Eyllul Kibaroglu, Henrik Larsson and Mieszko Fortunski
There was joy for hosts Turkey as Eyllul Kibaroglu took 10 ball gold in the Ladies’ division while Poland took both gold and silver in the Men’s division as Mieszko Fortunski beat Daniel Maciol 8-4 at the Dynamic Billiards European Championships taking place in Antalya, Turkey. In the Wheelchair division it was Sweden’s Henrik Larsson who took yet another EC gold.
In the men’s final, Fortunski, the 29 year-old from Wroclaw, put in a superb showing as he led throughout to secure a deserved 8-4 victory. Maciol’s break let him down on occasions and Fortunski capitalised on it with some solid play. It proved to be back-to-back 10 ball titles for the Pole following victory in Treviso, Italy in 2019.
There were 115 present in the event including Joshua Filler who was making his debut at this year’s championship. He was knocked out though, at the hands of Roman Hybler (CZE) in a classic 8-7 win. Hybler went onto the quarter-finals where he was beaten by the eventual runner-up.
The semi-finals saw comfortable wins for the two Poles as Maciol beat BCA Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet, who collected yet another EC medal to go into his over-flowing trophy cabinet. Fortunski overcame Marc Bijsterbosch, who claimed a bronze also, to go with the silver he won in the straight pool division.
As is usual at a major final, there was tension in the air and it was Maciol, the 22 year-old from Katowice, who ran out the first rack after winning the lag. Fortunski levelled it in the next rack before a dry break in the third left the door open for Fortunski who completed a great clearance to take one against the break.
However, Fortunski missed the 2 ball in the fourth game, focusing too much on keeping the white out of the corner pocket, and a composed Maciol ran the table for 2-2. Another dry break from Maciol was his sole contribution to the next as Fortunski confidently cleared for a 3-2 lead.
Fortunski ran out the next to take a two-rack lead. Under some pressure now, Maciol finally came good on the break and cleared well to reduce arrears and hope for a mistake from his opponent.
Fortunski lost the cue ball in the eighth game and could only play a difficult containing safety which left a tricky long pot on the 1 ball. Sensing that offence was his only route to regaining parity, Maciol took it on and missed. Worse still, it left an easy pot on the 1 ball, and Fortunski took full advantage and ran out for 5-3.
Maciol was thrown a life-line in the next as his opponent broke dry and he made the clearance to stay in the game. He gave it back in the next when he missed the 2-ball following a dry break. Fortunski missed it himself but was handed the table back following a poor shot and ran out to reach the hill at 7-4
With three balls between Fortunski and the title, he missed a horror 7-ball as he seemed to twitch on the shot. It was a golden opportunity for Maciol but his speedy cut on the 7-ball saw the white collide with the 10 ball and drop into the corner pocket. With ball in hand, Fortunski made no mistakes to secure the European Men’s 10 Ball Championship.
After the match, Fortunski was relieved to have come through such a strong field, “For sure it wasn’t easy for me, I had a lot of tough matches. I played against Mario He, Schjetne, Bijsterbosch, Gorst, and in the final with Maciol so my road to the title was really hard and I’m really happy.
“It’s my second in a row so I’m double happy! 10 ball for sure is my best game. There were no lucky shots, well not too much, but I believed and was confident for the final.”
Medals – Men
Gold – Mieszko Fortunski (POL)
Silver – Daniel Maciol (POL)
Bronze – Marc Bijsterbosch (NED)
Ralf Souquet (GER)
There was arguably the loudest cheer of the week at the Venezia Palace Hotel as local star Eyllul Kibaroglu deposited the 10-ball to claim the gold medal in the Ladies’ 10 Ball event. The 33 year-old from Ankara defeated Tamara Rademakers 6-2. It was her second European Championship gold and you would have to go all the way back to 2007 in Liberec, Czech Republic when she took the top spot in the 9 ball division.
It was sweet revenge for Kibaroglu who had been sent to the one-loss side in her second match of the tournament by Rademakers. However, she battled on defeating Spanish straight pool silver medallist Amalia Matas, and fancied Ana Gradisnik 6-3 in the quarter-finals.
Rademakers ran through the winners’ side and beat Margaret Fefilova 6-2 in the semi-finals to meet Kibaroglu, who had defeated Bojana Sarac 6-5 at the same stage. The final wasn’t perhaps the classic hoped for as the Turkish girl romped home 6-2 to secure the gold.
“I’m so excited to get the second title after 14 years. I’ve waited for it too long and too many times. I’ve made too many quarter-finals on the Euro Tour and European Championships but this is the right time and the right moment in my home country. I’m proud and more than happy and excited.
“I’m very thankful to the Turkish Federation who have been supporting me a long time and I’m very appreciative of the EPBF for putting on this beautiful tournament.”
Medals – Ladies
Gold – Eyllul Kibaroglu (TUR)
Silver – Tamara Rademakers (NED)
Bronze – Bojana Sarac (SRB)
Margarita Fefilova (BLR)
Playing out at the same time as the men’s and ladies’ finals, was the final of the Wheelchair division and it was veteran Henrik Larsson who grabbed a brilliant 14th European Championship gold medal. He defeated Finland’s Jouni Tahti 5-4 in the championship match to successfully defend the title he won in Italy two years ago.
It was a thriller with the destination of the gold medal determined in the final rack, and it was Larsson who came through to deny European wheelchair pool legend Tahti and incredible 26th gold medal.
Larsson was delighted post-match; “I’m tickled! I’m going to practice extremely hard in 2022 and play the Euro Tour and all that and see what is my potential and when I find that out, I don’t know what I’m going to do!
“I’m really happy to see all the improvements and the sport growing. You see so many guys now in wheelchairs shooting and I’m really looking forward to what we can expect for the sport in the following couple of years,” he added.
Medals – Wheelchair
Gold – Henrik Larsson (SWE)
Silver – Jouni Tahti (FIN)
Bronze – David Slacek (SLO)
Matej Brajkovic (SLO)
All the matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com
