Patrick Hofmann (GER) and Wiktor Zielinski (POL) are the new European Champions in Straight Pool in their respective divisions.
In the Under 19’s, Patrick Hofmann had to face highly favored Maksim Dudanets (RUS) in the final match. Hofmann defeated Ladislav Hajsman (CZE) 100:68 and later on Mark Magi (EST) 100:60 in the semi-finals today to book his seat in the final match. His opponent, defending Champion Dudanets, took down Osman Sanlisoy (TNC) 100:44 and Michael Schneider (SUI) 100:16. The final match started out as expected. Dudanets took a quick lead and it looked like a definite victory for the Russian Champion. He took a comfortable 27:-1 lead. It looked like Hofmann could not get going at all in the match. But when the score was 41:13, the German surprised everyone and came up with 54 points in a row, turning the scoreboard to 67:41 in his favor. Dudanets was obviously shocked! „When I started shooting balls in knew I had the chance to win“, stated Hofmann after the match, "I was not nervous or anything, I just believed in my chance. I thought to myself: Give your best and you can win it!“. The Russian came up with another 11 balls to make the score 67:52. Then he allowed Hofmann back to the table. The young German saw his chance and played ice-cold, knowing and believing that he could do it. And he did! He went all the way and pocketed the remaining amount of 33 balls in order to defeat the reigning Champion and win the match and the Championship with 100:52.
Final match
Patrick Hofmann (GER) v Maksim Dudanets (RUS) 100:52
Semi-Finals
Maksim Dudanets v Michael Schneider (SUI) 100:16
Patrick Hofmann v Mark Magi (EST) 100:60
Top Eight Finishers Straight Pool Under 19
- Patrick Hofmann (GER)
- Maksim Dudanets (RUS)
-
Michael Schneider (SUI)
Mark Magi (EST) -
Osman Sanlisoy (TNC)
Daniel Maciol (POL)
Krystian Cwikla (POL)
Ladislav Hajsman (CZE)
In the Under 17 division, Wiktor Zielinski met defending Champion Fedor Gorst (RUS). Just like in the Under 19 division, the Russian defender of the title was the highly favored player. But this match took a completely different course than the other final did. It was Zielinski who started shooting and brought Gorst in the position to wait and see how far he could go. After only two innings, Zielinski was leading 64:11. However, he made a bad mistake in order to allow Gorst back to the table. He missed an easy shot in the lower right corner pocket when the table was open and he had enough balls on the slate to finish the match. And the Russian punished him for it. "I did not think I would get another chance“, stated Zielinski, "I knew Gorst is one of the best players here and I was so mad with myself that I made that silly mistake.“ In fact, Gorst overtook Zielinski and ran 55 balls in order to turn the score to 66:64 in his favor. At that score he had the opportunity the win the match with the balls remaining on the table but he went for a three-ball combination shot and missed the 8-ball. That in turn brought Zielinski back to the table. He needed what was on there and he finally made all balls in the end, winning the match and the title with 75:66 after a thrilling match. "I was really nervous when I got this unexpected chance“, added Zielinski, "but I am so happy now that I was able to win the title“.
Final match
Wiktor Zielinski (POL) v Fedor Gorst (RUS) 75:66
Semi-Finals
Fedor Gorst v Jan van Lierop (NED) 75:13
Wiktor Zielinski v Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH) 75:37
Top Eight Finishers Straight Pool Under 17
- Wiktor Zielinski (POL)
- Fedor Gorst (RUS)
-
Jan van Lierop (NED)
Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH) -
Jere Virtaranta (FIN)
Pete Herman (GER)
Luca Menn (GER)
Giuglio D’Egido (ITA)
Medal table after 1 of 5 events
The Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth will continue today with 10-ball matches in the Girls, the Under 17 and Under 19 division.
The Championships are played on 24 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. 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 www.epconline.eu, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press officepress@epbf.com.
