Senior's European Championships start with a demonstration of power
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina: With the straight pool individuals, the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Seniors and Ladies have begun in Radon Plaza Hotel in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina.
The defending Champion Rene Peeters (NED) does not compete this year in Sarajevo. Instead, some well known names from past times have come to demonstrate their skills. Probably the biggest name with five gold medals and a total of 15 medals at European Championships is Tom Storm from Sweden. He played his first two matches already and won both of them with a commanding lead. In the first round, he defeated Rado Doroslovac (SLO) with 75:12 in nine innings. That was a warm-up for him. In the first winner's round, Storm smashed Rune Espeland (NOR) 75:4 in only four innings, including a high run of 46 points. Storm needed exactly 23 minutes for the whole match. That performance showed what is still to expect from the Swedish legend. He definitely belongs to the favored players in the senior's EC. It will be more than interesting to see him clashing with other strong straight pool players.
Other notable results include Reiner Wirsbitzki (GER) creaming Henrique Correia (POR) with 75:21. In this match, nine European medals and five titles clashed. Correia being the favored player with four Gold and one Silver medal whereas Wirsbitzki achieved one title and three Bronze medals. The past record obviously spoke in favor of Correia but today's reality seemed different. Wirsbitzki found his rhythm while Correia seemed to struggle. In the end, the victory for Wirsbitzki was never really endangered. #1 seeded player, last year's silver medallist Gijs Van Helmond (NED) fell in his first match to Michael Stark (AUT) with 62:75.
Frank Willner (GER) managed to turn an 8:46 deficit against local player Dino Cerimagic (BIH) into a 75:68 lead. Willner needed 20 innings for that and had a high run of 20 points. The next opponent was Willer's teammate Christophe Creter. The match went back and forth and after nine innings, Creter was leading 71:38. It looked like everything was over for Willer in that encounter. But he hung in there and got some points back. Still, he could not turn the match into a victory. After a total of 12 innings, the final score on the scoreboard displayed a 75:67 result in Creter's favor.
The ladies will step in tomorrow when the 10-ball competition is started.
The event will be streamed LIVE on up to 20 tables at www.kozoom.com/en/pool-billiard/
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.billiardapps.com or contact our press office.
