LOS ALCÁZARES - The four finalists for the European championship three-cushion under 21 are the German Tom Löwe, the Spaniards Carlos Anguita and Andrés Carrion and the Austrian Patrick Bútora. These four players qualified on Saturday after the group stage with fourteen players and were the winners in the quarters in the evening session. The junior championship is played in the Spanish Los Alcazáres, close to Murcia.
The Spanish junior champion Andrés Carrion and the German Tom Löwe moste impressed in the first knockout session of the tournament by averages of 1.364 and 1.304. Tom Löwe and Carlos Anguita finished with the best averages in the group stage: 1.164 and 1.024.
The best match was won by Tom Löwe, who finished his 25 caroms in 14 innings in the match against Patrick Butora (1.786). Tobias Bouerdick scored the highest run: 10, Joey de Kok made 9.
Group A:
Andres Carrion was the group winner with six match points and 0.961 ahead of Thibaut Espada, with also six points and 0.870. Joey de Kok, who finished third in the group with four points and 0.860, qualified as one of the two best numbers three for the quarters. Thibaut Espada won the match against Andrés Carrion, the numbers one and two of the group, 25-23 in 31 innings. Andrés Carrion played the best match when he defeated Anders Henriksen 25-8 in 19 innings.
The final ranking in Group A:
1 Andrés Carrion (Sp) 6-0.961-5
2 Thibaut Espada (Fra) 6-0.870-8
3 Joey de Kok (Neth) 4-0.860-9
4 Ahmet Talha Iscan (Tur) 4-0.822-6
5 Anders Henriksen (Den) 0-0.579-4
Group B:
Tobias Bouerdick remained unbeaten and defeated Carlos Anguita, the number two of the group, 25-13 in 24 innings. His last match against Milan Ettel turned out into a marathon: 25-24 in 50 innings. Carlos Anguita played his best match against Jose Miguel Soares: 25-4 in 17 innings.
The final ranking in Group B:
1 Tobias Bouerdick (Ger) 8-0.871-10
2 Carlos Anguita (Sp) 4-1.024-5
3 Jose Miguel Soares (Por) 4-0.600-4
4 Milan Ettel (Cze) 2-0.586-5
5 Erkan Alperen (Tur) 2-0.583-5.
Group C
Tom Löwe and Patrick Bútora claimed the group win in the competition with four players. The match between the two leaders was won by Tom Löwe 25-9 in 14. It was the best match of the preliminaries with 1.786 average. The German was defeated by Daniel Peña (25-21 in 22), but won his match against the strong Turk Arda Gungor, who qualified as the best third for the quarterfinals.
The final ranking in Group C:
1 Tom Löwe (Ger) 4-1.164-9
2 Patrick Bútora (Aus) 4-0.797-5
3 Arda Gungor (Tur) 2-0.969-7
4 Daniel Peña (Sp) 2-0.778-5.
Quarter-finals:
Tom Löwe was the superior winneer in the match against the Dutchman Joey de Kock: 30-9 in 23 innings.
Andrés Carrion defeated Arda Gungor 30-17 in 22 innings.
Patrick Butora surprised with a win against Tobias Bouerdick, who was unbeaten until then: 30-23 in 32 innings.
Carlos Anguita defeated the Frenchman Thibaut Espada, who arrived three minutes too late for his match, but was allowed to start yet. The Spaniard won 30-24 in 32.
The semi-finals for Sunday:
Tom Löwe-Carlos Anguita
Andrés Carrion-Patrick Butora.
Tom Löwe, best group winner and qualified for semi-finals
The opening ceremony at the European championship for juniors in Murcia