The
tension was so present in the early morning in Leader Club Billard; one could
almost physically feel the player's presence. 16 top pool billiard players,
each one with his own bag full of dreams of capturing the first title in the
Euro-Tour in 2011 were warming up for their matches.
One very interesting pairings
was the match between Dutch player Nick van den Berg (pictured at right) and Scotsman Jayson Shaw.
Van den Berg turned out to be the winner with 9-8. The match was of high
quality from the very beginning. Both players were really focused and no errors
were made. The score sheet confirms this since no player way able to get away
with more than one game from the other during the whole match. "I knew before
that Jayson would be a strong opponent" van den Berg said. "He comes from the
English Pool scene. He is very young and ambitious and I was lucky to win in
the end". This is very true since Shaw was breaking at 8-8. He pocketed 4 balls
and had all balls spread out in an easy layout with the 2-ball as the starting
ball right in front of the cue ball. He pocketed ball after ball and found
himself with a little awkward position on the 9-ball. Shaw: "I should have
taken more time for that 9-ball but I always play very fast. This is my game. I
pocket this ball 99 times out of one hundred." This time though, he missed it
and left Nick the shot to win the match and get to the quarter finals. After
the match, Shaw was surprisingly relaxed. "I try not to take the bad things
with me but only the good things. I finished in the top 16 players here at one
of my first Euro-Tour events. That's not bad."
Very true and very
down-to-earth statement from the young Scotsman. Van den Berg now will become
Nr. 1 ranked in the overall Euro-Tour rankings no matter when he loses since
the current Nr. 1 Karl Boyes lost in his match. "If I had not lost in Spain in
the quarter final, I would have won last year's Tour. I'm happy to become #1
now", comments van den Berg.
Karl Boyes is not so happy
right now. He lost in the last 16 against Norway's underdog Mattey Ullah with
5-9. Ullah had a comfortable lead of 5-0 and 7-2 before Boyes got some
momentum. But it was too late. The break shot did not work for the British
player. "I think my break made the difference today" states a very happy Ullah
after the match. "The balls just went in my favor while Karl hardly got any
shots." "This is my fourth Euro-Tour appearance and I am tremendously happy. No
matter what will happen from now on, I have already achieved more than I ever
expected", Ullah says. He will play the Tour constantly from now on.
Last 16 results:
Karl Boyes v Mattey Ullah 5-9
Ralf Souquet v David Alcaide 9-8
Manuel Gama v Serge Das 9-5
Artem Koshovyi v Niels Feijen 3-9
Kristoffer Mindreboe v Carlo Dalmatin 9-5
Radoslaw Babica v Scott Higgins 3-9
Stephan Cohen v Konstantin Stepanov 8-9
Jayson Shaw v Nick van den Berg 8-9
Last 8 matchups:
Mattey Ullah v Ralf Souquet
Manuel Gama v Niels Feijen
Kristoffer Mindreboe v Scott Higgins
Konstantin Stepanov v Nick van den Berg
Matches begin at 12:00 pm local time.
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.eurotouronline.eu or contact our press office.
