ATHENS - Billiards in Greece is looking forward to a new future after having struggled out of the crisis and the adventure with IBT Hellas. The new union, Hellenic Billiard Union, has elected a board headed by Nick Trémoulis (51) and has been accepted officially by the European billiards federation CEB.
The tumultuous era of IBT Hellas has finally ended with the foundation of the new federation. The initiative was taken by Nick Trémoulis, an all-rounder as a player, businessman and board member. Most players have already endorsed the new board.
The current board consists of Nick Trémoulis as chairman, Kostantinos Lontzetidis as vice president, Stelios Pentazos as secretary general, John Savvopoulos (treasurer) and Evagellos Sarakinos (board member).
The league currently consists of sixty members who have signed up during the first meeting. Nick Trémoulis: ,, That will do much more at the start of September, when the holidays are behind and the sporting calendar is announced on the website, on which we have 250 members so far.''
Trémoulis: ,,The first mission was to give players, club owners and people who want to support us to launch a union with an official status. Then, we had to join the CEB officially to allow our players to participate in international matches and tournaments. We have succeeded in making this good start.
The next task is to make a good website and finish the sporting calendar for next season.''
Frits Bakker: Will it be a joint Greek union, with North Greece and Crete. So, are these problems solved?
Nick Trémoulis: ,,To be honest, there has been a long period of misunderstandings. But right now, it's much better than ever at this moment having nothing to apart us. I don't want to go back to the reasons. We all agreed to leave it behind and look forward, so talking about it internationally will look like scratching a wound.''
The foundation of the new union is formed by Athanasios Roufos (player and founder of the federation in 1984), Nick Trémoulis (player), Stylianos Pentazos (player), Nikos Polychronopoulos (player and club owner), Filippos Kasidokostas (player), Kostas Papakonstantinou (player), Konstantinos Bartsokas (player), Konstantinos Kokkoris (player), Apostolos Balogiannis (player), Evagelos Moulos (player and club owner), Nikolaos Chatzipavlis (player and club owner), Dionisios Tsokantas (player and club owner) Evagelos Koutsofios (player ), Dimitrios Apostoleas (player), Konstantinos Giannakopoulos (player), Evaelos Sarakinos (player), Konstantinos Georgaras (player and club owner), Athanasios Michalis (player and club owner), Ioannis Savopoulos (player)
Konstantinos Lontzetidis (player and president of Macedonian bond and Thessaloniki) and John Papadakis (player and club owner).
The union has around twenty large and small clubs where the matches can be played. There will be a team competition which should lead to a final with eight teams: five from Athens, two from Northern Greece and one from Southern Greece. That final will be played with two groups of four. The personal championship is played in divisions throughout Greece, in two rounds, one in Athens and one in Northern Greece.
The new chairman, Nick Trémoulis, has been involved with Greek billiards for 34 years now. He is eightfold Greek champion, is still active as a player, was club owner and sales manager for nine years in the major billiard industry and was a barman as well.
,,I lost my club due to the Greek crisis, now I cooperate with a friend in a club.''
The Greek union will provide a website where all tournaments and results are processed.
Nick Trémoulis doesn't want to speak about the crisis with IBT Hellas as a main sponsor. ,,I just want to say that IBT Greek billiards certainly has not damaged billiard in Greek. That wouldn't be fair. I want to emphasize that the opposite is true. But let us look forward and not look back.''