BRANDENBURG AN DER HAVEL - The European billiards championship in Brandenburg an der Havel highlights all disciplines of billiard sport from 25 April to 5 May. The mega-tournament combines all popular billiard disciplines in one championship. In total, over 500 athletes from 21 countries compete for the European titles in eleven days in the Stahlpalast. All games are broadcast live on kozoom.com. The overall management is in the hands of CEB chairman Diane Wild. The general sports director and competition leader is Jean-Pierre Guiraud. The final weekend is near with the start of the main disciplines in carom billiards: three cushion.
Kozoom reporter Frits Bakker provides previews of all tournaments during the championship.
Today, on the seventh day, the preview at the European championships three cushion individually with the European top, three cushion for ladies and players under 21.
BRANDENBURG - The best European players in three cushion start on Thursday at the European championship in Brandenburg. The semi-final and final will be played on Saturday. Marco Zanetti not only defends his title, which he won two years ago in a final against Frédéric Caudron. The Italian, who is sixth on the world ranking, also has to defend the maximum of 80 ranking points.
The field of players in three cushion consists of 64 players: 48 players for the preliminaries, 16 players placed: Marco Zanetti as the title holder, fifteen players from the ranking. The sixteen groups of three in the preliminaries play to 30 points, the winners of the groups go to the best 32. In the final rounds, the knock-out matches are played to 40 points. Dick Jaspers defends his number one position on the world ranking with a 14 point lead over Caudron.
The winner receives 80 points for the world ranking, the number two 54, the number three 38, the number four 26 etc. The main prize is 8,000 euros. The number two 4,000 euros, the numbers three and four 2,500, the numbers 5-8 receive 1,500, 9-16 receive 750 euros.
The top 14 of the world ranking:
1 Dick Jaspers 454 points
2 Frédéric Caudron 440
3 Quyet Chien Tran 318
4 Semih Sayginer 285
5 Tayfun Tasdemir 267
6 Marco Zanetti 264
7 Eddy Merckx 258
8 Jae-Ho Cho 247
9 Murat Naci Coklu 220
10 Jérémy Bury 214
11 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 213
12 Sameh Sidhom 208
13 Dinh Nai Ngo 179
14 Jung-Han Heo 175.
Marco Zanetti has been placed first as the title holder. The other 15 seeded players are Frédéric Caudron, Dick Jaspers, Semih Sayginer, Tayfun Tasdemir, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Jérémy Bury, Eddy Merckx, Martin Horn, Eddy Leppens, Murat Naci Coklu, David Martinez.
Many fairly young players, such as Birol Uymaz, Gwendal Maréchal, Antonio Montes, Peter Ceulemans, Lukas Stamm, Glenn Hofman, Juan David Zapata and Dustin Jäschke, want to try to put themselves in the spotlights on this big stage, also many routine players, like Roland Forthomme, Dion Nelin, Filippos Kasidokostas, Ruben Legazpi, Raimond Burgman, Lütfi Cenet, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Jérôme Barbeillon, Radek Novak, Kostas Papakonstantinou, Arnim Kahofer, Andreas Efler are able to compete with the European and world top.
