The 8-ball tiles at the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair Athletes in the Salgados Palace Hotel in Albufeira, Portugal, have been awarded. Jouni Tahti (FIN), Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) and Jani Uski (FIN) have snatched the coveted titles in the 8-ball individuals.
In the men’s division, Jani Uski started out as an underdog in the discipline. His victims on the way into the final match include Denis Grabe (EST) 8:5, Francisco Diaz-Pizarro (ESP) 10:6 and Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP) 10:8. These victories took him into the final match against Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) who had already taken the 10-ball title earlier this week. Bijsterbosch made his way into the final match over Jakub Koniar (SVK) 8:7, Ruslan Chinakhov 10:8 and Mario He (AUT) 10:7. The final match itself was determined by careful play from both actors. Uski however was always a margin up over Bijsterbosch and carried that advantage all through the match. In the end, Uski won his first title in defeating Bijsterbosch 10:7 in the final match.
Top 8 Men:
1. Jani Uski (FIN)
2. Marc Bijsterbosch (NED)
3. Mario He (AUT)
Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz
5. Mieszko Fortunski (POL)
Francisco Diaz-Pizarro (ESP)
Maksim Dudanets (RUS)
Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS)
In the women’s division, Jasmin Ouschan received her 25th Gold Medal on European level and her 50th medal from the EPBF by winning the 8-ball title today. She had a hard time in the semi-final when she just made it over Tamara Peeters-Rademakers (NED) with 7:6. Her opponent in the final match was Melanie Suessenguth (GER). The German had defeated Amalia Matas (ESP) the round before and met Ouschan in the final. However, in the final Suessenguth had no more energy to oppose to Ouschan. 7:0 was the very clear result in favour of the Austrian superstar.
Top 8 Women:
1. Jasmin Ouschan (AUT)
2. Melanie Suessenguth (GER)
3. Tamara Peeters-Rademakers (NED)
Amalia Matas (ESP)
5. Vivien Schade (GER)
Marharyta Fefilava (BLR)
Sara Rocha (POR)
Kristina Schagan (GER)
In the wheelchair division, Jouni Tahti was definitely one of the favourite players from the start. Having had a bad start in 10-ball, Tahti was hungry for another title. He met Kurt Deklerck in the final match. Deklerck already won the 10-ball event earlier this week and still had some wind underneath his wings. The final match was packed with action and drama fro both players with Tahti having the better end on his side, winning the match and the title with 5:3 over Deklerck.
Top 8 Wheelchair:
1. Jouni Tahti (FIN)
2. Kurt Deklerck (BEL)
3. Roy Kimberley (GBR)
Tony Southern (GBR)
5. Emil Malanowski (POL)
Fred Dinsmore (IRL)
7. Matt Duffy (GBR)
David Humpe (BEL)
Medal table after 3 of 5 events:
Earlier today, two rounds of team competition were played at the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair Athletes in the Salgados Palace Hotel in Albufeira, Portugal. In the men’s division, Team Croatia came up with the biggest surprise of the day. The clearly defeated the defending Champion Team Germany with 2:0. Ivica Putnik slammed Ralf Souquet 9:5 in 9-ball while Roberto Bartol just made it over Sebastian Ludwig with 8:7 in 10-ball. The third match between Tomislav Susic and Sebastian Staab in 8-ball was held up at 7:6 for Staab since the Croatians had already won the match being 2:0 up. Another huge surprise was brought to the tournament by Team Finland. They managed to triumph over Team Spain, consisting of Jose Alberto Delgado Hernandez, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz and David Alcaide, with 2:1. In 8-ball, Jani Uski wiped the floor with Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 8:1 while Kim Laaksonen stood tall over David Alcaide in 9-ball with 9:7. At that time, Petri Makkonen was also leading 7:5 over Delgado in 10-ball, race to 8. The team clash between Austria and The Netherlands was won by Team Austria today. Though Niels Feijen defeated Albin Ouschan 8:3 in 10-ball, the Austrians left the venue as the winner today. Mario He overpowered Ivar Saris in 8-ball 8:6 while Maximilian Lechner clearly remained the upper hand over Nick Van Den Berg in 9-ball with 9:5.
In the women’s team competition, Team The Netherlands won 2:0 over Team Finland and Team Spain defeated Team Portugal with the same result.
Tomorrow, the tournament will continue at 09:00 GMT with matches from the 9-ball individuals competition.
Every day, one match from the events will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF. All Facebook users may check out the high standard of quality which is provided for all the events and see what the Kozoom members receive all the time. You can see all the matches live via www.kozoom.com who stream the whole event on 24 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page around noon every day. Results and schedule can be found at www.europeanpoolchampionships.
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.epbf.com, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
