13th July 2025
INA KAPLAN COLLECTED her seventh PREDATOR Euro Tour title as she defeated surprise finalist Vania Franco of Portugal 8-4 to carry off the KAMUI SLOVENIAN OPEN at the Terme Olimia resort in Podčetrtek. It was sweet redemption for Kaplan, who missed out in Austria last month, beaten in a final rack decider by Pia Filler.
This time she made no mistakes as she opened up a big 6-0 lead to give herself a comfortable cushion. Franco though, came back at her, moving the score to 6-3 and then 7-4 before Kaplan shook off the pressure and got the job done in the 12th rack.
The German girl is in the midst of a superb run of form, having claimed four Euro Tour titles in her last six starts and sits unchallenged at the top of the rankings. Her next stop is the World Games in Chengdu, China in August and despite the inevitable strong global field, she will travel with the utmost confidence.
Commented Kaplan, “It’s just great. This is my first trophy from the Predator era and I’m happy, after that final against Pia, that I won this time. When you lose it’s not good and you always want to win and play your best game and after such a tough loss I was quite devastated but here I am, winning the next one.
“Towards the end, I was feeling it, I was shaky all the time and didn’t have my stroke but I thought, OK, just stay calm and you’ll get your chance and luckily, she wasn’t playing her best game and, in the end, I got the trophy.
“I’m looking forward to the World Games of course. I played in it eight years ago - it was in Poland and it was my first one and I was quite nervous but this time I hope my experience will help me,” she concluded.
For Vania Franco, a veteran of the Euro Tour it was one match too many after appearing in her first final since 2014.
She said, “I had some great matches but the final was not the one that I wanted, but I’m very happy with my performances. I had some tough matches and I managed it but Ina is a tough opponent and she deserved it so congratulations to her.
“It was difficult and at the beginning I felt I wasn’t really at the match. It wasn’t the pressure but things weren’t going the way I wanted. After that I tried to fight a little bit but it wasn’t enough.”
The Predator Euro Tour can be seen next in Assen, in the Netherlands, where both open and women’s tournaments take place from 25th to 28th September. Starting on Tuesday 15th July are the Predator European Youth Championships operating across three divisions; boys under 17 and under 19 and a girls category. There are medals in the four major disciplines and the championships conclude on Tuesday 22nd July.
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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