The Polish men's team (left) and Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR) in her women's team match
The team competition always creates a certain atmosphere at the European Championships. The same goes for this year at the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018. When team competition is on, the spectators and players are cheering much more for their fellow countrymen and -women. Over the past few days, the team competition already took place with one or two rounds per day. Today, the whole day was dedicated to the team competition.
In the men’s teams, Team Germany met Team Poland. This is not a big news in itself. However, the fact that these prestigious teams have met in the loser’s qualification round is definitely unusual. Germany lost the opening match 0:2 to Croatia while Poland received 0:2 a defeat from team Bosnia & Hercegovina. Today, Poland remained the upper hand in the match and won the team competition to make it to the single elimination stage of the final 16 teams while the Germans have to settle for 17th place. They can probably stand the drubbing, having won 10 medals yesterday. Team Poland went on to engage with team Spain in the next round. That match was packed with action and high class pool. Poland managed to defeat team Spain with 2:2. Mieszko Fortunski took down Francesco Sanchez-Ruiz 9:5 in 9-ball while Konrad Juszczyszyn conquered David Alcaide 8:6 in 8-ball. At that point in time, Karol Skowerski was also leading 7:5 in 10-ball over Francisco Diaz-Pizarro in 10-ball in a race to 8. The Polish team will advance into the next round where they will meet team Denmark who have ousted team Bulgaria 2:0.
The women’s teams division has been played down to the semi-finals already. Fourteen teams have started in the competition. Team Ukraine has booked themselves a seat in the medal matches with victories over team France 2:0, team Spain 2:1 and The Netherlands 2:1. When the score is 2:1 it indicates that a shoot-out has taken place. Since each team consists of two players, it either will be a 2:0 victory or a 2:1 with a shoot-out after the two matches. In a shoot-out, both players from each team have to execute a certain shot three times. Whoever pockets most of the ball wins the shoot-out. The other semi-finalist in the women’s division is team Portugal.
At the senior’s team competition, the defending champions Norway got beaten in their first match by team Portugal with 2:0. The Portuguese went ahead and cleared team Poland 2:0 and team Germany 2:0 in order to reserve their spot in the semi-final match. Last year’s runner-up team The Netherlands got stopped by the Finish team with 1:2 and needs to seek another victory on the loser’s side in order to have a shot at the medals.
In the girls’ teams, the Russian and the Dutch athletes were successful so far, making their way into the semi-finals from eight teams in total. In the loser’s qualification round, team Germany will meet team Belarus while team Austria engages team Norway.
The Under 17’s teams, defending Champions Finland are on track. They are awaiting team Belarus in the match to make it to the medals. The other match in the same round is played between team Germany and team Norway. The Norwegians have surprisingly been able to overpower team Poland, last year’s runner-up and seeded #2 this year.
In the team competition of the Under 19’s, everything is going „according the plan“ so far, meaning most seeded teams have live up to their expectations. Team Germany plays team Russia while team Sweden has to deal with team Poland. The Swedish team were too much of an obstacle for team The Netherlands. the winners of these two matches have a medal guaranteed while the losers need another victory.
The ladies’s team competition saw only five participants this year. The semifinals will be played between Italy v Germany and Sweden v the winner of France v Switzerland.
The Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 will commence tomorrow morning at 10:00 CET with the first matches from the 9-ball individuals competition.
The Jubilee Championships are played on 60 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be obtained at www.kozoom.com. Once a premium membership is held, all events for the respective period of time can be viewed LIVE. Additionally, a huge video gallery is contained in the website.
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.
