LOS ALCÁZARES - The 20 year Spanish champion Andrés Carrión has conquered the European junior title in front of his home crowd in Los Alcázares, Spain. The Spanish national team coach, Jose Maria Quetglas, says that Carrión is seen as one of the great talents for the future. The gold winner defeated the strong German Tom Löwe after a blistering start (18-4) with 30-21 in 27 innings.
The new European champion, one of three Spaniards in the tournament, showed himself very pleased with the title. ,,I practiced a lot for this championship and at least, the big success is there. My average, 1.050, makes me happy. I hope that I can play so good later this year at the World championship in Hurghada'', said the champion, who has stopped with his studies and is working in a furniture company.
Andrés Carrión lives in Castalla, Allicante, has one older brother, Juan Carlos Carrión Molto, is coached by Jose Antonio Carrasco and is part of the national training center of Jose Maria Quetglas. His practice room is the billiard center Infanta Cristina, where the European championship was played. He was Spanish champion in January this year in the famous billiard center Caseta Nova where he defeated Daniel Peña, David Pardo and Jesús Rico. In the Spanish team competition, Carrión plays in the highest league for CB Castalla with Dutchman Glenn Hoffman and Turkish Birol Uymaz.
In the preliminaries Carrión won three of his four matches against Anders Henriksen (25-8 in 19), Joey de Kok (25-23 in 23) and Ahmet Talha Iscan (25-18 in 29). He lost to the Frenchman Thibaut Espada 25-23 in 31. In the quarterfinals Carrión defeated the Turk Arda Gungor 30-17 in 22 and the semifinals the Austrian Patrick Bútora 30-20 in 28 innings.
The losing finalist Tom Löwe started with group victories over Patrick Bútora (25-9 in 14), Arda Gungor (25-17 in 25) and lost to Daniel Peña (25-21 in 22). Then, in the knockout stage, he won in the quarterfinals against Joey de Kok 30-9 in 23 and in the semifinals against Carlos Anguita 30-24 in 25.
The podium was completed by the second Spaniard in the tournament, Carlos Anguita and the surprising Austrian Patrick Bútora.
Andrés Carrión was the seventh Spaniard who took the European junior title.
Jose Maria Quetglas said in his closing speech that he hopes for the participation of Belgian and Italian players in the future. He also announced that the 2017 Junior World championships will be played in Los Alcazáres.
The players in the final, Andrés Carrión (left) and Tom Löwe
Alle the players at the Europlean championship during the closing ceremony
The organizing team at the European junior championship