The 8-ball competition at the Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth in Tirana, Albania, provided one exciting thriller in the girls competition today. Pia Blaeser GER) defeated Diana Khodjaeva (BEL) in a close match with 5:4.
The score was 2:2 after four racks, both contestants lived up to their and their team leader's expectations with their performances. Khodjaeva being the defending Champion of course was favored. And indeed she went on and took the next two consecutive racks and went on the hill with 4:2, putting immense pressure on Blaeser. Things seemed to work for her, Blaeser committed a mistake and Khodjaeva ran the table until she got to the 8-ball. She overdid the position a little bit but the side pocket was still available for her in a direct shot. But she chose to go over one rail, hit the knuckle of the side pocket and the 8-ball fell in the corner pocket which brought Blaeser back to 3:4. The next rack was a break and run by Blaeser and suddenly the tide had turned in the match. 4:4 was the score with Khodjaeva to break in the final and decisive 9th rack. She remained dry off her break shot and left an open table for Blaeser. This time the German went for the table and soon had the 8-ball in front of her cue stick. But it was a long and thin cut and she decided to attempt a one rail shot into the corner pocket. She missed and left seven open balls for Khodjaeva. The defending Champion once again ran all balls but fell out of position for her last striped ball. She needed to go over one rail into the side pocket again and again missed the shot. She left a long shot for Blaeser who went ahead and made it, winning the match 5:4 over Khodjaeva. Blaeser is through to the semi-finals now while Khodjaeva needed another win on the loser’s side. There, she defeated Jana Peters (GER) 5:3 in the loser’s qualification round. The other player in the semi-final is Kristina Tkach (RUS) who defeated Palina Chernik (BLR) quite clearly 5:1. Chernik then lost 1:5 to Dina Fatihova (RUS) in the loser’s bracket.
Other remarkable results from today include Michael Schneider (SUI) eliminating Maksim Dudanets (RUS) in the Under 19’s with 7:5. IN the next round, the quarter-final, Schneider fell to the sharp blade of Germany’s Patrick Hofmann (GER) 3:7. Krystian Cwikla (POL) ousted Joey Haegmans (NED) 7:4. In the Under 17’s, defending Champion Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH) met Dutchman Jan van Lierop (NED) in the quarter-finals. The match turned into a hill-hill thriller with the better end for Sanjin Pehlivanovic who won 6:5 since he ran out the final rack. Wiktor Zielinski (POL) managed once again to defeat his all-time rival Fedor Gorst (RUS) 6:5 in an exciting encounter.
The Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with the first matches of the 9-ball competition. At 17:00 local time, the semifinals of the 8-ball will be played with the finals scheduled for 19:00 local time.
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