Eklent Kaci (ALB) booked his seat in the quarter-final round of the 9-ball competition of the U17 players. In the round of the last 16 players, Kaci defeated Fedor Gorst (RUS) with 7:4. He will now face Johannes Schmitt (GER) in the quarter-final match. Kaci is probably one of the bigger surprises at this Dynamic Billard European Championships for Youth. He plays rock solid and convinces with his performance. He already won the Bronze Medal in 8-ball and the Silver Medal in 10-ball earlier this week. Coming here to Portoroz completely unheralded, it will be interesting to follow where the road of this young player will lead him to.
The defending Champion Jan van Lierop (NED) could not live up to his performance from last year and lost two matches in order to be eliminated from the event. HIs teammates Kaylash Persad and Cyriel Ledoux (both NED) will play each other in the round of the last 8 players.
In the U19, Joshua Filler and Raphael Wahl (both GER) must be considered serious contenders for the title. They have both won titles earlier this week and it is going to be interesting to see if their winning streak will continue. They both face tough opponents in the quarter-finals. Wahl faces Daniel Guttenberger (AUT) while Filler will have to play against Anton Zlatev (BUL).
In the girls division, the „usual suspects“ have made their way to the quarterfinals. Kristina Tkach (RUS) plays against Ana Gradisnik (SLO), Dina Fatihova (RUS) will meet Marharyta Fefilova (BLR), Kamila Khodjaeva (BEL) crosses swords with Marion Winkler (AUT) and last but not least Diana Khodjaeva (BEL) battles it out with Nathalie Seichter (NED). It is a bit surprising that Nataliya Seroshtan (RUS) is not in this round. She lost clearly with 1:6 to Gradisnik in the loser’s qualification round.
Later today, two more rounds of team competition were played. In the U19, team Finland met team Austria. Casper Matikainen won the 8-ball with 7:4 over Clemens Schober. Daniel Guttenberger tied the match at 1:1 in winning the straight pool with 100:23 over Santtu Pyykonen. The decision had to come from the 9-ball match. There, Juuso Nuutiinen and Michael Winkler went to 7:7. Nuutiinen mixed the 6-ball and that sealed the fate for team Finland. Winkler won the rack and the match and made the day for team Austria who won 2:1 over team Finland.
The Dynamic Billard European Youth Championships 2014 will continue tomorrowmorning at 09:00 CET with the quarterfinals of the 9-ball individuals. The 9-ball finals will be played at 12:00 CET. The team finals will be played at 16:00 CET.
All matches can be viewed LIVE at www.kozoom.com. 22 tables in HiRes quality are providing you with all the action of the event. You do not miss out one single match! Join today!
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.epconline.eu.
The event is hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.
