Tom Storm (SWE) while Budo fell to Pereira (POR) with 9:2. They were both seriously longing for a victory since the loser was going to be eliminated from the 9-ball. This explained them playing rather cautious than going for offensive shots. So the match crept along with the players taking their racks in alternate turns. They took their time for each shot and the tournament direction felt it appropriate to impose a shot-clock on the match. After twelve racks the match was leveled at 6:6. Määttä went for his time-out. When he got back, it seemed that his time-out had served Budo better than him. Budo pocketed the next two racks in his account, leading 8:6. In rack 15, Budo finished the match, running all balls after Määttä's unsuccessful break shot. Budo stays in the 9-ball competition on the loser's side and will play Werner Scheu (AUT) in his next match while Määttä will have to settle for 49th.
In the winner's qualification round, we had a re-match from last night's 8-ball final between Tom Storm (SWE) and Manuel Pereira (POR), Storm took revenge and won the 9-ball with 9:7. In another Swedish-Portuguese skirmish, Kent Karlsson (SWE) delivered a 9:3 defeat to Henrique Correia (POR). Correia defeated defending Champion Giorgio Margola (ITA) in the first round of the event but Karlsson was too much of an obstacle for him today.
An upset occurred in the ladies' division when Lot van Helmond (NED) got the better of Barbara Bolfelli (ITA) with 5:4. Newly crowned 8-ball Champion in the ladies' division, Susanne Wessel (GER) did not have an easy start into the new working day. She met Monika Oeschger (SUI) in the first winner's round of ladies' 9-ball and just made it with a 5:4 victory into the next round on the winner's side.
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.billiardapps.com or contact our press office.
Cerimagic waving the flag for Bosnia & Hercegovina
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina: In a one-sided match, Werner Scheu (AUT) defeated Johny Vanrijkel (BEL) with 7:0.
Johny Vanrijkel is known to the European Pool scene for three reasons: (1) he is an international EPBF referee; (2) he is running one of the most successful pool schools in Europe which created and supports talents like Serge Das, Kamila Khodjaeva and Kurt Deklerck; and (3) he is a great player in the senior's division. Combining all the factors one must say that Vanrijkel is an interesting draw to receive in the quarter-finals of the 8-ball discipline. Vanrijkel made his way straight to this match, winning clashes with Rado Doroslovac (SLO) 7:5, Marko Hartikainen (FIN) 7:5, Sascha Manojlovic (SUI) 7:4 and Frank Willner (GER) with 7:5. His opponent, unheralded Werner Scheu (AUT), made it to the quarter-final with victories over Jorgen Nilsen (NOR) 7:2, Maciej Trudnowski (POL) 7:4, Kim Uytenbogaardt (NED) 7:5 and Martin Schwab (GER) 7:5. So both players were undefeated in 8-ball by the time they crossed swords.
But the match turned out into a catastrophe for Vanrijkel. Nothing seemed to work his way while Scheu played rock solid. Maybe Vanrijkel was still exhausted from the match he had played in the round before. He had no break while Scheu had some time to recover from his previous encounter. As the match went along, Scheu did not allow Vanrijkel to find his way into the game at all. He taught him a tough lesson, handing him a doughnut with 7:0.
Other notable results include Tom Storm (SWE) smashing Gijs Van Helmond (NED) 7:2 and booking his seat in the semi-final of the the 8-ball competition. Storm will meet local star Dino Cerimagic (BIH) who surprisingly powered past Henrique Correia (POR) by a whisker with 7:6.
The semi-finals will be played at 18:00 CET with the finals to follow at approximately 20:00 CET.
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.billiardapps.com or contact our press office.
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina:Vegar Kristiansen (NOR) just defeated Tomasz Malinowski (POL) in the first round of the 10-ball individuals with 7:3.
