9-ball individuals bring overall victory to Germany – 青少年歐錦賽落幕 Hofmann奪四金助德國踞榜首

The 9-ball titles in the individuals have been taken by Patrick Hofmann (GER), Wiktor Zielinski (POL) and Kristina Tkach (RUS).

2016年歐洲青少年錦標賽於今日淩晨結束了最後一個項目9號球的爭奪。德國小將帕Patrick Hofmann 8-5力克俄羅斯的Maksim Dudanets，摘得本屆賽事個人第四枚金牌，他的高光表現也讓德國隊的榜首位置牢不可撼。少年組和女子組的冠軍則分別由波蘭的Wiktor Zielinski和俄羅斯少女Kristina Tkach 奪得。

Left to right: Zielinski, Tkach and Hofmann

What an unbelievable performance by Germany’s Patrick Hofmann. He bested Maksim Dudanets (RUS) in the final of the 9-ball Under 19’s 8:5 and won his 4th Gold Medal out of five possible at this year’s Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth. The only other Gold Medallist in that category is … Maksim Dudanets who took the glory in 10-ball. So the two toughest rivals from this week actually met in the final match. Additionally, the outcome would also most likely decide whose nation would win the overall medal count. No wonder, the encounter started thrilling and exciting and both players seemed to be a bit nervous. 4:4 was the score after eight racks. Then, Hofmann seemed to get momentum and overtook Dudanets who did not realize what happened to him. Hofmann surpassed him and rushed to the hill, taking a 7:5 lead. In rack 13, Dudanets was at the table and had a nice and possible layout in front of him. But he missed the 3-ball completely unnecessary and paved the way for Hofmann’s 4-peat this week. Whether it was nervousness or negligence by the likable Russian can only be guessed here. For a fact, Hofmann took his 4th title this week which probably makes him the MVP of the event.

今日是本屆青少年歐錦賽的最後一個比賽日，進行的是最後一個項目9號球角逐。在青年組決賽中，Hofmann與Dudanets再度相遇，首日比賽中二人曾在14-1決賽中有過交鋒，當時Hofmann 100-52力克對手摘得首金。這一次，Hofmann在4-4平後突然發力，最終以8-5的比分再度挫敗對手，強勢摘得第四塊金牌，同時也捍衛了德國隊在獎牌榜的榜首位置。此外，他的驚艷表現很可能會讓他成為本次賽事的MVP。

The final match in the Under 17’s 9-ball division between Wiktor Zielinski and Kestutis Zadeikis (LIT) was not expected in many ways. While Zielinski is a regular in the latter stages of the event and has already collected five Bronze Medals in previous Championships, Zadeikis has only one Bronze Medal so far from Portoroz in 2014 in the 10-ball discipline. The odds were all in favor of Zadeikis. His record here is also very impressive. But the match went along in its own fashion. Instead of Zadeikis getting a quick start-to-finish victory, the way to glory turned out to be much more difficult for him. Zadeikis always kept the gap between the two contestants close and never let Zielinski get away with too many points in from of him. after eleven racks, the score was only 6:5 to Zielinski. But then he had the class and went for the rack, winning the match and the title with 7:5 over brave Zadeikis.

少年組中，決賽由Wiktor Zielinski迎戰立陶宛的Kestutis Zadeikis，後者能夠出現在決賽場上是出人意料的，他此前僅在2014年的比賽中獲得過一次10球項目的銅牌，人們都以為Zielinski能夠輕鬆奪冠。然而，勇敢的Zadeikis並沒有讓比賽成為Zielinski的個人表演，他一直緊咬著比分，沒有讓比分差距超過兩局。不過，由於實力上的差距，Zadeikis最終還是沒能阻止對手拿下比賽。

In the girls division, it was the expected final between the all-time rivals Kristina Tkach and Diana Khodjaeva (BEL). This year so far, Tkach did not let any room for anyone else in claiming a title in the girls division. So Khodjaeva wanted to get her this time at least. But things did not look promising for the Belgian in the early stage of the match. She was trailing 1:3 and 2:4 to Tkach. But she never gave up and hung in there and tried to use her chances if she was given any. And Tkach committed some mistakes. All this setup led to a hill-hill scenario with Khodjaeva breaking rack eleven. She had no ball down so Tkach got to the table. The Russian attempted to pocket the 1-ball which was lying at a very close angle to the pocket. She missed the 1-ball but in doing so, the cue ball struck the 9-ball and it was fluked in the corner pocket. That was a pretty bitter end for Khodjaeva in a really tight match and all her efforts did not pay off. However, Tkach prove her domination over the rest of the field one more time and is a very well deserved Champion.

女子組角逐中，特卡齊Kristina Tkach與Diana Khodjaeva不出所料的出現在了決賽對陣中。Tkach在今年沒有讓任何比賽的冠軍旁落，Khodjaeva希望這一次自己能夠打破這種現象。 但是，比賽沒有如她所願。Tkach很快便以4-2的比分奪得賽點。第七局比賽，Khodjaeva衝球不進，Tkach強攻大角度1號球不中，但母球意外將9號球撞進底袋。這樣的結果對Khodjaeva來說可能相當痛苦，因為她付出的努力沒有得到回報。不過，Tkach也證明了她的統治力，她收獲冠軍當之無愧。

Medal table after 2 of 5 events 總獎牌數 (第二項賽事結束後)

That concludes the coverage of the Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth. Tomorrow, the qualifier for the World Cup of Pool with 26 teams from 16 nations will start here in Tirana. On Thursday and Friday, the Euro-Tours will start and on Monday, the Dynamic Billard European Championships Seniors & Ladies will commence.

The Championships were 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 was 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 [email protected].

全部的24張球台都將由Kozoom提供付費視頻直播服務。登入Kozoom網站 (https://www.kozoom.com/en/pool-billiard/) 先加入會員後，即可線上購買會員通行證 (Premium Pass) 成為Premium會員。Premium會員啟用後，即可觀看所有歐洲台球協會舉辦之賽事，如歐錦賽、歐巡賽。賽事結束後，還可觀看影片庫中過往所有比賽視頻。

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