Tomorrow, the Dynamic Billard Albanian Open Euro-Tour will start in Tirana, Albania, at the Expo Center. Today, most of the 150 contestants in the main field are touching down in Tirana, Albania, and practice at one of the 24 tables that are prepared for the event’s start already.
This tournament is the third of five consecutive events here in Tirana. After the Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth and the qualifier for the World Cup of Pool, it is now Euro-Tour time here. On Saturday, the Women’s Euro-Tour will be launched and both final matches will be played on Sunday.
Players in the open event include most of the top 50 ranked players from Europe. From Friday onwards, they will compete and give their best to overcome their respective opponents. Today however, there was a moment of community feeling when most players gathered in front of the TV screen which normally displays the score of table one. EPBF had converted it into a real TV and players were keeping their fingers crossed for fellow tour player Albin Ouschan who was at that very moment fighting for the title in far away Doha, Qatar, at the WPA World 9-Ball Championships. Some of the players that were watching have arrived from Doha themselves only today or yesterday. In the moment when Ouschan defeated Shane van Boening from South Dakota, United States, with 13:7, everybody in the room stood up and cheered for Albin, showing him the utmost respect for his achievement. Albin will jump on a plane after the award ceremony in Doha and fly to Tirana where he will be expected tomorrow. So he can make his appearance here at the Euro-Tour with his brand new title under his belt and probably receive many congratulations from the players, staff and crew around here.
One feature that will be tried out here is the free LIVE and interactive broadcast over the EPBF Facebook page. Every day between 19:00 and 20:00 local time, we will be online LIVE with different items. We might show you extracts of matches, have interviews with players about their games or get their opinions on other sport-related matters. Since this new feature is very interactive and user-friendly, we will also be looking forward for many users to comment on our shows, send in their questions and ideas or come up with questions for the different pros that take part in the tournament here. We will also respond to LIVE comments and questions as appropriate.
The Euro-Tour will be 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 will be 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.eurotouronline.com, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.