Today, the 10-ball competition started at the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2019 in Treviso, Italy. Some hot guns entered the stage since they have just flown in from the US Open in Las Vegas to make the total number of contestants 101 in the men’s division. That includes the winner, German superstar Joshua Filler.
Being the defending Champion in 10-ball as well, Filler was having a walk-over in his first round today. In the second round, he met Maximilian Lechner (AUT). The Austrian is also on fire at the moment and just took his first tournament as a pro, the Bunny Open in Rankweil. But Filler was again an obstacle too high for Lechner. 8:4 was the clear end result that puts Filler in the single elimination stage where his opponent will be drawn against him after all matches of the loser’s side have been played.
Also straight in from Las Vegas is Thorsten Hohmann (GER). The former World Champion from Germany who nowadays resides most of the times in the US did not get a good start into the tournament today. He encountered Bahram Lofty (DEN) in his first match. Lotfy won his first Gold Medal in the men’s division of the European Championships last year in Veldhoven, The Netherlands. Since then, the likeable player from Denmark has constantly practiced and even got back to the Championships in a better shape. That shape today was too much for favoured Hohmann. Lotfy took him down in the end with a clear 8:5 result and paved his way into the single elimination stage, leaving Hohmann the detour over the loser’s side. There, Hohmann wasted no time with Massimiliano Corso (ITA) and won his next match 8:2 to join Lotfy in the round of the last 64 players.
Earlier today, Nick van den Berg (NED) encountered Stefano Dellino (ITA). Van den Berg, who has stopped playing the Euro-Tour on a regular basis about a year ago, had a tough opponent in Dellino so it came to blows at 7:7. It was the break shot of the Dutchman. Van den Berg broke the rack and had a ball down. He also had a shot at the 1-ball but the 7-ball blocked the pocket. After a long period of thinking, van den Berg went for a two-way-shot. He attempted the 1-ball over two rails in the side pocket and put the cue ball in a position where it would be quite safe for him in case the 1-ball does not fall in the pocket. But van den Berg made the 1-ball with a brilliant shot and then ran the remaining balls to win the match with 8:7 over Dellino. This victory puts van den Berg in the round of the last 64 players single elimination in the men’s 10-ball division.
In the women’s division, 43 contestants step up in order to win the coveted title in the 10-ball competition. Defending Champion is Yana Shut (BLR). In her first round, she made light work of Jessika Nilsson (SWE), winning the match with a comfortable 6:2 result in the end. But in the next round a nightmare happened to Shut in the form of Silvia Lopez (ESP). The Spaniard handed a whitewash to Shut, sending her to the loser’s side with an impressive 6:0 score. What an upset for the women’s division that was! Shut will now wait for the winner of the match between Valeriia Trushevskaia (RUS) and Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) to try and get back on track in the single elimination stage. But that was not the only upset on the women’s chart. Multiple Champion Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) fell with 5:6 to Kristina Zlateva (BUL). What a huge disappointment for Ouschan so far. She could not achieve a medal in straight pool and already lost her match in 10-ball, needing another win on the loser’s side.
Also the wheelchair division kicked off today at the Best Estern Premium BHR Treviso Hotel. 19 players from 14 countries are doing their best to fight for the title in the wheelchair division. Defending Champion in the wheelchair division is Jouni Tahti (FIN). Today, he left no doubts that he is on a quest to defending his title. He smashed Matej Brajkovic (SLO) with 5:1 and never really left a chance for the Slovenian player. Two of his all-time rivals are Fred Dinsmore (IRL) and Henrik Larsson (SWE). While Dinsmore also got a good start into the event with a 5:1 win over Peter Selinga (SVK), Larsson struggled and lost 3:5 to Roy Kimberley (GBR).
The Dynamic Billard European Championships 2019 for men, women, U23 and wheelchair athletes will commence tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches in the 10-ball individuals competition men and women.
The Championships are played on 24 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.