Serge Das (BEL)
Portoroz, Slovenia: At the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships in Portoroz, Slovenia, the first rounds of 9-ball competition have started today. In a one sided match, Serge Das (BEL) sent Erich Gruber (AUT) to the loser's side with 9:4.
Two things need to be said about that match. First, Das won rightfully. Second, Gruber had tough luck at times and then decided to fight himself rather than his opponent. In the early stage of the match, both players showed some nerves and missed several shots. At a score of 2:1 to Das, Gruber's misery started. Instead of making use of Das' miss, he snookered himself and had to play a jump shot which he obviously missed. That allowed Das to take a 3:1 lead. The next racks were pretty much determined by safety play were Gruber always ended up with the short end of the stick. Part of it was his own fault but sometimes he hit the edge of a pocket while trying to put the cue ball in a safe place and gave Das the option to run out. These little problems led to Das leading 6:3 after 9 racks. Then again, Gruber had the chance with his own break to close the gap a bit but he missed. Das ran out and ran another rack to get on the hill with 8:3. Gruber won one more rack since he forced Das to commit a foul shot. But the match was finished by Das after the 13th rack with a clear 9:4 victory for Das.
Other notable results include David Zalman (CZE) unexpectedly winning with 9:8 over Artem Koshovyi (UKR). In an all Polish clash, Radoslaw Babica remained the upper hand over Tomasz Kaplan with 9:5.
Today will continue with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals in the 8-ball division. The quarter-finals begin at 15:00 CET.
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 federation website www.epconline.eu or contact our press office.
