ANTALYA - Two crying Greek winners in the arena, two stunned and bewildered Swedes from a dream team after a fantastic victory by the Greeks. Nikos Polychronopoulos and Kostas Kokkoris are the new European three-cushion county team champions. They showed that after the final in the arena in Antalya. Kostas' final, winning carom was followed by shouts of joy and a long embrace in tears. The rare emotion was the crowning glory of the championship: Greece and Sweden had to play a Scotch Double: the Greeks started with 14 and went gloriously to the European title in the second inning with the match-winner.
The Greek joy was short and intense. Nikos Polychronopoulos and Kostas Kokkoris were quickly conducted to the ceremony and then left in a rush for the airport for the flight to Athens. Nevertheless, the success made an overwhelming impression. The win in the semi-final against the Netherlands was already getting a tremendous climax. Polychronopoulos, who has been in superb form all the way at the EC, beat Dick Jaspers 40-22 in 17 innings, Kokkoris lost to Jean Paul de Bruijn, but in the Scotch Double the Greeks were superior 15-7 (3.750 on average).
The final match against the multiple Swedish world and European champion (Blomdahl/Nilsson) turned into the Greeks' biggest triumph in a team championship.
Nikos Polychronopoulos was again inimitably strong with his win over Torbjörn Blomdahl (40-26 in 25). The Swedish standout, Michael Nilsson, equalized at the other table against Kokkoris 40-23 in 19, so again a Scotch Double had to decide. The barrage was one of the highlights of this EC. The Greeks started with 14, Nikos Polychronopoulos could even have finished in the first inning, but he missed the last and 15th point. That winner came after Blomdahl's miss out of Kokkoris’ cue, who ran jubilantly towards his teammate even before the ball caromed and fell into his arms with a wild leap.
Nikos Polychronopoulos said in his after-match comments: ’’The emotions of these first big win gripped us. They came out from the personal sphere. We have known each other since we were 17, are both 45 now and come from the same neighbourhood in Athens.'' The two Shoot-outs in the semi-final and final match were a fantastic climax: Nikos and Kostas closed the jump-off with the Dutch with 10 and started against the Swedes, after Nilsson had missed the starting point, with 14. ''We played the flawless Shoot-outs,'' Nikos and Kostas assured.
The Greeks were on the top stage with the Swedes, Turks and Dutch and Kostas Kokkoris had to rub tears from his eyes during the national anthem.
The Swedish team reached the final by a 2-0 win over Turkey. Torbjörn Blomdahl beat Semih Sayginer 40-29 in 15, Tayfun Tasdemir won against Michael Nilsson 40-25 in 27, after which the Shoot-out ended in 15-13 for Sweden.
The top four of the European Nations Team Championships on the final day:
1 Greece 1 2-1,900-10
2 Sweden 1 2-1,756-11
3 Turkey 1 0-1,642-6
4 Netherlands 1 0-1,550-6.
The nine tournament days of the European Championships produced a total of 15 titles. The fifth 'all-in-one' championship will go down in history as extremely successful and a great promotion for the sport of billiards. CEB president Diane Wild closed the event in the late hours of Sunday after the brief closing ceremony.
