Russia & Poland start the Dynamic billard European championships with gold medals in the straightpool discipline which came to an end tonight in Treviso Italy. Kristina Tkach was the star of the Russian team here in Treviso, making up for last year’s disappointment of silver with an emphatic win over Tamara Peeters-Rademakers (NED) in the final. After the 2018 title holder Austria’s Jasmin Ouschan went out earlier today, it was a great chance for Kristina to claim her second women’s straightpool gold in the last three years.
A comfortable victory over Belarusian Marharyta Fefilava in the semi-final meant Kristina was one more win away from that coveted trophy. Standing in her way was the Dutch lady who had come through a tight semi-final match with Jasmin’s earlier conqueror, Claudia von Rorh from Switzerland. That tight and tense semi-final seemed to have taken the energy out of Tamara and so it was Kristina, with the skill & determination to see it through and claim the gold medal winning the final 75-23.
In the men’s division, Austria’s Mario He spoiled the Polish medal whitewash. Being the only non-Polish in the Semi’s, he was on a mission to really spoil the party but Karol Skowerski, the elder-statesman in the Polish team, made sure it would be an all Polish final with a superb display shutting out Mario 125-32. Tomasz Kaplan continued his great shooting and his amazing record at the same time. Tomasz has now been in the medals in this discipline six times in the last nine years and he made sure it was going to be brighter than the bronze by beating fellow countryman, Mariusz Skoneczny 125-69 in the other semi-final.
Tomasz last won this discipline in 2011 and Karol was still looking for his first individual gold medal of his career. Tomasz looked to be in control after some early exchanges but a mistake after he had made only 23 points saw Karol come back to the table. With the score at 3-23 Karol made a hard fought 106 but drew too much on his next shot forcing him to go airborne with his jump stick. Tomasz was again back at the table, but he missed a crucial break shot to allow Karol to close out the match and take the gold medal winning 125-45 and claim his first European individual title.
The 10-ball starts on Monday morning and the draw and results can be found at www.epbf.com with all matches streamed live via our media partners, www.kozoom.com
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.epconline.eu or visit us on Facebook for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
