In the 8-ball competition of the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair Athletes in St. Johann i.Pg., Austria, Ivo Aarts (NED) eliminated Kevin Becker (GER) from the flowchart with 8:4.
The round is the last 32 players single elimination. Ivo Aarts fought his way there with one walk-over and victories over Daniel Gale (BEL) 8:2 and Marko Lisnic (CRO) 8:7. His opponent, newly crowned team Champion Kevin Becker took down Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) 8:5, then Marc Glatz (LUX) 8:6 and finally Guilherme Sousa (POR) 8:4 for his seat in this match. One could have thought that Becker due to the fact that he had just won a gold medal and the fact that he ousted one of Europe’s top guns, Stepanov, was slightly favored in this match. But Aarts did not tend to see it that way. He took a quick 3:0 lead over Becker. Whatever Becker tried thereafter, Aarts did not let him get close. He kept the score at 4:2 and 6:3 before he even went on the hill with 7:3. That match turned out to become a nightmare for Becker. He managed to pull one more rack from Aarts but at 7:4, Ivo Aarts scored the point he needed and won the match 8:4 in order to enter the round of the final 16 players in men’s 8-ball. His opponent in the next round will be Sandor Tot (HUN) who has ousted Mariusz Skoneczny (POL) in the previous round with 8:7.
Other remarkable results from today include defending Champion Niels Feijen (NED) winning with 8:3 over Francisco Diaz-Pizarro (ESP). Feijen also joins Aarts in the round of the last 16 where he will face Andrej Seroshtan (RUS). A slight upset happened in the match between Petri Makkonen (FIN) and new 10-ball European Champion David Alcaide (ESP). Makkonen won the match with 8:5 and sent Alcaide out of the 8-ball competition. Makkonen will now encounter Sebastian Staab (GER) in the next round. Kristoffer Mindreboe (NOR) just managed to extinguish the fires of Mieszko Fortunski (POL) 8:7. Mindreboe will be up next against Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP).
In the women’s division, Vania Franco (POR) took down Katarzyna Wesolowska (POL), European Champion women’s team, with 6:5 in loser’s round 2 this morning. Then she went up against Petra Stadlbauer (AUT) in the loser’s qualification round where she fell with 1:6 to the Austrian. Vivien Schade (GER) ousted Diana Khodjaeva (BEL) with 6:5 in the same round. Defending Champion Caroline Roos (SWE) is out, losing 3:6 to Oliwia Czuprynska (POL).
In the wheelchair division, Fred DInsmore (IRL) won 5:1 in the winner’s qualification round over Jo Schuler (GER). Henrik Larsson (SWE) also entered the single elimination stage with a 5:2 over Matej Brajkovic (SLO). Roy Kimberley (GBR) overpowered Kurt Deklerck (BEL) by a whisker with 5:4.
Today, the tournament stays in 8-ball individual mode with the semi-finals to be scheduled for 19:00 CET later tonight.
The Championships are played on 24 tables which will all be streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be purchased 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 will be 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, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.