Oliver Ortmann (GER)
St. Johann, Austria: Former World Champion Oliver Ortmann (GER) defeated unheralded Steffen Wolff (NOR) in the second winner's round with 9:5.
Both players had already one victory under the belt. Ortmann won over Roger Lysholm (NOR) 9:3 this afternoon. In the same round, Wolff took the match over Jorge Tinoco (POR) with 9:6. On paper, Ortmann was the clearly favored player in this match though. But young Steffen Wolff tried to keep the pace with the experienced Champion. That worked for him in the first racks. After seven racks, Ortmann was only leading with one point over Wolff; the score was 4:3 in favor of the German. Then Ortmann suddenly shifted into overdrive and before Wolff could do anything against it, Ortmann was on the hill leading 8:3. That obviously impressed the young Norwegian but he still tried to keep a foot in the door. He managed to win another two racks before Ortmann ended the match, winning 9:5. Ortmann will now have to deal with Mario He (AUT) tomorrow in order to see who will get straight to the single elimination and who will need to take the detour through the loser's side. Wolff will also get another chance. He has to win his next three matches in order to book a seat in the stage of the final 64 players of the Dynamic Billard Austrian Open Euro-Tour.
Beside the tournament, the Austrian Federation (represented by Bernhard Kaserer and Gerald Gollnhuber) and the Vienna Sports University (represented by Philipp Kornfeind) presented the results from last year's research here in St. Johann. 22 Elite players from 11 countries were wired and tested with high tech equipment which was worth over 430.000,-€. High speed cameras, infra-red equipment, highly sensitive sensors were packed onto them and loads of data was saved.
Philipp Kornfeind presented the results after the first year of research. As a summary it can be stated that there is no "perfect" way to shoot the balls in pool. Players are very much unique and achieve the same goal with different efforts. However, the data that was collected is far from being completely evaluated. Bernhard Kaserer thinks that it will take up to six more years to fully understand the collected data. Whenever new information is released, we will keep you posted. For further information contact the Austrian Federation ÖPBV at sekretaer@oepbv.at
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.eurotouronline.eu or contact our press office.
