THESSALONIKI - It is a tournament with a mission, in which we meet beautiful names from the city of Thessalonki as 'Daddy', 'Don Plus', 'Fon Plus, Lontze' and 'Von Margaret', but which is mainly ment to invite players from all places in Greece and foreign three cushion players.
That’s how Pavlos Zachariadis, with his club BC Macedonikos the organizer of the Grand Tournament in Thessaloniki, introduces his event.
The tournament is organized for the second time and played from 28 March to 1 April, with a conscious choice for many players who come from other parts of Greece.
Pavlos Zachariadis: ,,We will welcome a collection of players from all parts of Greece. Most billiards events here are organized in Athens, with players from Athens and very rarely from the rest of the country.''
The idea behind the first ’Grand Tournament’ was to expand the field and also invite a number of foreign players, this time from Turkey, Spain, Austria and the Netherlands.''
The aim was to pay all expenses for the foreign players, so that other clubs in Europe would follow the example. Pavlos: ,,We want to create a family atmosphere among billiard players.''
,,I would therefore like to say 'bravo' to all those Greek and other players to come to us in this hard financial crisis.’’
Pavlos is proud of the program: ,,Can you imagine how hard it is to organize such a tournament... Five days, 128 players, double pyramid system, six tables, a welcome party (oriental night) and a big barbecue party afterwards.''
,,It has never happened.. but we did it and we'll do it again. And even better.''
Pavlos Zachariadis is a billiard player himself for 34 years and was balk-line champion in Greece in 1997.
,,The most romantic in our tournament is that all members of Macedonikos BC enable us to organize the event. Each member has donated a small amount, some even 100 or 200 euro to sponsor the hotel costs and other expenses. The sponsors of the tournament are members of Macedonikos BC, because in this crisis it was impossible to find many sponsors.''
Two sponsors he would like to mention: Theorie cues and Royal pro billiard sheets. Theory cues is a product of Mehmet Goren from Turkey and Royal Pro billiard sheets the product of Pavlos himself, known in a big part of Greece, Austria and Spain.
Pavlos: ,,We heard some rumors that the CEB would punish foreign players, because we are not an official tournament. At least, we have paid 1250 euro’s to the CEB, so now we are fully accepted as an official tournament. But it is a pity that clubs, that want to organize something special and attract players for a great tournament, have to pay the CEB. In our opinion, we say it is wasted money. We had to decrease the prize money a bit for that reason.’’
The tournament can be followed on a live stream. Participants under one average pay 60 euro fee, over one average 100 euros.
Participants:
Greece, Thessaloniki:
Georgiadis, Papageorgiou, Lemonidis (Van Der Lemon), Zachariadis, Demertzis (Dady), Tsaklidis (White Shark), Mpelderopoulos (Fon Plus), Eleftheriadis, Gavriilidis, Panousos, Chatzipirpiridis, Ioanidis (From Tax), Lontzetidis (Lontze), Ioannidis Giannis, Levendidis (Leve), Nikolidakis Kostas, Dalietos Stefanos Fotiadis Charalambos, Giannis Komsulas (Don Plus), Dinos Papakostas (von Margaret), Tasos Kofidis, Christos Ifantidis, Tasos Christopoulos, Theodoros Pavlidis, Strevinas Dimitris, Melidis Michalis, Marakomichelakis Nikos , Metaxas Alekos, Chatzopoulos Tasos, Sivris Giannis, Nazaridis Themis.
Other parts of Greece:
Giotas (Xilokopos), Sioulis Fotis, Lazos Fotis, Ramos Vasilis, Gialourakis Alekos, Gialourakis D. Alekos, Tsavari Eleni, Frantseskos Perigiros, Chalkiadakis Manos, Apostoleas Dimitris, Koutanis Thomas, Manouilidis Christos, Dadoros Abraham Filinis Giorgos,
Karavasilis Kostas, Nikos Mantanis, Xatzigeorgiou Jimis, Vangelis Mikhail, Dimitris Tolis, Mantzoros Stratos, Papoulidis Giorgos, Tzanidis Dimitris, Christos Petridis, Doukas Charis, Iliopoulos Triantafilos, Dimtsas Akis,
Felekidis Panagiotis, Siakavaras Lari, Goptsias Tasos, Kourias Vangelis, Thodoris Giuras, Miltos Kosmas,
Amanatidis Sokratis, Vlachopoulos Sakis, Basdekis, Kioultsopoulos, Martsis Giannis Giannis Findikidis, Platitsas Giorgos, Dimitris Analitis, Vasilis Tsirigakis, Stathis Metalinos, Spiros Stratigos, Skrekas Vasilis, Tsin Tsan, Triandos Alkis, Paraskevas Antreas, Lambridis Giorgos, Miridakis Kostis, Zogas Charalambos, Fiotakis Alexandros, Marnelakis Giorgos, Ilaridis Tasos, Prekas Kostas.
Turkey:
Minaoglou, Yukcel Uslu, Ismet Esen, Bayatli Ahmet, Mehmet Yavas, Cengiz Eryeler, Dr. Ilhan Urkut, Umit Demircan, Erkmen Tibet.
Austria:
Andreas Efler, Herbert Thuer, Brigitte Efler, Bernese Proske, Alfred Nebuda, Dominic Nebuda, J. Riml
Bulgaria:
Kikrilis Pavlos
Spain:
Jose Maria Mas Canadel, Carlos Crespo Alcala
Egypt:
Elmesseri Ihab Mohamed Zayed, Mohamed Nasr Afife, Ragy Henry Graham Gomaa, Amir Magdy, Wael Sherif, Amer Shawky Mohamed Bassiouny, Hesham Gomaa, Ahmed Emam Farghaly, Wagdy El Kordy, Yanni Argyros, Medhat Hosni Boulos
Netherlands:
Sharon Van Dijk, Jerry Herman, Aldo Mastro Matteo
Germany:
Michael Puse, Markus Domer.