Thursday, March 24, 2011: The EPBF Player of the Year 2010 is Jasmin Ouschan from Austria. She was awarded the trophy by EPBF President Gre Leenders during the opening ceremony of the 2011 Dynamic European Championships.
Six players were nominated for the prestigious title that was presented for the second time this year. Among them Karl Boyes (GBR), Manuel Ederer (GER), Konstantin Stepanov (RUS), Henrique Correia (POR), Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) and last year's winner Ralf Souquet (GER). The election was held in three categories: Open voting, national federation voting and EPBF Board voting.
The total amount of votes left no doubt that Jasmin Ouschan was the winner of this title. She has won all three categories. The young likeable Austrian held a short speech, saying that she was very proud to be at the EC and that she will try to defend her four titles that she claimed in Zagreb last year. She also mentioned that one of her biggest achievements was the triumph at the women's World 10-Ball Championships last year. She is the first non-Asian player since 2001 to achieve that.
When asked how she rated her chances to win the award, she replied: "I did think that I had some good chances since I have won all four European Champion titles last year and the World Champion title as well". "There is not much more to achieve in billiard sports. When I saw the fan votes in my favour, I was hoping that I could win the overall vote." "2010 was a year with a lot of ups and downs for me and to end the year with this award is really perfect for me", Ouschan says with a smile. "I had some bad results in the Asian tournaments last year. Thinking about that, I assume that the key to my success in becoming the first non-Asian World Champion since 2001 was to lay off some of the pressure and enter the tournaments more relaxed and easy." "It was an amazing feeling to see my fellow players from Europe and America hoping for me to win the title and break the Asian dominance in women's pool". "I am trying to defend my four titles in the upcoming 10 days and my ultimate goal is to be the #1 ranked player worldwide. I am currently #1 ranked in Europe and on the professional tour in the US. I also want to become #1 ranked player in the World rankings". Jasmin is currently ranked #4 in the World.
The event will be 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 event website www.epconline.eu or contact our press office.
