In the final match of the straight pool competition at the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Seniors and Ladies in Tirana, Albania, Vegar Kristiansen (NOR) defeated Sandor Tot (HUN) with 100:64 and took the first Gold Medal of the event.
The contestants of the final match were practically a logical conclusion regarding the flow of the straight pool tournament. Tot as well as Kristiansen have both played rock solid and performed steadily most of the time. Though Tot lost his first match to Sanne Azar (SWE), his overall performance in straight pool was worth a Champion. So was Kristiansen’s acting. Naturally, the final was expected to be a great show. After a few safety shots, Tot started pocketing some balls but only came up with eight before he missed. Kristiansen got to the table and fired 21 balls in before he gave the table away to Tot. But this time, there was no shot for the Hungarian. The safety battle went again in Kristiansen’s favor. Tot tried to play a good safety but failed and Kristiansen’s march on the road to glory continued. But unlike in the matches before, both players could not get a really high series of points. They missed shots and that kept the match exciting for the audience. When Kristiansen was 44:24 in the lead, he missed a break shot to the corner pocket. That was the possibility for Tot to get back. The Hungarian took the chance and ran 42 balls to turn the scoreboard to 66:44 in his favor. The break shot that he left for himself was a bit too thin so he decided to play a safety shot. Kristiansen is also very experienced in this and the match saw a few safeties exchanged back and forth. Tot made a mistake and left a shot for Kristiansen. The Norwegian made that difficult shot and ran the match from there. He scored 57 balls in a row to win the match and the title.
Semi-final results:
Sandor Tot (HUN) v Kostas Konnaris (CYP) 100:49
Vegar Kristiansen (NOR) v Tomi Ahonen (FIN) 100:0
Kristiansen finished the match in two innings, running 85 balls in his second visit at the table!
Final Eight Straight Pool Seniors:
1.
2.
3. Kostas Konnaris (CYP)
Tomi Ahonen (FIN)
5. Jim Telfer (NED)
Sanne Azar (SWE)
Manuel Pereira (POR)
Simo Korpela (FIN)
Medal table after 1 of 5 events:
|
Rank |
Nation |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
|
1. |
Norway |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
2. |
Hungary |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
3. |
Cyprus |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
Finland |
|
|
1 |
1 |
The Dynamic Billard European Championships for Seniors and Ladies will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with team matches and then switch back to the 10-ball individuals in both, seniors and ladies division.
The Championships are played on 24 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be purchased at www.kozoom.com. Once a premium membership is held, all events for the respective period of time can be viewed LIVE. Additionally, a huge video gallery is contained in the website.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.epconline.eu, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.