LOS ALCAZARES - Turkey's recent junior three-cushion champion, Seymen Özbas, has become the new European under-21 three-cushion champion this weekend at the age of 19. In the final, played in Los Alcazares, Spain, he beat 16-year-old German Amir Ibraimov 35-29 in 34/33 innings. Özbas took the title from his compatriot Denizcan Akkoca, the 2023 champion!
The later champion was already flawless in the preliminary round with two matches of 25 points in 13 innings (average 1.923) against Ton Bollensee (BE) and Georgis Tsokantas (GR). Ozbas then beat Tangui Duriez 35-29 in 29 and Joris van 't Zelfden (Netherlands) 35-31 in 32 in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, Ozbas won against his compatriot Mustafa Ceylan 35-19 in 26 innings.
Amir Ibraimov, after a weak start, made a fantastic come-back and reached the final after winning over big favorite Burak Hashas 35-17 in 22 innings in the quarter-finals. In the next round, Ibraimov eliminated the title holder, Denizcan Akkoca from Turkey 35-30 in 35. The third Turkish player, the champion Ozbas, was too much for the very young 16-year-old German.
The best overall averages went to the new 2024 champion with 1.292 and Burak Hashas, eighth with 1.324.
The European under-17 three-cushion champion (small tables) is German Christos Kisniarov. In the final, he beat Spanish player Toni Garcia 30-21 in 26. Kisniarov reached the final by beating his compatriot Jakob Ide 30-21 in 34, while Toni Garcia beat Turkish player Muhammed Atabey 30-18 in 22.
At the European under-21 5-pins championship, Italy, the favorite, did not miss the opportunity to secure gold with Emanuel Cucchiara, now a three-time European champion in a row. In the final, he beat German Felix Schrobaack, in 3 sets to 0: 60/50, 60/29, 60/23.
In the biathlon for national teams (three cushion and 5-pins), Germany's Amir Ibraimov and Nick Haake beat Italy's Mirko Russino and Luigi De Girolamo Del Mauro 200-183 in the final. Ibraimov took advantage in three cushion by beating his opponent Russino 25-4, making it 100-16 for the match with the pins. The Italian player then made a fine come-back, scoring 167 points against his opponent Haake's 100, but it was not enough for Italy.
Germany is the big winner of these European championships grouped as the 'EuroYouth Longoni Next-Gen', Turkey had the best young players in three-cushion.
Combined medal rankings European Championships:
1) Germany (6 medals):
Gold: 2
Silver: 2
Bronze: 2
2) Turkey (4 medals):
Gold: 1
Silver: 0
Bronze: 3
3) Italy (4 medals):
Gold: 1
Silver: 1
Bronze: 2
4) Spain (1 medal):
Silver: 1
5) Denmark (1 medal):
Bronze: 1
The final players in three cushion, Amir Ibraimov and Seymen Ozbas