Thomas Engert is the winner of the 93rd edition of the Eurotour. It is his 9th Eurotour win since he won the second edition in 1992. In the final he booked a very convincing victory against Fabio Petroni from Italy, trouncing the Roman Gladiator with nine games to one. The only one to sink the winning nine-ball against Engert in this tournament was Jasmine Ouschan, who bested Stepanov as well!! (Mosconi Cup in 2011?)
This German Open was as jam packed as one could expect. Germany was the first European nation to embrace pool, as in the 70's the United States flew in B52's full of Brunswick tables to supply the Germany-based American soldiers with a quality pastime. From there the game has first trickled allover Germany, then Europe. There are many players in Germany, so the best fifty-five that entered this tournament really upgraded the average level of play. The number of participants totaled two hundred-fifty-five players from over thirty-six countries. A good win for Thomas Engert, especially after an undoubtedly disappointing transatlantic tour (World Pool Masters and Predator International 10-ball Championships in Las Vegas).
The last thirty-two players started on Saturday morning. The German domination of the field was clearly present with seven players ready for action on Saturday morning. But the Britons did surpass them though. With nine players in the last thirty-two the UK is really taking over control on the mainland; more so, when one realizes that they have had multiple winners in the past three years: Imran Majid, Jonni Fulcher, Daryl Peach, Mark Grey, Darren Appleton and maybe we can count Tony Drago (as a London-based Maltese). Would Karl Boyes, bronze medalist in the most recent World Championships claim his place in the British winners circle?
Karl fell prey to Engert in the semi-finals, just as Daryl Peach in the first round on Saturday. Karl looked very good in the quarters, where he beat Nick Van Den Berg with 9-7; in the last sixteen Nick handed a donut to Jonni Fulcher! Markus Juva, previous winner of the Austrian edition, reached the semi-final after outing Ralph Souquet and German dark horse Sacha Tege. He fell short against Fabio Petroni though. Petroni was playing hard troughout the whole tournament, never taking anything for granted and really seemed to be on track towards his third Euro-win.
Alas, he has to wait until next time in Rankweil, Austria. The final was all Thomas Engert, one-way-traffic, a one-man show, a monologue, Thomas was ‘the Meister'.
www.eurotour.nu for results, info, bio's etc.
www.poolkrant.nl for articles in english or improvement of your dutch
File photo courtesy of Diana Hoppe - Pool Pics by Hoppe
