Yannick Pongers
THE FINAL STOP of the 2023 DYNAMIC BILLARD Euro Tour season got underway today at the Best Western Premier BHR Hotel in Treviso as Round 1 matches took place. With approximately 200 players contending this week and the popular venue holding less tables than most tour stops, the Treviso Open is played over four days instead of the regular three, giving it a more relaxed feel.
There are plenty of notables in the field and one of them is the current WPA World Junior Champion, Yannick Pongers, who is going well with wins over Davide De Santis (ITA) by 9-5, followed by a 9-2 victory over Besar Spahiu of Albania. The 18 year-old Dutchman is playing alongside his 21 year-old brother Quinten who has also recorded two victories to put him in a good position after day one.
Commented Yannick, “It used to be that we were rivals when we were younger but now, we’re just supportive towards each other. We always support each other and it’s all good and not really a competition anymore, and it’s nice to have a brother and inspire each other. I’m trying to get to the last 32 which is a good goal and from there I’ll see what I can do.”
Yannick’s best Euro Tour finish in ninth and he now faces Poland’s Dzmitry Hryb in Winners Round 2, while Quinten may have a tougher proposition in Joshua Filler.
Oliver Szolnoki, the Hungarian No.6 ranked player, is likely one of the best players in the field yet to win a Euro Tour title. He came up short in the final last time out in Lasko as he was beaten by an imperious Joshua Filler, but goes again this week in Italy. He got his campaign underway with a good win against Ramazan Akdag (Turkey).
He said, “I’ve been playing good lately and I’m satisfied with my game. I’ve never liked to have big expectations because in pool it’s very tough and the game can change very quickly. Of course, I always want to win the tournament but I know it’s tough. I want to focus on my matches, play very well, reduce the number of mistakes, hopefully to zero, and then see what happens.”
Szolnoki can look forward to Italy’s Marco Cordova on Saturday evening.
Szymon Kural, another WPA World Junior Champion making his way, is now up to No.13 on the ET rankings in a short space of time. He reached the last eight last time out in Slovenia and today enjoyed a good win over dangerous Frenchman Alex Montpellier to take his place in the next round. Another good finish here could see him leapfrog some of the five polish players ahead of him in the rankings.
“I don’t really focus on the rankings; I try and focus on my game to play good and have fun on the table and that is the most important thing for me. Having five Polish players ahead of me on the rankings definitely motivates me because in Poland we have so many great players and that is exciting.
“In Lasko I played very good although my best match of the tournament was the quarter-finals which I lost which is crazy but that is pool, but I’ll be trying my best here,” he added.
Play continues on Saturday morning 9.00 local time with Round 2 on the one-loss side, leading on to Winners Round 2 in the evening.
As well as the prize money, there are Tour ranking points on offer, so there is everything to play for. All Euro Tour tournaments are 9-ball and players compete in a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 32 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are races to 9 racks with alternate break.
Starting on Saturday morning at 9.00 is the final leg of the 2023 Women’s Euro Tour, which concludes on Sunday afternoon.
All the matches can be viewed live by visiting www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurot
This will take you through to viewing options. In addition, selected matches will be streamed on Facebook Live on the EPBF page.
Results, live scoring, and draw are available at www.epbf.com
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