Frédéric Caudron getting ready for the main event
On the 12th of April the mayor of the city Brandenburg an der Havel, Dr. Dietlind Tiemann, will declare open this years European Billiards Championships. The tournament will be the biggest in the history of the Confédération Européenne de Billard (CEB). In the past several billiards-tournaments already took place in Brandenburg and in 2013 the CEB is using the great infrastructure with hotel and the venue next to it to host the continental championships.
For the first time in the history of the federation all specialists of all carom-disciplines will meet from the 12th to the 21st of April in Brandenburgs “Stahlpalast” to crown eighteen new European champions. With this consolidation the CEB will start into a new era. To date the European championships were held in different cities on different dates but from now they will be held together under one roof.
To represent the sport of contemporary, no expense is spared. More than 400.000 Euro will be spent for this event. The winners of the three-cushion competition - the highlight of the tournament - will be awarded a cash prize of about 30.000 Euro for example. Besides that five starting positions remain to be recovered for the prestigious World Games, which will be played similarly to the Olympic Games under the patronage of the IOC in a 4-year cycle. The Games will take place in Colombia this summer.
CEB President Wolfgang Rittmann promises ten tournament-days with many great sporting achievements: "About 500 athletes from all member countries are expected to come to Brandenburg. Not only the men will be represented, but also the top women players and the young aces. With this project, we are raising our championships to a whole new level. We will show that carom billiards is still a very lively sport".
This statement highlights the fact of the significance of carom in countries like Belgium, the Netherlands or France. There the top athletes are recognized sportsmen. Not to mention three-cushion topstar Torbjörn Blomdahl from Sweden. After countless world titles in the 80s and 90s the fifty year old player had a great comeback in 2012. Meanwhile, the German hopes rest upon Martin Horn who is absolutely capable of winning a medal and a place for the World Games at the same time.
All results of the European Championships can be found on www.eurobillard.org
All results of the European Championships can be found on www.eurobillard.org
