Andrea Klasovic, Gabor Solymosi, Zoran Svilar and Balázs Miko
After the Dynamic Euro-Tour in St. Johann, Austria, the EPBF hosted a qualifier for two spots for this year's Party Poker World Cup of Pool. The Party Poker World Cup of Pool will be played in Manila, Philippines, September 4th through 9th It will be organized by MatchroomSport. The World Cup of Pool will be aired live in the Philippines on Solar Sports from September 4 to 9. Matchroom Sport will also produce 31 x one-hour highlights programmes, which will be broadcast around the world.
The heat was on in the Ballazzo Billiard Bar in St. Johann when the teams from Serbia, Estonia, Denmark, Hungary, Greece, Ireland, Norway and Slovenia fought for the remaining two spots. The format was a scotch double with two players per team, playing 9-ball race to 8, winner breaks. After the preliminaries were done, the two final matches were Serbia v Denmark and Greece v Hungary.
Serbia, represented by Andrea Klasovic and Zoran Svilar had to deal with the Danish player Bahram Lotfy and veteran Peter F. Nielsen. After 13 racks, team Denmark was on the hill and Nielsen had an easy shot on the 8-ball in order to finish the Serbsand get his ticket to Manila when he missed that shot. What a shock for the Danes. Lotfy could hardly believe what he saw. And as always in these situations, mistakes like this are cruelly punished. Serbia won this rack and tied the match hill-hill at 7:7 and ran out the next rack. The disappointment in the Danish camp was as large as the joy was for team Serbia who have not believed to make it to the Party Poker World Cup of Pool anymore.
In the second semi-final, Greece was the favorite team with Alexander Kazakis and the man who just won the Euro-Tour a day ago, Nikos Ekonomopoulos. Their opponent, team Hungary, consisted of Balázs Miko and Gabor Solymosi. Also this matchup was close and surprisingly, the Hungarians took an early lead and ran away with 4:1. Then the Greek came back and even overtook the Hungarians. It looked like the Greeks would be on their way to Manila but obviously, they should not have reckoned without their host. Team Hungary was far from giving in and with a strong performance; they crossed the finish line first winning 8:6 over the favoured Greeks.
The two teams will join their fellow contestants from Austria, Belgium, Croatia, England, Finland, Germany, Holland, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The main event will carry 250.00,- US$ in prize money and will be staged at Robinson's Place in Manila, Philippines. Further details can be viewed at the official event website http://www.matchroompool.com/page/WorldCupofPool/Home
The event was 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 , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.
