Denis Grabe (EST) has just won the Dynamic Billard Slovenian Open Euro-Tour event in Portoroz, Slovenia. He defeated Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) with a clear 9:4 result.
Grabe took his first Euro-Tour title ever at the last Euro-Tour in St. Johann, Austria. Already there he defeated bis names like current 9-ball World Champion Niels Feijen (NED). Here again, Grabe got the better of players like Karl Boyes (GBR) 9:4, Albin Ouschan (AUT) 9:3, Marcus Chamat (SWE) 9:3 and in the final up and coming young Dutch player Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) 9:4. „I think I am really on a roll at the moment“, stated Grabe after the final match. „The victories do not come easy to me at all. They are hard work. But I am very confident at this point in time and I want to make use of it while it lasts“, added Grabe.
It could be witnessed in general at this Euro-Tour event that many young players were doing extremely well. Maybe a new generation is knocking on the door of the established players…
Earlier today, Karl Boyes’ (GBR) journey was cruelly stopped by said Grabe. Boyes managed to defeat BCA Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet (GER) twice yesterday and was full of confidence and good hopes for today. But Grabe put an abrupt end to that. After the match, Boyes and Carlos Cabello (ESP) were randomly drawn for an anti-doping test, conducted by the Slovenian Anti-Doping Association SLOADO.
Also remarkable is the fact that many nations were represented in the final stages of the tournament. In the quarter-finals, eight different nations had a player in the field left. This shows the tight level of competition in Europe as of current.
Final standings:
- Denis Grabe (EST)
- Marc Bijsterbosch (NED)
- Marcus Chamat (SWE)
Mats Schjetne (NOR) - Mark Gray (GBR)
Petri Makkonen (FIN)
Radoslaw Babica (POL)
Albin Ouschan (AUT)
The top ten players of the Euro-Tour rankings are now:
- Nick van den Berg (NED)
- Niels Feijen (NED)
- Daniele Corrieri (ITA)
- Karol Skowerski (POL)
- Mark Gray (GBR)
- Konstantin Stepanov (RUS)
- Albin Ouschan (AUT)
- Phil Burford (GBR)
- Radoslaw Babica (POL)
- Imran Majid (GBR)
In the women’s division, the favorite players are in the winner’s bracket on their way to the single elimination stage of the event. Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) is playing Sandra Baumgartner (AUT), Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) battles it out with Kristina Schagan (GER), Ana Mazhirina (RUS) and Ine Helvik (NOR) are having a match and Martine Christiansen (NOR) plays against Monica Margeta (SWE) for a seat in the quarterfinals tomorrow. The last match is quite open. The first three matches clearly have heavily favored favorites in Ouschan, Czuprynska and Mazhirina.
The Women’s Euro-Tour Slovenian Open will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET. The final is scheduled for 15:00 CET.
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.eurotouronline.com
The event is hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.