The European Pool Championships kicked off on Wednesday with the Men's and Women's Straight Pool events getting underway. The Men's field was 89 players and the Women's field was 45 strong with players representing 34 different countries.
Three rounds of play are complete in the Men's division with Euro powerhouses Niels Feijen, Oliver Ortmann, Thorsten Hohmann, Ralf Souquet and Alex Lely all guaranteed spots in the single elimination final 32 players. Players still fighting for one of those spots included Nick Van Den Berg, Marcus Chamat, Fabio Petroni. Suffering an early exit was Thomas Engert who lost to Gilliano Smit from The Netherlands and Leonid Mikhailov from Russia.
Only one round of play on the Ladies division winners side is complete with Line Kjorsvik, Kim Shaw, Ulrika Andersson, Charlotte Sorenson, Wendy Jans and Jasmin Ouschan all advancing. Jans will face Ouschan on Friday morning. Danish sensation Katrine Jensen took an early exit after losses to Aino Pehkonen from Finland and Eva Linn Fossheim from Norway.
Check out the official site for the European Championships at http://www.europeanpoolchampionships.com/ for up the minutes scores and updates from the event. For a first hand view of the event, check out our exclusive tournament diary from WPBA star Kim Shaw.
