The Dynamic Billard Treviso Open has begun today and already several upsets have taken place. One spectacular match was the encounter between Kristina Grim (GER) and Jim Chawki (SWE). Grim managed to win that match with 9:8.
From the very beginning it could be seen that Grim did not want to become an easy prey for Chawki in the first loser’s round. Both players had lost their opening matches and now one of them would have to be on the way home after the match. Of course, it was to be expected that Chawki would survive that round. But Grim had a furious start, taking a 4:1 lead over Chawki who committed many mistakes, miscues, and so on. After the first 5 racks, Chawki got his nerves together and got back into the match, tying it after 10 racks at 5:5. The match went along with none of the two being able to really gain an advantage over the opponent. To the contrary, both players took racks in turn and at 7:6, it was the first and only time for Chawki to take the lead. Grim got back and went on the hill first. Then Chawki struck back to make the match a hill-hill thriller at 8:8. With that score, Chawki came up with a dry break. Some safety shots were exchanged and with three balls left on the table, Chawki left a tough safety position for Grim on the slate. The cue ball was hiding behind the 9-ball with the 7-ball being the ball on, but no direct shot available for Grim. The German took her time and played a rail first shot, pocketing the 7-ball in the corner pocket and having position on the 8-ball. She sunk the remaining two balls and walks on to the next loser’s round while Chawki is out of the tournament.
The day did also not start too well for the two European star players Stephane Cohen (FRA) and David Alcaide (ESP). Both of these athletes have won European Championships in the past and can be considered as "heavyweights" in European pool. However, today they both lost their first matches. While Cohen lost 8:9 to Costas Konnaris (CYP), Alcaide went down 3:9 against Damianos Giallourakis (GRE). So they met at an unexpected early stage in loser’s round 1. There, the better end was with Alcaide who managed to stay alive in the event with a 9:6 result over Cohen.
More interesting results include unheralded Andrea Maimone (ITA) winning with 9:2 over favored Marcus Chamat (SWE) in winner’s round 1. In the same round, Daniel Tanggud (SWE) defeated Radoslaw Babica (POL) with 9:8. Mark Gray (GBR), Nr. 2 ranked player in the Euro-Tour rankings, got the better of German kid Nicolas Baumanns (GER) with 9:7.
Action continues tomorrow morning at 08:00 local time with matches of the second winner’s round.
The tournament is played on 16 tables of which 12 are in a livestream. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be purchased at www.kozoom.com. Once a premium membership is held, all events for the respective period of time can be viewed LIVE. Additionally, a huge video gallery is contained in the website.
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 eurotouronline.com , or contact our press office.
