Kestutis Zadeikis (LIT) came up with a great comeback effort at the Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth in Tirana, Albania, in the 10-ball Under 17’s, winning 6:5 over Alessandro Amendola (ITA).
Zadeikis was already trailing 0:3 and 2:4 in a race to 6 in the loser’s qualification round. He stayed focussed in the match and managed to tie it at 4:4 after 8 racks. Then, his Italian opponent got on the hill first. Zadeikis once again stayed strong and tied the match at hill-hill. In turn, Amendola played a shot and just slightly feathered the 9-ball with the cue ball. Discussions arose and team leaders and spectators from both sides got involved into an argument whether a foul had been committed or not. Zadeikis remained quite cool and stayed out of the discussion. When no solution could be found, he decided to accept the table without ball in hand and ran the remaining two balls for a 6:5 victory over Amendola. In video research after the match it could be proven that Amendola has definitely not committed a foul in the said situation and so the handling of it was completely in order.
Other interesting results include defending Champion Fedor Gorst (RUS) winning 6:3 over Karo Langstroem (FIN). Wiktor Zielinski (POL) was victorious over his fellow countryman Szymon Kural (POL) 6:1. In the girls division, Jana Peters (GER) took an easy win with 5:2 over Michelle Sandman (NOR). Peters’ teammate Pia Blaeser (GER) took care of Sandman’s teammate Nina Torvund (NOR) 5:1. Alara Gaffari (TNC) won 5:3 over Kyenna Marcic (NED) while Palina Chernik (BLR) eliminated Laura Hartikainen (FIN) 5:2.
Earlier today, the first team matches have been played. In the Under 19 category, 14 teams are on the chart. Defending Champion Germany and runner-up Russia had a walk-over in the first round, all others had to start their quest today. North Cyprus kind of surprisingly defeated Italy 2:1 and will face Germany in the next round on Friday. Poland was favored over Slovakia and made short work with them, winning the match 2:0. Same score and setup was good for Czech Republic in their match with Luxembourg. The Netherlands remained the upper hand over Switzerland with 2:0 and Norway defeated host nation Albania also 2:0. Austria got the better of Belarus and will face the Russian team in the next round.
In the Under 17 teams, ten teams are in the starting list. That means that only two matches in the first round had to be played. All other nations had a walk-over there. The two results from round one are Russia winning 2:1 over Lithuania and Norway claiming a 2:1 victory over Finland. The Russians will have a go at defending Champion Germany in the next round while Norway will face the Polish team as their opponents.
The Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth will continue today with 10-ball matches in the Girls, the Under 17 and Under 19 division.
The Championships are played on 24 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be purchased at www.kozoom.com. Once a premium membership is held, all events for the respective period of time can be viewed LIVE. Additionally, a huge video gallery is contained in the website.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.epconline.eu, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.