Nikos celebrates after winning the final team spot. ©EPBF / AMM
With a 2:0 victory over Albin Ouschan and a 1:2 defeat against Oliver Ortmann, Nikos Ekonomopoulos won the shootout for the final spot in the European Mosconi Cup Team 2012.
All looked well for Ekonomopoulos. He started strong and got a comfortable 5:3 and 5:4 victory over Albin Ouschan in the first match. Then, Ekonomopoulos faced Oliver Ortmann. The German won the first set 5:2 and Ekonomopoulos had to do something. He struck back and won the second set with the same result. However, the deciding set went in favour of Ortmann who clearly won 5:1.
The created an awkward situation for the third match. Ouschan had no win and was 0:2 in sets; Ekonomopoulos had one win and 3:2 in sets and Ortmann had one win with 2:1 in sets. That meant that whatever happened, Ouschan was out. If Ortmann won the match, he would be on the team. If Ouschan won, it would be Ekonomopoulos’ name on the charts. Ortmann could not find his rhythm in that match. Ouschan played like out if this world and defeated Ortmann in two sets with 5:1 and 5:0. That opened the way for Ekonomopoulos to represent Europe on the Mosconi Cup team in London in December this year.
“I am still so excited”, said Ekonomopoulos after the last match. “I had to wait for the last match to finish in my favour and luckily, it did.” “I would have preferred to beat Ortmann but I could not get my way in the third set of that match. Whatever! I am on the team, and that’s the only thing that counts for me now.”
When asked what it means for him to play on the European Mosconi Cup team, Ekonomopoulos replied: “It is very important for me. It is actually my first year to play on the European Tour and I have made it on the Mosconi Cup team. I am so proud of being able to go to London and play on the team with famous players like Appleton, Melling, van den Berg and Feijen. I still cannot believe it that I made it.”
“I promise that I will play the best I can on the team Europe so we can keep the title in Europe this year. I am really looking forward to the event in December.”
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 federation website www.europeanopenonline.eu , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.
