ATHENS – European three-cushion billiards talents will gather in Athens in the coming days for one of the well-known and traditional events in the Longoni Next Gen cycle. The Greek organizers, in collaboration with the European federation, the CEB, and tournament director Alex Tremoulis, have invited a total of 28 young talents to the three-day tournament. Training sessions were held this evening, Thursday. The preliminary rounds start Friday at 9.30, the knockouts from the quarter-finals onwards are on Sunday. 29-year-old Alex Tremoulis speaks of a promising debut for Greece. ’’This is the first time we are organizing a Next Gen tournament. For the first time, the CEB had to expand the maximum number of participants to 28 due to the great interest from young players."
Alex (Alexandros) Tremoulis (29), who lives in Athens like his father Nick, already has big experience in managing tournaments. "I was assistant tournament director at the European under-25 championship in Salamina two years ago, where my father was the tournament director. And at the European all disciplines xhampionship in Antalya, I was Stefano Malacrita's assistant." Alex Tremoulis is gaining experience following in the footsteps of his father Nick, who runs the youth coordination in the CEB board. The Greeks do a lot to promote youth in three-cushion billiards. The Longoni Next Gen tournament fits into that philosophy.
Young, ambitious Alex Tremoulis, who plays at the Trisponto Club in Athens, came into contact with billiards at an early age. At just 16, he was already referee at the World Cup in Peloponnese, where Torbjörn Blomdahl broke the world record tournament average. Alex tells us about Greek billiards: "We have about 500 players. My sport isn't very popular, but the federation, with George Lamprakis as president, does a lot to promote this wonderful sport. We recently acquired 8 coaches for three-cushion and pool billiards. As a result of these training programs, we have already produced three major talents: Dimitrios Seleventas, who was second at the under-25 championship, won gold in the under-17 category, and was third in the under-21 category. Furthermore, George Tsokantas and Christos Falangas.
The Longoni Next Gen starts in 7 groups of four players, with the top two from each group and the two best third-place finishers qualifying for the knockout rounds with 16 players.
The most prominent names are Amir Ibraimov, Toni Garcia, Tangui Duriez, and Marcos Morales.
The matches will be played from May 1 to May 3 at the Koralli Billiard Club. The group draw:
Group A:
Toni Garcia (Spain), Charles Legendre (France), Joeri Wilkowski (Netherlands), Nikos Botis (Greece)
Group B:
Marcos Morales (Spain), Kaan Demir (Turkey), Konstantinos Demiris (Greece), Mirko Russino (Italy)
Group C:
Bruno Martinez (Spain), Engin ali Kozluca (Turkey), Gilano Vloedmans (Netherlands), Poyraz Kara (Germany)
Group D:
Amir Ibraimov (Germany), Cinar Korkmaz (Turkey), Jayden van Buren (Netherlands), Konstantinos Profka (Greece)
Group E:
Arturo Zotov (Spain), Mio Svensson (Sweden), Cenk bartu Sengul (Turkey), Dimitrios Loubardias (Greece)
Group F:
Tangui Duriez (France), Gokalp Cebeoglu (Turkey), Turla Paolo (Italy), Thomas Verhulst (Belgium)
Group G:
Luca Philipoom (Netherlands), Toon Bollansee (Belgium), Lorenzo Fiore (Italy), Kuzey Kara (Germany).
Alex Tremoulis, the tournament director in the Longoni Next gen event in Athens