Szolnoki wins the crucial match over Oegaard
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina: The Hungarian junior team just outplayed team Norway with 2:0. It was Oliver Szolnoki who carried a huge weight on his shoulders.
Szolnoki is so far the most successful player of his team during these championships. He has achieved a Silver Medal in pupil's 8-ball and a Bronze Medal in pupil's 10-ball. Since Hungary does not have a pupil's team at this year's Dynamic Billard EPBF European Championships Youth, he strengthened the junior's team. And he turned out to be an important asset for them. While Gergely Papp brought team Hungary in smooth waters with his 8:3 victory over Haris Amini (NOR), Otto Horvath (HUN) struggled in his straight pool match with Audin Risan Heimsjoe (NOR). Heimsjoe was around 40 points ahead of Horvath and things did not look too promising for the Hungarians there. But Szolnoki put up a great fight against Mikael Oegaard (NOR) in 9-ball. He had a three point advantage when he was leading 5:2. But then he probably saw Horvath struggling and his nerves played some tricks on him. Oegaard made use of that situation and got two racks back from Szolnoki, now turning the score to 4:5. Then both players took another rack to get Szolnoki on the hill. But still the weight on his shoulders was huge. He knew he would have to win this set - otherwise the team victory would be in great danger. But Szolnoki lived up to the situation and calmed down and ran the rack, bringing the second and deciding point home to his team. Since straight pool was not yet finished, the official score was 2:0 for Hungary in the end. But the result looks clearer than the match was. It was a critical but deserved victory for the Hungarian team.
In the other junior's match, team Poland defeated the Swedish team with 3:0. The first matches tomorrow morning will be the 9-ball quarter-finals with the semis and the finals to follow. Since one of the matches in the pupil's division turned out to be very late, the quarter-finals of the pupil's team were rescheduled to tomorrow 14:15 CET. All other matches afterwards will be rescheduled accordingly.
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