The fourth tournament of this year's Grand Prix Poland Predator Pol Tour has concluded with a triumph for Dominik Jastrząb. In the final, the GKS Katowice player defeated his teammate, Daniel Macioł, 6:4, lifting the champion's trophy for the second time in his career.
A long billiards weekend in the Tri-City is now behind us. From Thursday to Sunday, we witnessed as many as four competitions. On Thursday, young players faced off in the EEBC Junior Cup, followed by mixed doubles matches the next day, and the Simple Cup tournament on Sunday. However, the culmination of the long June weekend at Strefa Diamond in Gdańsk was the two-day Grand Prix Poland Predator Pol Tour in the 10-ball discipline.
On Saturday, over 160 players from all over Poland, as well as the Czech Republic, Georgia, Ukraine, and other corners of Europe, entered the group stage. The favorites were all present, including Daniel Macioł, Radosław Babica (Akademia Bilardowa Rokietnica), Mariusz Skoneczny (Fortis Bilard Kielce), Mieszko Fortuński, Szymon Kural, Dominik Jastrząb, and Hubert Łopotko. The notable absences this time were the winners of the previous tournaments of this year, Konrad Juszczyszyn and Wojciech Szewczyk.
The group stage consisted of nearly 500 matches, which could not have been played in such a short time if it were not for the sensational conditions at Strefa Diamond. The Gdańsk club features as many as 55 tables, which significantly speeds up the group stage play.
On Sunday, only 64 players remained in the game. After less than five hours, we were already in the quarter-finals, where six Poles and two Georgians secured their spots.
Dzmitry Hryb – Mateusz Śniegocki 6:4
Dominik Jastrząb – Kacper Konkel 6:2
Giorgi Dimitradze – Daniel Macioł 2:6
Sambor Stachowiak – David Avakian 4:6
In the semi-finals, Hryb lost to Dominik Jastrząb, who was in great form that day, 2:6. Meanwhile, Daniel Macioł ended the beautiful run of the Georgian player David Avakian, defeating him 6:3. Thus, teammates from GKS Katowice – Dominik Jastrząb and Daniel Macioł – faced each other on the final stretch. The former ultimately proved better, defeating Macioł 6:4.
For Dominik, this was his second triumph in this series. Interestingly, his first victory also took place in Gdańsk during a 10-ball tournament. "I am very happy with another great result. Of course, it wasn't easy. Above all, I am glad that despite an unfavorable score, I made a comeback in the match against Mariusz Skoneczny and eventually won in the decider. The final with Daniel was also played at a high level. I am happy it ended this way," says Jastrząb.
MEDAL CLASSIFICATION:
1st place: Dominik Jastrząb (GKS Katowice)
2nd place: Daniel Macioł (GKS Katowice)
3rd place: Dzmitry Hryb (Mushroom Pool School Spider Wrocław)
3rd place: David Avakian (Georgia)
Two more tournaments counting towards this year's Grand Prix Poland series are still ahead of us. At the beginning of September, we return to Łódź, and in October, the players will be invited to Kielce.
A retransmission from the TV table is available on the TVsports channel. Full results can be found at www.ebc-billiard.com.
The organizers of the Grand Prix Poland PREDATOR POL TOUR series are MAK Marketing and the East European Billiard Council.
Main Sponsors: Predator Group (USA), Brześć-Sipa Sp. kom. (Brześć Kujawski), Kamui (Japan).
Media Patrons: Radio Rekord, Portal wKielcach, On Cue – Billiards Podcast, Radio Kielce, Radio FAMA, TVP3 Kielce, CKsport.pl, Radio eM Kielce, Telewizja Świętokrzyska, TVsports, Echo Dnia, 77 Billiards, Alison Chang, AzBilliards.com, Pro9.