FOLLOWING ON FROM 11 days of thrilling play at the Predator EPBF European Pool Championships, the opening Predator Euro Tour of the season gets underway on Thursday 12th March with the Predator Turkish Open in both men’s and women’s divisions. There are 130 runners in the men’s tournament and 38 in the women’s.
With a total of 12 gold medals available at the European Championships, it was Germany who came out on top of the table with five golds, six silvers and three bronze and with strong representations in the Turkish Opens – 19 men and 10 women – it seems doubtful that they won’t have a major say in the proceedings come Sunday evening.
Spain were second in the medal table and have a strong contingent for the Euro Tour while Poland were third and with 22 players in the men’s event, will once again be strongly fancied. The top dog at the European Championships was Daniel Maciol who lifted trophies in both 10-ball and 9-ball. Coming to Antalya direct from the Predator Pro Billiard Series events in Las Vegas, the tall Pole fought off jetlag, and managed his energy levels superbly to deliver peak performance when it mattered.
Maciol reflected on his achievements of the past ten days, “It was definitely one of my strongest performances. Playing tournaments for well over a week isn’t easy and I was feeling like I was super-consistent in every single match. I didn’t have any ups or downs and I was feeling that many things went my way and you’re a bit lucky in those matches and I could feel that. I’m proud of my energy management also and I think it was a ‘well done’ ten days.
With the Predator Turkish Open coming fast around the corner, Maciol is acutely aware that he must keep his foot firmly down on the gas pedal.
“I will still try and push myself to the limit because I know it’s not over yet. At the moment I’m super-satisfied in what I have done in the last weeks, Vegas included, but I know that the trip is not over yet. It will be very nice to go deep in this tournament because the Euro Tour is one of the best tournaments in Europe right now so with world ranking points included, this is definitely important to me. I will try my best and I don’t feel that tired yet, and I hope I will be able to play some nice pool.
He continued, “It’s not that many players here due to in being the same time as European Open so I see that the field is not as strong as usual. It’s an additional advantage for the top players from Poland, Germany and other countries to go deep in this tournament and that might happen, that the favourites will win.
With a single Euro Tour title to his name (Tallinn in February 2024), further success on Europe’s premier tour is at the forefront of his mind; “Of course, it’s super-nice to win something for the very first time but winning something for the second time is tougher. I’m looking for another title this year on the Euro Tour, especially given that last year was particularly bad here, probably a quarter-final just once. And I can do better, so my goal is to win one Euro Tour this year and of course be as deep as possible in the ranking which is very important to me also,” he concluded.
For the first time ever, WPA World Ranking Points will be available at Euro Tour events, applicable to both the men’s and the women’s tours and will certainly add incentive, as well as value to the to tour. Benefits of a lofty World Ranking position includes entry into WPA World Championship events.
Tables 1, 2 and 3 at the Predator Turkish Opens will be 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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