With a nice 2:0 victory over Team Germany in the final, Team Portugal won the Gold Medal in the Seniors Team Division at the 2015 Dynamic Billard European Championships for Seniors and Ladies.
In the semi-final, the Portuguese almost stumbled. In their match against Finalnd, Manuel Pereira took a quick 8:3 victory over Pauli Laaksonen in 9-ball. However, Sami Karttunen turned the scoreboard to 1:1 with his 7:6 victory over Henrique Correia in 10-ball. The decision had to come from the 8-ball match between Marko Hartikainen and Antonio Neves. That match went hill-hill and Neves managed to run the final rack under an incredible amount of pressure to book the seat in the final against the Germans with his team. Team Germany ousted Team Austria in the semi-final with 2:1. The final match was not so exciting. Correia won quite convincing with 7:2 in 10-ball over Christian Dingler. Antonio Neves also defeated Reiner Wirsbitzki in 8-ball with 7:2 unexpectedly clear. At that time, the match between Steffen Gross and Manuel Pereira could be stopped since the Portuguese were already on two points. That meant the Gold Medal in the team competition for Team Portugal.
Top 6 Finishers Seniors Teams
1 Portugal
2 Germany
3 Austria
Finland
4 Netherlands
Norway
Medal table after 4 of 5 events
1 Italy
2 Portugal
3 Germany
4 Sweden
5 Netherlands
Norway
6 France
7 Austria
Bosnia & Hercegovina
Finland
Hungary
Earlier today, the 9-ball individuals started in the ladies and seniors division. Defending Champions are Karin Michl (GER) and Vegar Kristiansen (NOR). Michl won her first two matches against Annika Nilsson (SWE) 5:1 and Stella Julien (FRA) 5:3. Vegar Kristiansen already lost his opening match against unheralded Jim Telfer (NED) 5:8. He then had to go to the loser’s side where he met Marco Vignola (ITA) to defeat him 8:6. The next match was against Sami Karttunen (FIN). That match went hill-hill with the better end for Kristiansen. He won 8:7 over the Finish.
On another note it must be stated that the Dutch player Jesse Thehu was warned by the EPBF for ongoing unsportsmanlike conduct. For several misbehaviors, Thehu was imposed a fine of 500,-€ on with the warning that any further conflict with the tournament management would cause his immediate withdrawal from this and maybe even future events.
The Dynamic Billard European Championships for Seniors and Ladies will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches of the 9-ball individuals competition. At 17:00 CET, the 9-ball finals will begin.
All matches can be viewed LIVE at www.kozoom.com. Up to 24 tables in HiRes quality are providing you with all the action of the event. You do not miss out one single match! Join today!
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.epconline.eu
The event is hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.
