BRANDENBURG - The list of players for the European championships in all disciplines, which will be played in the Stahlpalast in Brandenburg an der Havel from April 28 to May 7, is published by the organization. The tournament starts with the main discipline, three cushion, where Torbjörn Blomdahl defends his European title from 28 to 30th April. The Dutch team with Dick Jaspers and Raimond Burgman is the title holder in three cushion for national teams. The tournament will bw closed by the 5 pins on 6 and 7th of May. The ladies won't participate in this European championship.
CEB sports director Jean-Pierre Guiraud, who's facing a tough job with his team at the mega-event, also published the schedules for the juniors these days, when all disciplines were completed. The juniors under 21 in three cushion play their tournament together with the seniors from 28 to 30th April.
Jean Pierre Guiraud's tournament information:
X Tournament over ten days
X More than 800 matches
X More than 500 participants
X Participants from 20 countries
X Prize money over 100.000 euros
X Twelve match tables, 8 small tables
X Twelve individual championships
X Four team championships
X Sixty referees
The European president Bennie Deegens concludes that the preparations are excellent. He points to the new system of automatic registrations, for which Jean-Pierre Guiraud and his team did a great job. ,,We made a big step with the innovation.'' Furthermore, Bennie Deegens assures that, on the organizational level, Helga Blawid with her team in Brandenburg are invaluable for the event. ,,They do amongst others most of the negotiations with the town of Brandenburg, businesses and sponsors.''
The sponsorship of the city and the business is slightly reversed. ,,That's what we worry about'', says Deegens. ,,The billiard-related companies currently focus very much on Korea and China, leaving the budget in Europe slightly reversed.''
,,The European federations, according to the agreements made six years ago, are obliged to support us. Since then, a significant part of the budget is coming from our members. That's what we agreed. We organize this European championship every two years to continue and to encourage the basis of billiards. It is important for the young players to participate in the classic disciplines at the European championship every two years.''
The huge playing arena in the Stahlpalast in Brandenburg
The disciplines in order of appearance:
Three cushion individually, April 28-April 30:
The preliminaries start on April 28, the matches up to the quarter-finals on April 29, the semi-finals and finals on April 30.
Participation of 64 players, 48 players and 16 seeded. Match length: 30 points in the groups, 40 in the final round.
Seeded players: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Dick Jaspers, Frédéric Caudron, Dani Sánchez, Roland Forthomme, Eddy Merckx, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Murat Naci Coklu, Marco Zanetti, Christian Rudolph, Eddy Leppens, Tayfun Tasdemir, Adnan Yüksel, Jérémy Bury, Raimond Burgman, Jérôme Barbeillon.
Two wild cards for the qualifying rounds: Therese Klompenhouwer and Gülsen Degener.
The three cushion podium in 2015 with Torbjörn Blomdahl (second left) as the champion
Three cushion under 21: 28-30 april
Qualifications 28 and April 29, quarterfinals and semi-finals on April 29, final on April 30.
Players, amongst others Carlos Anguita, Tom Löwe, Arda Güngör, Adrien Tachoire, Joey de Kok, Alessio D'Agata, Dylan Parent, Tobias Bouerdick.
Free game under 17, Apr. 28-30
April 28, preliminaries, quarterfinals April 29, April 30, semi-final and final. Small table. Groups to 150 points, 200 points in final rounds.
Players amongst others: Bryan Eelen, Leon Dudink Enzo Riquart.
Free game club teams under 19: 28-30 april:
28 and 29 April preliminaries, finals on April 30.
Small table.
Participants: Horna (Jordy Jong), Billard Club Oissel (Pierre Martory and Maxime Panaia), BC Coeck (Bryan Eelen, Kevin van Hees) Flab (Maxime Schreiner), Billard Club Carvin (Jérémy Foulon).
One cushion, 29 April-2 May
Preliminaries April 30 and May 1, semi-final and final on May 2
Groups to 100 points, final rounds 120. Title holder Frédéric Caudron.
Players, including: Frédéric Caudron, Adam Baca, Arnim Kahofer, Xavier Gretillat, Eddy Leppens, Raymund Swertz, Raul Cuenca, Marek Faus, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Johann Petit, Bernard Villiers, Alain Remond.
Frédéric Caudron is the European title holder in one cushion
5 pins individually, April 30-May 2
Groups April 30 and May 1, eighth and quarterfinals May 1. Semi-finals and finals May 2nd.
Players include: Michelangelo Aniello (title holder), Andrea Quarta, Steffen Exler, Mark Berner, Peter Mostrey Alex ter Weele, Peter Debaes, Dave Christiani, Thomas Andersen.
Free game under 21: April 30-May 2
Match billiard
Groups April 30 and May 1. Quarterfinal 1 May. Semi-final and final on May 2. Groups, 250 points, 300 points in final rounds.
Players: Sam van Etten, Pierre Martory, Simon Blondeel, Stef van Hees, Anders Henriksen, Maxime Schrier, Jordy Jong, Jason Petit, Lukas Blondeel
Three cushion under 17: May 1-May 2
Groups on May 1st. Quarter, semifinals and finals May 2.
Groups, 25 points, final round 30 points
Players include Maxime Panaia, Alessio D'Agata, Dylan Parent, Enzo Riquart, Jan Gaspari, Milan Ettel, Nikolaus Kogelbauer.
