At the Expo Center in Tirana, Albania, the 10-ball individuals have started at the Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth.
The youngest participant in the whole field has now entered the stage. His name is Jori Narvola, he is from Finland and he will turn 10 years old on October 3rd this year! Unfortunately for him, his first appearance here did not end up in a victory. Narvola lost 4:6 to Louis van der Weken (LUX) in his first match here. He will get another chance on the loser’s side tomorrow morning at 11:00 against Petr Brancusky (CZE). In the Under 17’s, again Fedor Gorst (RUS) is the defending Champion. The silver medallist from the straight pool final today took down Kristian Mrva (SVK) 6:1 and with this victory already booked himself a spot among the final 32 players tomorrow.
Also the girls have started their competition here today. Defending Champion Kristina Tkach (RUS) and her opponent from last year’s final, Kamila Khodjaeva (BEL) have one thing in common: They both won their opening matches 5:0. Tkach crushed Nina Torvund (NOR) while Khodjaeva wiped the floor with Laura Hartikainen (FIN). Khodjaeva will face Pia Blaeser (GER) in her next round’s match and this will surely be a bit closer. Tkach will meet Palina Chernik (BLR). More 5:0 victories were achieved by Kyenna Marcic (NED) over Lynn Pijpers (NED), My Nguyen (SWE) over Michelle Sandman (NOR) and Dina Fatihova (RUS) over Vilde-Mary Holme (NOR). All results in the girls division were quite clear which proves that there seem to be huge gaps in the performance of the different participants.
In the Under 19’s, the defending Champion Vitaliy Patsura (UKR) is not attending since he has reached the age limit. The only medallist remaining from last year is Maksim Dudanets (RUS) so he is once again seeded number one in the field. He already justified that seeding, smashing Yannis Baertscher (SUI) with 7:2 in his first match. Kamila Szaszor (POL) defeated Joey Haegmans (NED) with 7:3. Newly crowned straight pool Champion Patrick Hofmann (GER) won 7:2 over Bilge Alacam (TNC).
The Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches in the team competition. After that, the tournament will switch back to the 10-ball individuals.
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.