Austria ousted by Bulgaria
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina: Team Poland just destroyed their opponents from Turkish North Cyprus in the junior's division, smashing them with a clear 3:0 result.
The writing was on the wall that team Poland would probably be the tougher team. But it was surprising how clearly they creamed their opponents from the sunny island of North Cyprus. Maciej Witkowski (POL) seized the 8-ball match with 7:1 off Huseyin Alnar (TNC). No chance at all for young Alnar in that match. In straight pool, Turkish North Cyprus' best player Berk Mehmetcik met the new title holder Sebastian Batkowski from Team Poland. Though Mehmetcik is capable of playing decent straight pool, he never got a foot in the door in this match. He was trailing 21:75 and even 40:99. It speaks for his sportsmanship that he still tried to take the point home for his team but in the end, he was on a mission impossible. Batkowski safely pocketed the remaining ball and took the deciding second point for his team. At that time, Pawel Kaczmarek (POL) was leading 6:2 over Mehmetali Sözgen (TNC) in a race to eight. Team Poland will now face the winner of the match between Sweden and Portugal in the quarter-final tonight at 20:30 CET.
Another interesting clash was the match between Austria and Bulgaria. While Austria came through the loser's side with a close 2:1 victory over Denmark, the Bulgarian juniors secured their spot for that match with a 2:1 win over Turkish North Cyprus. The odds between the two teams were about even before the match. But it turned out that Bulgaria had the better day. Martin Todorov (BUL) won his 9-ball with 8:3 over Michael Winkler (AUT) while his teammate Spasian Spasov reached 100 points in straight pool when Leon Swoboda only had 40. That turned the score to 2:0 in the match. At that time, Clemens Schober (AUT) was leading over Anton Zlatev (BUL) with 5:4 in 8-ball. But that match got stopped since the team encounter had already been decided. Team Bulgaria will now meet the winner of the match between the Finish and the juniors from Luxembourg in the next round.
The pupils will play their quarter-final matches tonight at 20:30 CET.
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