Tuesday, March 29, 2011: Probably the most popular player to already be eliminated from the European Championship 9-ball division is Konstantin Stepanov from Russia. Stepanov lost his first match to Mario He from Austria by a lopsided 9:1 score. In the loser's bracket, he had to deal with Tomas Larsson from Sweden. Larsson took a quick 4:1 lead over Stepanov who did not really show his best game this week. The score went to 5:2 and 6:3 before Stepanov managed to come back to 5:6, trailing by only one single rack. But Larsson wanted that win. He went up 8:5, gave another rack to Stepanov and then finally won the match 9:6. Stepanov has one more chance in the 10-ball event to prove he still belongs to Europe's pool elite.
Another drama happened on the loser's side between Manuel Ederer (GER), a young German talent and a fairly unknown Jason Power from Ireland. Though Ederer is not yet 18 years of age, he already has an impressing vita in pool. He has already achieved six medals in the Junior's and Pupil's category at European Championships; four of these medals were gold medals. But this week does not look like his week yet. He was already down 3:7 against Power when it appeared that he heard the wakeup call. He got his mind together and caught up rack after rack until the showdown was reached: 8:8, a hill-hill match. Maybe his experience or maybe his youth was the deciding factor – who knows. In the end he left the table as the winner, eliminating Power from the 9-ball event. Ederer might still find his best game during the 9-ball event. His next opponent will be another Irishman, Paddy McLoughlin.
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 event website www.epconline.eu or contact our press office.
