The final matches in 8-ball have been determined today at the Dynamic Billard European Championships in St. Johann i.Pg., Austria. In the men’s division, Vitaliy Patsura (UKR) will play against Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP). In the women’s division, Kristina Tkach (RUS) will be up against Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR). In the wheelchair division, Henrik Larsson (SWE) will encounter Tony Southern (GBR).
It was probably a huge surprise for the European pool world that Vitaliy Patsura has made it to the semi-finals today at all. His day started with an 8:3 victory over Nico Mobilia (BEL). Then he took down strong Swedish Marcus Chamat with 8:3 as well. He had a heartbreaker with Marc Glatz (LUX) where the match went hill-hill but Patsura was able to win 8:7. Then he met the defending Champion Niels Feijen (NED). In that match, after 8 racks no mistakes were made at all. Both players broke and ran their racks and consequently the scoreboard showed 4:4. Then they both made a mistake but still the match was leveled. Being on the hill first, Feijen broke the balls but the cue ball scratched in a pocket. That was enough chance for Patsura. He ran that rack and another one on Feijen to win once again 8:7. In his semi-final match, Patsura was up against Sandor Tot (HUN). Tot has been around for many years and even won a Gold medal in 2002 in Tampere, Finland. The semi-final between Patsura and Tot again was very high class 8-ball with hardly any missed shots at all. Being 7:6 up, Patsura managed to get to the table and eliminated Tot’s hopes for another final appearance in 8-ball this year, winning the match 8:6. The opponent in the final will be Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz. The Spaniard today defeated Kushtrim Prenga (ALB) 8:1, Georg Hoeber (AUT) 8:4, Kristoffer Mindreboe (NOR) 8:2, Karol Skowerski (POL) 8:6 and Denis Grabe (EST) 8:5 in the semi-finals.
In the women’s division, Kateryna Polovinchuk really came up with a great effort today. Though she had some health issues, she came through the loser’s round and she stood tall at the table defeating Tuija Tiihonen (FIN) 6:2, Sara Rocha (POR) 6:5, Claudia Kunz (SUI) 6:4, Nataliya Seroshtan (RUS) 6:5 and Amalia Matas (ESP) 6:5. It was a very long and exhausting day for Polovinchuk and hopefully she will have recovered a bit by tomorrow. Her opponent in the final match will be Kristina Tkach. The young player from Russia also came from the loser’s side of the draw. She defeated Ana Gradisnik (SLO) 6:0, Veronika Hubrtova (CZE) 6:4, Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) 6:3 and Sandra Baumgartner (AUT) 6:1 in the semi-finals.
In the wheelchair division, both semi-finals turned out to be a close affair. Henrik Larsson was by far the favored player over Matej Brajkovic (SLO). But the Slovenian has had a great day so far, even defeating defending Champion Fred Dinsmore (IRL) with 5:3 in the quarter-finals. Larsson and Brajkovic have already met in the winner’s qualification round where Larrson had smooth sailing and took the match with 5:2. In the semi-final however, things were different. Brajkovic came up strong and gave Larsson a hard time. In the end, Larsson was again able to win the match with 5:4 after an exciting and action-packed performance. The other finalist, Tony Southern (GBR) ousted his teammate Daniel Lee (GBR) with 5:3.
The Dynamic Billard European Championships will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time with first round matches in the 9-ball individuals. The finals of the 8-ball competition will be played tomorrow evening at 18:00 CET.
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 is 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.