8-Ball competition on its way
Wednesday, 10 August 2011: Today, the 8-ball competition of the Dynamic European Seniors Championships 2011 has started.
In the winner's qualification round, Manuel Pereira (POR) got the better of Frank Willner (GER) and won with 7:5. Willner versus Pereira was probably one of the toughest encounters that this championship could produce. They met in the winner's qualification round with Willner having defeated Gijs van Helmond (NED) 7:4 and Paulo Costa (POR) 7:3 in the earlier rounds. Manuel Pereira had a walk-over in his first round and then sent Jean-Marie Disivisour (LUX) to the loser's side with 7:1. The match started as expected with both players showing high class 8-ball pool, not making any or just a few mistakes. That changed in the 4th rack. After both player made abnormal many mistakes, Willner succeeded in winning the rack with pocketing a ball with a nice jump shot, running out the rack to tie the match at 2:2. But then Willner started losing is concentration. He continued missing balls while Pereira played more focussed. No wonder, the Portuguese was able to take a 6:3 lead over Willner, putting himself on the hill. In the 10th rack, everything looked like it would be the final rack of the match when Pereira missed his last object ball. Willner got to the table and won the next two racks, making the score 6:5 for Pereira. In the 12th rack, Willner had the break shot and made a ball on the break. The table was open and he had a great chance of tying the score at 6:6. But he missed an easy 6-ball for first shot and went to his chair totally frustrated. Pereira took advantage of that and won the rack, snatching the match with 7:5 from Willner. The German will now play in the loser's qualification round and try to get among the best 32 players in 8-ball which will switch to single elimination format.
Other notable results include Reiner Wirsbitzki (GER) sending this week's two-times bronze medallist Robert Sudic (CRO) to the loser's side with 7:5. Christian Ederl (AUT) surprisingly defeated European Straight Pool Champion Stefano Bazzana (ITA) in a thriller match with a margin of 7:6. The match between yesterday's semi-finalists Tomasz Malinowski (POL) and Jimmy Worung (NED) ended 7:3 in favour of Worung. The defending Champion David Plattner (SUI) lost to Werner Scheu (AUT) with 6:7.
The European Championships are 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 , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.
