eds. note: this is not an online league. That is just the name of the sponsor.
Grabe still unbeaten at Olympic-Online Baltic Pool League
This weekend the fourth stage of Olympic-Online Baltic Pool League 2012 was held. The venue was Baribal Poolclub in the centre of Tallinn, Estonia, and the game was 8-ball. In the mens division the weekend did not produce any surprises as Denis Grabe (Team Olympic-Online) claimed another stage victory. In the womens division it was Anna Prisjaznuka from Latvia that claimed the title.
It was quite clear from the early stages of the event that it would take a tremendous effort to stop Grabe as he stormed through the field with comfortable wins over all of his opponents. In the semi-final Grabe did battle with Latvian sportsmen Peteris Ermansons (Team Olympic-Online). After trailing 1-2 it was all about Grabe in the end as he won rack after rack and the final score was 8-4. On the lower side of the chart it was not so one-sided. Kait Hinn from Estonia and Saulius Vaitukaitis from Lithuania were both up for the chance to try to break Grabe's winning streak in the final. However, they first needed 15 racks against one another to decide who got the hot seat for the final. It was the host, Hinn, that was a little better in the end and won 8-7.
The final started good for Hinn as he kept the pace with his good friend Grabe. However Grabe turned up another gear at 5-5 and clinched another title with a final score 8-5.
The womens final went to Anna Prisjaznuka
The start of the fourth stage was anything but good for Prisjaznuka as she lost to Agne Jaruśauskaite in the earlier stages of the event. However, she did recover from the loss and fought her way back to the semi-final through the losers side which also contained Simona Miliśauskaite from Lithuania. It was a dramatic match with both players having opportunities to win it. Nevertheless it was Prisjaznuka that was able to control herslef and her cue ball better in the and win the match 6-5. In the other semi-final Anna Grintśuk from Estonia was drawn against Jaruśauskaite who showed a lot of heart to win this match. Grintśuk was up 4-1, but in the end Jaruśauskaite got back in the match and won it 6-4. Therefore the final was a re-match of the earlier rounds where Jaruśauskaite had beaten Prisjaznuka. The final was a close encounter and on the score 4-5 Jaruśauskaite had a good chance to make it 5-5. However she did not succeed in that and Prisjaznuka pocketed the eight ball to win it.
To begin with I want to congratulate the winners and thank Gintaras Petrovas for his work as a referee. It was yet again a great event fulfilled with a lot of tense matches and positive energy. I am very happy to see that our event got once again 70 participants. That is a great recognition to our work and we are very thankful to all the participants for participating. Although our next event in Vilnius in the end of October is a final event and therefore with a closed participation field with 32 best ranked men and 16 women we hope that there will be many fans cheering for the players. I thank all the sponsors, especially Olympic-Onlline and Baribal Poolclub," said one of the organisers of the event, Juri Talu.
There were 70 players participating on this event from Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania. The event is sponsored by Olympic-Online, Baribal Poolclub, Biljardai, Mezz Cues, Strachan, Biljardai, Tieto, Aveiras and Entry Billiard Club. The official media partners of the event are AZBilliards, InsidePool Magazine and Pro9. The final stage of the event to which the 32 best men and 16 best women players have qualified is held 27.10-28.10.12 in Vilnius.
