12th July 2025
MARCO SPITZKY IS the KAMUI SLOVENIAN OPEN champion as he defeated Mario He 10-9 in a thrilling climax as he came from 9-5 down to grab victory at the death. Mario had enough chances to win and was bitterly disappointed with his display as he squandered the opportunity to take down his seventh Predator Euro Tour title.
Spitzky who came into the event ranked No.10, is something of a part-time player, working by day with children at a kindergarten, but he showed nerves of steel to hang in there and take advantage of Mario’s errors.
Hailing from Hamburg, Germany, Spitzky’s previous best was a semi-final spot in Austria last year. This time out he got off to the worst possible start in the competition as he was relegated to the losers side at the hands of Ralf Souquet. However, he battled through, and went on to beat Mariusz Sniegocki in the last eight before defeating recent Predator Austrian Open winner, Mieszko Fortunski 10-9 to make his way to the final.
After the match, he was ecstatic, “I’m just over the moon, first time Euro Tour champion and that’s what you dream of as a pool player and I achieved it now and I’m so, so happy. It was a thrilling final and I’m happy that Mario didn’t take his chances at the end. He was up 9-5 and I thought that was it but I had a little look at the trophy and thought maybe I could get a chance and take it if I get it, and I did.
“When he was on the hill, I was thinking, wait for your next chance and hope you get the next break, have a good break and run out and put him under some pressure and that’s what happened. Of course, nerves played a part but they didn’t attack me as I thought and I handled it pretty good. The key ball was the 12-ball in the corner when I had to slow roll it. I was a bit shaky at these moments but I handled myself pretty good and I made it and had a perfect result.”
For Mario He it was a devastating end to the match and he struggled to put it into words; “I just played bad. It was a horrible match. I played bad and didn’t deserve to win. Honestly, no energy. Hats off to him as he was fighting back and that’s always a big quality in winning a tournament but I should have won earlier. I don’t want to take it away from him but I’m not really happy with myself.”
In the semi-finals, He defeated 15-year-old Maks Benko (Slovenia) who’s run in the championship was one of the talking points. Benko took down some big names en route to the last four and can now look forward to next week’s Predator European Youth Championships with renewed vigour.
With the Open event concluded, the focus is now on the Kamui Slovenian Women’s Open. Play started this morning and the event is now down to the last eight players. The quarter-finals get underway at 10.00 on Sunday morning, followed by the semi-finals at 12.30 and 15.00 with the title decider scheduled for 17.30.
Streaming of Tables 1 and 2 for all Euro Tour and European Championships events can be found on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV
For all results, live scoring and draw, visit https://www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurotour/information/
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