The match itself was quite unspectacular. But the fact that Kristiansen is still waiting for his luggage adds a bit spice to it. He had to borrow black trousers, he borrowed a house cue stick from the local bowling alley and he is without his glasses that he desperately needs. "Not my tournament so far", stated the modest Norwegian, "it's too hot for me here being from Norway. Also, playing without my glasses constitutes a nightmare for me". However, he only lost last night in the quarter-final of the straight pool competition and now took his first victory in 10-ball. The first four racks were divided between the two players to get to a score of 2:2. But then the mistakes increased sharply. With a bit of luck and the better positional play, Kristiansen succeeded to take a 4-rack advantage over Malinowski, now leading 6:2. In the 9th rack, Malinowski played some great safety shots and forced Kristiansen to commit a foul. With ball in hand, Malinowski ran out and tried to stay in the match. One could see that Kristiansen really struggled with his eyesight. In the next rack, Malinowski should have taken another point back from Kristiansen since he was at the table with three balls left. But Malinowski dogged the 8-ball. That was enough for Kristiansen to finish the match, winning with 7:3. He will play the winner's qualification round next while Malinowski has to take a cruise through the loser's side.
Other notable results from the first rounds in 10-ball include defending Champion Henrique Correia (POR) wiping the floor with his opponent Markku Savolainen (FIN) 7:0. Kurt Deklerck (BEL), multiple Champion in several wheelchair divisions, won his first match over Johann Schernthaner (AUT) with 7:1. Last year's silver medalist Frank Willner (GER) also won his first 10-ball match with an uncontested 7:4 victory over Werner Scheu (AUT).
In the ladies division, Monika Oeschger (SUI) stayed on top of Maarit Gerkmann (FIN) with a score of 5:4. Barbara Bolfelli (ITA) had a furious start and won her match over Lidia Moreira (POR) clearly with 5:1.
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.billiardapps.com or contact our press office.
David Alcaide winning for team Spain Foto: EPBF/DK
In the men’s team final tomorrow, defending Champion team Germany will face team Spain.
Both teams had to survive a tough fight in the semi-final matches. Team Germany just overcame a strong Austrian team with 2:1 while the Spanish team won with the same result over team Finland. The deciding matches were won by Ralf Souquet (9:7 over Werner Scheu) and David Alcaide (9:8 over Aki Heiskanen).
In the women’s team event, team Norway will have to deal with the Polish team. While team Poland achieved a clear victory over team Russia (2:0), team Norway had to play the shootout against team Austria and won it with 4:2.
In the 9-ball individuals, the semi-finals will be played as follows:
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 , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.
Nick van den Berg releasing all his tension Foto: EPBF/DK
Team Netherlands defeated Team Slovakia in a very tight match with 2:1.
Day 8 started with the team competition of the Dynamic European Championships. Nr. 2 seeded Team The Netherlands, consisting of Niels Feijen, Ivar Saris and Nick van den Berg had to compete with Team Slovakia which was made up of Jakub Koniar, Milan Klobucnik and Jaroslav Polach. What looked like an easy task for the Dutch on paper turned into a dramatic thriller. Feijen had won the 10-ball 8:6 while Saris had lost the 8-ball with 4:8. That made the score in the team match 1:1. It ball boiled down to the 9-ball match between Nick van den Berg and Jaroslav Polach. Van den Berg was definitely favoured to win this match but Polach cannot be underestimated. In fact, the Slovakian consistently performed on a high level and brought the Dutch team to the verge of defeat. He was already leading 8:6 over van den Berg and The Netherlands would have been shocked if they were defeated in the first round of the Team’s event. However, “El Nino” van den Berg struck back and after a furious fight tied the match at hill-hill. He broke the final rack with a power break shot and ran the rack under high pressure, getting an8:7 victory over Polach. That took care of the Dutch team winning 2:1 over unlucky Slovakia. The Dutch will now deal with team Russian in the next round of the winner’s side while team Slovakia goes to the loser’s bracket.
Other notable results include team Russia defeating team Serbia with 3:0. Team Austria was victorious over Team Poland 2:1 with Werner Scheu winning the deciding match in 10-ball over Radoslaw Babica with 8:5.
After 13:00 CET, the event continues with the 9-ball individuals competition.
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 , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.
