Pia Filler
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)
Semi Finals
Arseny Sevastyanov (FIN) 8 – 6 Nemania Micic (BIH)
Emil-Andre Gangflot (NOR) 8 – 4 Albert-Roman Stensrod (NOR)
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.
All matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at
www.epbf.com/tournaments/europ
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