In the Birilli-Team final there was no way past Italy. The South-Europeans fully deserved to win the title at the continental Billiards-Championships in Brandenburg/Germany. Their opponent from Germany was indeed able to win a singles match but in the Team-relay it was Italy who won with 200:148 points. The two German players Thomas Hähne and Gerd Kunz could keep the score almost even but third player Toni Rosenberg missed a couple of points and had to accept a 98:152-deficit as he handed over to his colleague Sven Petzke. The German champion was able to shorten the distance but at the score of 124:154 he made a horrible mistake that gave Italy the opportunity to score twenty points.
At the end the Italian quartet won by 200:148 points and won back the title which was lost to Germany two years ago. The bronze medal went both to France and Denmark.
In the men's 3 Cushions-tournament on the small tables the participants for tomorrows semifinals are fixed. While the top seed Michel van Camp (Belgium) lost against the Austrian Herbert Szivacz in the quarterfinals, both
Dick Jaspers (Netherlands) and Daniel Sanchez from Spain had no problems to reach the final 4. Fourth player is the Swede Michael Nilsson. Semifinals and finals are on Friday.
On Thursday morning the participants of the Artistic-Event started their tournament. Four groups of 4 are playing for the spots in the final 16. Then eight seeded players will also join.
Also in the Men’s Division Cadre 47/2 and the 3-Cushions Team-Event the group stages had begun. The 24 teams are divided into eight groups of 3, with only one team moving to the quarter-finals. Top favorite and world champion Belgium will have to deal with Egypt and Denmark, while runners-up Germany plays against Spain and Sweden B for a spot in the final eight.
All results of the European Billiards Championships can be found on www.eurobillard.org under section “Calendar & Tournament Info” whilst all pictures and further media-information are published on www.touch-magazine.net
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