Three cushion individual, small table: May 1-4
Groups May 1-3 Final laps: May 4, 15 groups of 4, 1 and 2 to knockout. Participants include: Kenny Miatton (title holder), Eddy Merckx, Birol Uymaz, Ivo Gazdos, Ramon Hamon, Ahmet Bayatli, Wesley de Jaeger, Joey de Kok, Uwe Werner (wildcard), Omer Karakurt, Thibaut Espada, Alfred Nebuda, Jerry Hermans, Berry Dallinga, Mathy Monnissen, Hamed Mohssen.
Balk-line 47/2: May 1-May 3
Preliminaries: 1-2 May. Final Rounds May 3. Match table, groups to 200 points, final round 250 points Players include: Xavier Gretillat (title holder), Raymund Swertz, Patrick Niessen, Michel van Silfhout, Raul Cuenca, Nikolas Gerassimopoulos, Willy Gerimont, Eddy Leppens, Marek Faus, Sven Daske, Jean-Francois Florent, Adam Kozak, Arnim Kahofer.
5 pins teams: May 2-May 4. Groups 2 and 3 May. Quarter-finals May 3, finals May 4.
Participating teams: Italy, titleholder (Andrea Quarta, Matteo Gualemi) Germany 1 (Steffen Exler), Switzerland 1 (Ulisse Calzi), France 1 (Maxime Jubilot), Denmark 1 (Finn Mortensen), San Marino (Maurizio Gobbi), Belgium 1 (Peter Mostrey Peter Debaes, Frédéric Caudron reserve), Luxembourg 1 (Gerard Goedert), Spain 1 (Angel Viadomat), Netherlands 1 (Alex ter Weele, Jop de Jong), Austria 1 (Tom Wacha), Germany 3.
The Dutch winners Dick Jaspers and Raimond Burgman in the battle for nation teams
Three cushion nation teams, 4 May-5 May
According to Scotch Double system on the match table.
Groups and quarterfinals May 4. Final rounds May 5. Match length 40 points.
Participating teams: Netherlands 1 (Jaspers , Burgman), title holder, Belgium 1 (Frédéric Caudron, Steven van Acker), Turkey 1 (Can Capak, Tayfun Tasdemir), Spain 1 (Javier Palazón, Jose Maria Mas), Germany 1 (Martin Horn, Ronny Lindemann), France 1 (Jérémy Bury, Jérôme Barbeillon), Austria (Arnim Kahofer, Georg Schmied), Denmark (Tonny Carlsen, Allan Schröder), Greece (Nikos Polychronopoulos, Kostas Kokkoris), Portugal (Rui Costa, Joao Ferreira), Sweden (Nalle Olsson, Tran Tai), Czech Republic (Martin Bohac, Radek Novak), Switzerland (Cetin Behzat Xavier Gretillat), Italy (Fabrizio Cortese, Salvatore Vispo), Hungary (Peter Varga, Tamas Szolnoki), Finland (Janne Wiss, Kim Laaksonen), Belgium 2 (Eddy Leppens, Davy van Havere) Netherlands 2 (Jean van Erp, Dave Christiani), Turkey 2 (Semih Saygıner, Murat Celik), Spain 2 (David Martinez, Juan David Zapata), Germany 2 (Christian Rudolph, Dustin Jäschke).
Three cushion club teams, small table (May 4-May 7).
Eight groups of four, two top finishers to knockouts. Groups to 25 points, final round to 40. Teams include: Mecidyeköy, titleholder with Birol Uymaz and Ahmet Bayatli, ABA Saint Maur with Louis Edelin, Kevin Vasseur, De Goeie Queue with Jean Paul de Bruijn and Wesley de Jaeger, Andernos with Roland Forthomme, Bernard Baudoin, Apeldoorns Biljartcentrum with Eddy Merckx and Jordy de Kruijf, Mosan with Kenny Miatton and Mathy Monnissen.
Total 32 teams.
Artistic, 4 May-May 7.
Groups 4 and 5 May, eighth, quarter and half final, May 6. Final: May 7. Participants: Serdar Gümüs (title holder), Michael Hammen, Walter Bax, Xavier Fonellosa, Jean Reverchon, Baris Cin, Erik Vervliet. Wildcard Thomas Ahrens. Further include Eric Daelman, Kevin Tran, Jop de Jong, Bernd Singer, Sander Jonen, Sergio Sancez.
Raymund Swertz on top of the stage is the big contender in the balk-line games
Balk-line 71/2: 5-6 May.
Groups May 5. Final Rounds May 6th. Match length 150 in the groups, 200 in the final rounds.
Participants: Raymund Swertz (title holder), Adam Baca, Arnim Kahofer Xavier Gretillat, Dieter Steinberger, Patrick Niessen, Michel van Silfhout Bernard Villiers, Nikos Chatzipavlis, Esteve Mata, Tamas Szolnoki, Sven Daske, Marek Faus, Raul Cuenca, Nikolas Gerassimopoulos, Dave Christiani, Jean-Francois Florent, Johann Petit, Pascal Dessaint, Willy Geri Mont, Janis Ziogas, Gerold Cerovsek, Adam Kozak Thomas Nockemann.
5 pins under 21: 5-7 may:
Groups and semi-final May 6 and 7. Groups to best-of-three, finals best of 5. Match length 50pnt/set
Participants: Andrea Ragonesi, Max Gabel, Cédric Vasseur, Rosario Attianese, Michel Peters, Thomas le Coat, Giovanni Foti.
All matches are broadcast live on kozoom.com