THERE WAS DOUBLE gold medal joy for the Portuguese contingent at the PREDATOR European Seniors Pool Championships in Gandia, Spain as Miguel Silva and Henrique Correia took the 46-plus and 56-plus 10-ball titles. The ladies’ final was won by Türkiye’s Sinem Kokten, her fourth gold medal at the European Seniors.
Silva enjoyed a relatively comfortable 7-2 victory over countryman Jorge Tinoco, while Correia held off teammate Manuel Pereira by 7-5. Kokten had to come from behind to defeat Spain’s Silvia Lopez Fibla by 5-4.
For Silva, it was his third Seniors gold medal and there may be more to come with the 8-ball tournament underway and the 9-ball to come.
He said, “It feels good, amazing really! Everything was going very well for me; I was playing good and I felt good. I think now I’m playing a little bit better than I was two years ago. I know Tinoco and he’s a very good player so it’s very hard. We are both Portuguese and that’s difficult.
“In the beginning of the match, I wasn’t really focused and we were talking a lot – we are friends so it’s difficult to start the match and be concentrating in the first racks. I like to play 8-ball and it’s a little bit easier playing on these tables so we will see.”
The bronze medals went to Anthony Brabin of Cyprus and Finland’s Sami Karttunen.
Sinem Kokten’s victory gave her a fourth Seniors title but she had to work very hard to dislodge Lopez who had a chance to seal the deal before fate caught up with her. The Turkish lady had lead 2-1 but relinquished her lead and at 4-3 down with Lopez at the table, victory looked distant. However, a miss by the Spaniard followed by a bold table length shot on the 10-ball by Kokten, set the match up for a decider and it was Sinem who prevailed.
She said, “It’s wonderful! I was 4-3 down and thought ‘it’s finished’ but I had a chance and I never give up; I’m a fighter and I’m really happy. I know my friend from Spain is very sad and I’m sad for her of course, but it’s a really good night for me.
“I stayed in the moment and focused on the ball and didn’t think anything. I played two matches in the 8-ball tournament at 9.00 and then semi-finals and the final and it’s really hard for me, four matches today but now I’m holding the trophy and that’s really good!” she added.
Semi-finalists and bronze medal winners were Yvonne Ullmann-Hybler of Germany and Finland’s Tiina Nakari.
Henrique Correia, the Portuguese gold medal machine, made it two from two this week in Gandia as he added the 10-ball title to his earlier straight pool success. Trailing 2-0, then 3-2, Correia edged himself into the lead but countryman Pereira came back at him and at 5-5 it was anyone’s game.
Correia, though won two close racks to move forward for the gold medal.
“It’s starting to be super amazing! 10-ball is the game I really love to play; it’s my game. And somehow, I have this extra fortune within this game and it’s funny as it always comes to me. What can I do? I accept it! I think I played good all the tournament, the final was a little bit funny as it’s a teammate and a little bit awkward but, in the end, it’s smiles for me.
“He’s our captain and he’s a super-medallist – he has a lot of titles and we are friends so it’s not easy to separate the feelings but it’s what you have to do because you’re here to win. I did my job; he was a little bit unlucky so I took my chance.”
Filling out the podium with the bronze medals were Bjorn-Erik Bergh and Geir Holmqvist, both representing Norway.
Play continues tomorrow at 9.00 with the two Team competitions and then the 8-ball resumes later in the day.
Played over nine days, the Championships conclude on Tuesday 27th with the finals of the three 9-ball tournaments and the two team competitions. Following on from that is the final Predator Euro Tour event of the year – the Revora Spanish Open which starts on Thursday 29th and concludes on Sunday 1st November.
Streaming of Tables 1, 2 and 3 for the duration of the Predator European Seniors Championships can be found on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel - https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV
For all results, live scoring and draw, visit www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/
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