At the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair Athletes in the Salgados Palace Hotel in Albufeira, Portugal, the Women’s Team from Russia and the Men’s Team from Austria have won the Gold medals in their respective division.
In the men’s division, Team Austria met Team Finland in the final match. The Austrians had ousted the strong Polish Team in their semi-final 2:0 while the Finnish have taken down Team Spain 2:1. The first point for Austria was in the books very quickly. Albin Ouschan won his 9-ball match over Kim Laaksonen 9:2 in just under one hour. That brought Austria the 1:0 lead. Then, Petri Makkonen rode the winning wave over Maximilian Lechner in 10-ball with 8:4. The 8-ball match between Mario He and Jani Uski had to decide. Uski, who just won the title in 8-ball earlier this week, was down 6:7 with Mario He being at the table. The Austrian cleared the table but lined the 8-ball which was lying in a cluster of balls up for a one-rail shot in the side pocket. He missed that shot and Uski got back to the table, cleared it and turned the scoreboard to 7:7. One last 8-ball rack was deciding about fame and glory. Uski had the break shot and perfectly executed it, having some ball down and a nice option to continue. He pocketed all balls of his group except the last one. He fell out of position since he tried to open it up with the shot before but failed to touch the ball at all. So he went for a safety attempt which failed completely. Mario He had one more visit to the table and used it. Cheered up by his teammates Ouschan and Lechner, He cleared the table and pocketed the last winning 8-ball, taking the title for Austria.
Also today in the men’s team competition, disciplinary action was taken against one player. Daniel Kandi (DEN) has over the past week repeatedly misconducted at the table by bashing balls and/or his cue on the table among other things. Said EPBF Sports Director Anamaria Matesic: „We definitely allow players to show emotions and we want to display our sport in all its facets, but we also require a certain level of behaviour. This was broken several times by Mr. Kandi so, after having warned him through a referee on different occasions already, I decided to impose a fine of 500,-€ on him. I hope he will learn from that and in future events will conduct accordingly so we can all work for our common goal to display our sports at its best“.
Top 8 Men’s Teams:
1. Austria
2. Finland
3. Poland
Spain
5. Croatia
Netherlands
Denmark
Russia
In the women’s division, the final match was played between Team Spain and Team Russia. After a heartbreaking shootout decision in the semi-final over Team The Netherlands, the Spanish team seemed a bit out of energy. Probably the semi-final took too much out of them. On the other hands, Team Russia sailed into the final match with a nice and clear 2:0 victory over Team Switzerland. In the final, Nataliya Seroshtan finished Mayte Ropero 6:1 in 8-ball while Kristina Tkach left no chance for Amalia Matas and won her 9-ball match 7:5.
Top 8 Women’s Teams:
1. Russia
2. Spain
3. Netherlands
Switzerland
5. France
Poland
7. Germany
Sweden
Medal Table after 4 of 5 events:
The team competition ties the Finnish and the Dutch Team for first place in the medal ranking. They both still have promising players in the 9-ball individuals so it will be interesting to see who will be the overall winning nation tomorrow after the last ball has been pocketed.
Earlier today, a few rounds of 9-ball individuals were played. In the men’s division, the tournament is down to the round of the last 64 players single elimination. Here, Christian Sparrenloev-Fischer (SWE) had a tough fight with defending Champion Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP). The match went hill-hill at 8:8 with Fischer breaking the final rack. He executed a very powerful break and had the 1-ball and the 5-ball pocketed, having a long thin cut on the 2-ball. He went for it, missed it but got extremely lucks since the cue ball hid behind the 7-ball, making it hard for Sanchez to come up with a decent answer. The Spaniard tried to hit the 2-ball rail first and successfully did so. However, the cue ball scratched and that brought Fischer back to the table with ball in hand. Sparrenloev-Fischer used his chance and luckily took the match with 9:8 over Sanchez, advancing to the round of the last 32 players while Sanchez is eliminated out of the 9-ball individuals at the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair Athletes in the Salgados Palace Hotel in Albufeira, Portugal. Also in the round of the last 64 men, Marco Teutscher (NED) ousted the current 9-ball World Champion Albin Ouschan (AUT) quite clearly with 9:4. In an encounter of two very experienced players, Niels „The Terminator“ Feijen (NED) defeated Stephan Cohen (FRA) by a whisker with 9:8. Daniele Corrieri (ITA) ended Mario He’s (AUT) hope for a title in 9-ball this year with a deserved and clear 9:3 result. Joining Mario He in the group of eliminated players is David Alcaide (ESP). His destiny was sealed by Denis Grabe (EST) with 9:7.
In the women’s division, the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair Athletes are down to the last 16 players single elimination. Today, the loser’s qualification round was completed. Kristina Tkach (RUS) remained alive in the competition by smashing Monica Margeta (SWE) 7:2. Kelly Fisher (GBR) who surprisingly lost her opening match, has also made it to the last 16 players. She defeated Vania Franco (POR) 7:3. unfortunately for Fisher, she was drawn against Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) in the first single elimination round which will be played tomorrow at 12:00 GMT.
In the wheelchair division, defending Champion Henrik Larsson (SWE) convincingly made his way into the semi-final, taking down Matt Duffy (GBR) 7:1. The other winner’s qualification match in the wheelchair division was fiercely fought over. In the end, Kurt Deklerck (BEL) managed to get the better of Fred Dinsmore (IRL) by taking the match 7:6. This seems not be be Dinsmore’s Championships.
Every day, one match from the events will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF. All Facebook users may check out the high standard of quality which is provided for all the events and see what the Kozoom members receive all the time. You can see all the matches live via www.kozoom.com who stream the whole event on 24 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page around noon every day. Results and schedule can be found at www.europeanpoolchampionships.
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.epbf.com, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
