ANTALYA - The two Turkish youngsters, who dominated the CEB event in Italy last week, also lead the rankings after one day at the European Championships under 25. Burak Hashas, the world junior champion, is the best after the preliminary rounds scoring 4 match points and 1.621, Seymen Ozbas, also from Istanbul and from the same club as Hashas, is the number two with 4 match points and 1.200. The main rivals are not far behind with Nikolaus Kogelbauer from Austria, Alessio D'Agata from Italy, Marcos Morales from Spain and Lukas Mortensen from Denmark leading the middle part. The preliminary rounds were a first selection: 16 out of 24 players qualified for the eighth finals.
Burak Hashas was the first to show a high-class match in his game against Christos Falangas, which he won 30-12 in 19. He was passed by his big rival Seymen Ozbas, who beat Dutchman Tom Slikker 30-11 in 15. Burak Hashas also won his second match, playing Milan Ettel, in 18 innings, thus classifying himself with the best average.
The showdown in the groups included great games by Selahattin Ozkul against Belgian Tim van Hoeck, 30-29 in 33. Maxime Panaia played a draw facing Turk Dogukan Corbaci in a thrilling game, making the Frenchman the group winner after all and eliminating the Turk. Marcos Morales won in a nice battle against Turk Mustafa Ceylan 30-26 in 35.
The level of the under-25 European Championship was most of all high thanks to Burak Hashas, Seymen Ozbas, Nikolaus Kogelbauer, Maxime Panaia and Dimitrios Seleventas, who averaged over 1. Furthermore, many players fluctuated between 0,800 and 1,000. Dogukan Corbaci was even eliminated with 0,945. Maxime Panaia was the only player with 3 match points. For the Netherlands, Tom Slikker (2 points, 0.672) made it to the last sixteen, for Belgium it was Tim van Hoeck (2 points, 0.800). Of the six players with 0 match points, Milan Ettel and Nick Rosier were the best in on average with 0.733 and 0.602. Czech Matej Napravnik and Belgian Luca Philipoom were the numbers last in average of the 24 participants with 0.453 and 0.433 average.
The matches for the last 16 (Turkish time one hour earlier than Western Europe)
9.00:
Hashas-Marcu
Morales-Kristiansen
Seleventas-Ozkul
Jensen-D'Agata
11.30:
Kogelbauer-Ceylan
Mortensen-Van Hoeck
Panaia-Falangas
Ozbas-Slikker
Burak Hashas
Alessio D'Agata
The group results in the prerounds
Group A:
1 Burak Hashas 4-1,621-7
2 Christos Falangas 2-0.913-9
3 Milan Ettel 0-0.733-5
Group B:
1 Seymen Ozbas 4-1,200-7
2 Tom Slikker 2-0.672-4
3 Luis Mira 0-0.543-4
Group C:
1 Alessio D'Agata 4-0.952-6
2 Daniel Kristiansen 2-0.783-7
3 Luca Philipoom 0-0.433-3
Group D:
1 Maxime Panaia 3-1,000-9
2 Björn Jensen 2-0.744-6
3 Dogukan Corbaci 1-0.945-6
Group E:
1 Nikolaus Kogelbauer 4-1,132-4
2 Quentin Marcu 2-0.649-5
3 Luis Mira 0-0.521-4
Group F:
1 Marcos Morales 4-0.882-4
2 Mustafa Ceylan 2-0.708-4
3 Maxime Schreiner 0-0.571-5
Group G:
1 Selahattin Ozkul 2-0.893-5
2 Tim van Hoeck 2-0.800-5
3 Mario Mercader 2-00,728-4
Group H:
1 Lukas Mortensen 4-0,845-5
2 Dimitrios Seleventas 2-1,065-7
3 Matej Napravnik 0-0.453-5