ATHENS - With eight players, seeded as the numbers one and two in four groups of the preliminary rounds, the European Junior Championship enters the knockout phase this afternoon. The Spaniard David Zapatte played the highest average in the groupe stage (1.202), but suffered a defeat against German Dustin Jäschke.
Glenn Hofman, David Martinez and Olmer Karakurt made showed in the preliminary rounds that they belong to the big favoritess for the title. Glenn Hofmann won the championship lready in Krefeld after a final against Javier Palazón. David Martinez is the current title holder, David Zapatta the Spanish champion in 25 years, in which championship he defeated a few weeks other junior top players as Palazón, Ortiz and Martinez.
Dustin Jäschke finished in Group A as winner this afternoon, Glenn Hofmann in B, David Martinez in C and Joao Ferreira in D. The averages were lower than expected: only three players played just over 1.000.
Most surprising was that Belgian player Andy Bond in the group of Glenn Hofman managed to qualify for the next round. The young player was already known as a specialist in free game and balk-line, but is developing very fast as a three-cushion player under the guidance of his mentor Willy Wezenbeek.
The matches in the eighth finals are today:
Karakurt Zapata, Martinez-De Bondt, Ferreira-Jäschke, Miatton-Hofman.