On day 8 of the European Billiards Championships in Brandenburg/Germany Daniel Sanchez won the 3 Cushions-Title on the small tables. In a dramatic final the Spaniard had the better end on his side. With 40:38 points after twenty innings Sanchez won gold while his opponent Herbert Szivacz had to be satisfied with the silver medal.
At the beginning it looked like a clear win for Sanchez as he already had 17 points on his account after two innings. But then Szivacz had a great comeback which finally wasn’t successful.
In the semifinal the later gold medalist played a magnificent match against Dick Jaspers (Netherlands). 40 points after eight innings is nothing else than world class. The second bronze medal went to Michael Nilsson from Sweden.
In an all-Dutch final in the discipline Cadre 47/2 Raymund Swertz won gold by a 250:130-win after two innings. His compatriot Henri Tilleman remained silver, while both Sven Daske (Germany) and Nikolas Gerassimopoulos from Greece finished third. Daske had a run of 207 points in the semifinal against Tilleman but had to accept that the Dutchman was a little better in the end.
In the 3-Cushions National-Team-Tournament the competition progresses slowly. Notable results are the draw of the Turkish duo against the second team of France. Meanwhile Spain had no problems with Italy, while world champion Belgium needs a victory in the final group match against Denmark to secure a spot in the quarterfinal. Germany 1, the runner-up of last world championships, had to be satisfied with a draw against Sweden.
In the spectacular Artistic-tournament the quarter finalists are fixed. Still in the race is the reigning world champion Serdar Gümüs from Turkey, who was able to beat its predecessor Sander Jonen (Netherlands) in five close sets. The hopes of the German fans are Thomas Ahrens (Hanover) and the vice-world champion of 2011, Bernd Singer from Ingolstadt. Both had won their match in the last 16 on late Friday evening.
Furthermore the competition of the 3-Cushions club-teams started. A total of 32 teams participate in eight preliminary groups, with only the first place finisher to go through to the quarterfinals.
All results of the European Billiards Championships can be found on www.eurobillard.org under section “Calendar & Tournament Info” whilst all pictures and further media-information are published on www.touch-magazine.net
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