Today featured matches from the 9-ball individuals and from the team competition men and women at the Dynamic Billard European Championships 2019 in Treviso, Italy.
The 9-ball individuals were in the first rounds so there were not too many high profile clashed yet. One of the most interesting results in the men’s division was Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) defeating Eklent Kaci (ALB) in the men’s division with 9:6. The same result was good for Denis Grabe (EST) in his match with Fabio Petroni (ITA). Ivar Saris (NED) decided a hill-hill thriller against Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH) with 9:8 in his favour and advanced to the next round of the winner’s side. Probably the biggest surprise was Matjaz Erculj (SVK) defeating yesterday’s silver medallist Ralf Souquet (GER) 9:7. The surprise player of the Championships, Fabio Rizzi (FRA) took down Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) in a tough match with 9:8.
In the women’s 9-ball, defending Champion Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) won her first match quite comfortable with 7:4 over Tina Vogelmann (GER). Kristina Tkach (RUS), yesterday’s 8-ball winner, took down Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR) with 7:4. In that match, Polovinchuk was on her way to a great comeback but simple mistakes and unfortunate positions kept her from closing in on Tkach. Eylul Kibaroglu (TUR) pipped Marharyta Fefilava (BLR) to the post, winning that match 7:6.
In the wheelchair division, business as usual occurred. Defending Champion Jouni Tahti (FIN) won 7:3 over Maksim Suchanov (LTU). Henrik Larsson (SWE) overpowered Kaspars Turks (LAT) 7:3 and will meet Fred Dinsmore (IRL) in the next round. Dinsmore whitewashed Maksym Tiuftiaev (UKR) 7:0.
The matches in the Under 23’s displayed some interesting results. Defending Champion Vitaliy Patsura (UKR) was overrun by unheralded Samet Degirmenci (TUR) with 8:9 and needs to take the detour over the loser’s side now. The other favourites like Pjius Labutis (LTU), Aleksa Pecelj (SRB) and Casper Matikainen (FIN) all won their matches and made it to the winner’s qualification round.
In the men’s team matches, teams from Spain, Germany, Austria and Portugal have already booked their seats in the quarter-finals. They took down their respective opponents today and are waiting for the winners of the left side to join them again. Among those is the defending Champion, team Poland who is currently struggling against team North Cyprus.
In the women’s team competition, the winner’s qualification matches will be played between Portugal versus Italy and Russia against Germany for a seat in the semi-finals.
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 9-ball individuals competition in the Men’s division.
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.