The group layout:
Poule A:
Raimond Burgman (Ned)
Cetin Behzat (Sui)
Gwendal Maréchal (Fra)
Poule B:
Kostas Kokkoris (Gre)
Birol Uymaz (Tur)
Antonio Montes (Esp)
Poule C:
Lütfi Cenet (Tur)
Jean Paul de Bruijn (Ned)
Lukas Stamm (Ger)
Poule D:
Jérôme Barbeillon (Fra)
Thomas Andersen (Den)
Glenn Hofman (Ned)
Poule E:
Peter Varga (Hun)
Radek Novak (Cze)
Giuseppe Longo (Ita)
Poule F:
David Pennör (Swe)
Kostas Papakonstantinou (Gre)
Gabrielle Fasciana (Ita)
Poule G:
Juan David Zapata (Esp)
Martin Bohac (Cze)
Arthur Ludwig (Lux)
Dustin Jäschke (Ger)
Espen Hauge (Nor)
Björn Lohmander (Swe)
Poule I:
Arnim Kahofer (Aut)
Radovan Hajek (Cze)
Peter Ceulemans (Bel)
Poule J:
Jean van Erp (Ned)
Andreas Efler (Aut)
Paul Figueroa (Fin)
Poule K:
Georg Schmied (Aut)
Roland Forthomme (Bel)
Turgay Orak (Tur)
Poule L:
Dion Nelin (Den)
Paulo Andrade (Por)
Pierre Soumagne (Fra)
Poule M:
Christakis Christoforou (Cyp)
Ruben Legazpi (Esp)
Miika Virtanen (Fin)
Poule N:
Rui Costa (Por)
Cengiz Karaka (Ger)
Carlos Vaz (Lux)
Poule O:
Filippos Kasidokostas (Gre)
Nalle Olsson (Swe)
Slobodan Soro (Cro)
Poule P:
Tonny Carlsen (Den)
José Maria Mas (Esp)
Sauli Solhagen (Fin)
Therese Klompenhouwer, a new title coming up?
Ladies three cushion from May 3rd to May 5th.
With six European titles in a row, Therese Klompenhouwer is by far the top favorite among the ladies. The competition mainly comes from Turkey with Gülsen Degener and Guzin Mujde Karakasli. The outside players are Aysegul Fendi, Danielle le Bruyn, Jaimie Buelens and Steffi Daske. The Dutch phenomenon among the ladies, also the ruling world champion, is preparing for a new coup.
The games start on Friday at 6:30pm, the eighth finals on Saturday at 3;30pm, the quarter finals on Saturday at 6:30pm, the semi-finals on Sunday at 9:00am and the final at 12:00 noon.
The group layout:
Poule A:
Gülsen Degener (Tur)
Andrea Manrique (Ned)
Yeimi Mancilpe (Esp)
Poule B:
Therese Klompenhouwer (Ned)
Veronika Krausove (Cze)
Aysegul Fendi (Tur)
Poule C:
Steffi Daske (Ger)
Mélanie Haller (Fra)
Mirjam Pruim-Emmens (Ned)
Poule D:
Estela Cardoso (Esp)
Monika Steinberger (Aut)
Guzin Mujde Karakasli (Tur)
Poule E:
Helga Mitterböck (Aut)
Danielle Le Bruyn (Bel)
Yenny Bajtner (Swe)
Poule F:
Irena Hambalkova (Cze)
Ingrid Engelbrecht (Aut)
Monique Wilkowski (Ned)
Poule G:
Marianne Mortensen (Den)
Joke Breur (Ned)
Ana Juarez (Esp)
Poule H:
Céline Jacques (Fra)
Jaimie Buelens (Bel)
Arzu Gok (Tur).
3-cushion under 21 (1 May-2 May)
Six groups of four players started this Wednesday with the preliminary rounds for players under 21. The semi-finals are Thursday at 12:00 noon, the final at 3:00pm. The best known names are Alessio d'Agata, Simon Blondeel, Maxime Panaia, Nikolaus Kogelbauer, Tom Slikker, Enzo Riquart, Dylan Parent and Mario Mercader.
The group layout:
Poule A:
Enzo Riquart (Fra)
Emanuele Criscino (Ita)
Tom Slikker (Ned)
Nick Rosier (Bel)
Poule B:
Alessio D'Agata (Ita)
Björn Mikkel Jensen (Den)
Marcel Back (Ger)
Sebastian Heimrath (Aut)
Poule C:
Nathan Duriez (Fra)
Ivan Mayor (Esp)
Milan Etten (Cze)
Luis Pinto (Por)
Poule D:
Maxime Panaia (Fra)
Dogukan Corbaci (Tur)
Bradley Roeten (Ned)
Dylan Parent (Bel)
Poule E:
Mario Mercader (Esp)
Batuhan Uludag (Tur)
Christos Falangas (Gre)
Maxime Schreiner (Lux)
Poule F:
Adria Garcia (Esp)
Nikolaus Kogelbauer (Aut)
Mikkel Björn Jensen (Den)
Simon Blondeel (Ger).