HALLE- ZOERSEL - The wake up clock at ten o'clock early Sunday morning, four young billiard players are on their way to a strong final of the European Longoni Next gen Grand Prix. The four under-21 players, two Spaniards, a Dutchman and a Frenchman remained at De Ploeg in Halle Zoersel, Belgium, after the prerounds and quarter-finals. Joris van ‘t Zelfden (Netherlands) and Marcos Morales (Spain) made the best impression in the final run-up to the decisive day on Sunday. The Dutchman averaged 1.750 in his first knockout, the Spaniard 1.521.
The other two final players are Tangui Duriez, France (1.093) and Daniel Sainz-Pardo, Spain (0.660). The first semi-final is at 10am West European time on Sunday (19 January) and is between Joris van ‘t Zelfden and Tangui Duriez, the second semi-final between Marco Morales and Daniel Sainz-Pardo at 12pm. The final is next at 15.30. The matches can be followed live on Kozoom.
The knock-outs with 24 players in total concluded on Saturday with the quarter-finals, for which the best eight from the qualifiers. Amir Ibraimov, the young German, did so among others with a magnificent match against Marcos Morales, the best from those preliminary rounds (25-7 in 14, 1.785 average) and Morales himself against Portuguese Santos with 25-11 in 19 (1.315). Other high-scoring games in those preliminary rounds came from Daniel Sainz Pardo against Anthony Greffe (25-10 in 18, 1.388), Joris van ‘t Zelfden against Mio Svensson (25-6 in 19, 1.315).
It was the run-up to the quarter-finals on early Saturday evening in which Joris van ‘t Zelfden had a super start against Belgian Toon Bollansee, whom he beat 35-12 in 20/19 innings: averages 1.750/0.631. Marcos Morales shone in a kind of revenge match against Amir Ibraimov, beating the German 35-25 in 23/22 (1.521/1.136, high runs 9 and 8 for Ibraimov and Morales). In the other two quarter-finals, France's Tangui Duriez won over Dutchman Luca Philipoom 35-21 in 32/31 (1.093/0.677). Daniel Sainz Parto grabbed the win in a long match against Turk Selahattin Özkul with 35-29 in 52 (0.660/0.557).
Matches 10am and 12pm Sunday morning:
Van ‘t Zelfden-Duriez, Morales-Sainz-Pardo.
