THE 8-BALL FINALS at the 2026 KAMUI European Youth Pool Championships delivered high drama and glory as well as disappointment as Rachelle Enfroy (FRA), Mark Szabo (SVK) and Robin Hauge Pettersen (NOR) took home the gold medals. Enfroy defeated Julia Cabala of Poland 5-0 in less than 30 minutes, while Slovakia’s Mark Szabo defeated Haojing Zhang 6-3 to take the Under 17s title. In the Under 19s it was Hauge Pettersen who won it in a final rack decider as he broke the heart of Sweden’s Gabriel Aspholm.
Hauge Pettersen, who claimed the silver in this event in 2025, came out on top in an epic clash with Aspholm in which both players gave everything they had. The match went in different direction as the Norwegian opened up a 3-1 lead, only to see Aspholm level things up.
Pettersen found himself in a 5-3 lead before Aspholm reeled off three racks to reach the hill. Despite having a chance to win, the Swede couldn’t quite manage it and an assured run out from Pettersen after an Aspholm miss, sealed the deal for the Norwegian.
He said, “It’s the best feeling ever! I practice every day both mentally and on the table every day, which makes it worth it. It was a very nervy match. I started off really well and then he got into the match and played fantastic and I didn’t get my breaks at all and I was lucky to win it in the end.”
The podium was filled out with bronze medallists Jakub Chrobot (Poland) and Germany’s Fabrizio Ingrasci.
Slovakia is having a banner year at the 2026 European Championships as Mark Szabo got the better of Germany’s Haojing Zhang to claim his country’s second gold medal of the Championships following Timothei Furko’s 10-ball title. Add to that Szabo’s 10-ball silver and it’s shaping up into a year to remember for Slovakian pool.
Szabo was elated with his achievement, “It feels incredible – I’m really proud of myself and satisfied with my game. I tried to forget the failure in the 10-ball final and focus on the next ball and the next rack and next match.
“I’m really proud of what we’ve managed to do for our country. It was our first European Championship medal for Furko and now the second and I’m really happy that we’ve managed to write ourselves into history for Slovakian pool.”
Bronze medals went to Viljo Auresto of Finland and Poland’s Ksawery Marcinkowski.
Rachelle Enfroy defended the title she won last year in a show of strength as she overwhelmed Julia Cabala, winning 5-0 in double quick time. The French girl won her quarter and semi-final matches 5-1, and 5-0 respectively as she showed why she has become one of Europe’s biggest teenage pool stars.
Enfroy fell at the final hurdle when she won silver at the earlier 10-ball event and she used that disappointment to good effect.
Commented Rachelle, “After that I wanted to play my best as I missed so many easy balls and I could have won so I regret that but I played for the win today. I’m very happy, I played very good and I’m proud of myself that I won another title. I put the effort in because I want to win but also because I love the game and I want to be a champion.”
Julia Babica of Poland and Croatia’s Tina Gulic took the bronze medals
With two days to go, just the 9-ball and Teams tournaments remain and they resume tomorrow (Monday).
Tables 1, 2 and 3 at the Kamui European Youth Pool Championships are streamed throughout on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel -https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV
For all results, live scoring and draw, visit www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/
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