Today, the 9-ball competition was launched at the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 in NH Conference Centre Koningshof, Veldhoven, The Netherlands. Several interesting results could be witnessed.
One outstanding match was definitely the encounter between Fedor Gorst (RUS) and Andreas Madsen (DEN). Both players have earned their merits in the junior’s divisions in the previous years. Madsen is 21-years-old, Gorst is 18 years of age these days. The match started out quite promising for Gorst. He had the first break shot and pocketed two balls, having a perfect position for the 2-ball. He played a good safety shot and forced Madsen to commit a foul. Then he ran the balls but missed an easy 6-ball, leaving it all for Madsen. What an unnecessary miss that was! Madsen ran out and took the next three consecutive racks as well, advancing to a 4:0 lead over Gorst. Finally in rack #5, Gorst was able to open his account in the match, getting to 1:4. But Madsen struck back and won another two racks, leading 6:1 now after 7 racks. Having executed the break shot in rack #8, Madsen could play the 2-ball but not pocket it. He played a good safety shot. Gorst was able to play a correct shot and come up with a resafe position. Madsen hit the 2-ball but left a shot for Gorst. The Russian came tot he table and won his second rack, turning the scoreboard to 2:6. The match continued with Gorst committing unbelievably easy mistakes while Madsen was rock solid and focussed on the table. He continued shooting pretty self-confident and consequently won the match with 9:2. Andreas Madsen will advance into the round of the last 64 players single elimination while Gorst awaits the winner of the match Erol Kayas (TUR) v Michel Bartol (CRO) for his chance to be drawn into the single elimination stage as well.
Fedor Gorst (left) and Andreas Madsen
Other remarkable results from today include „The Siberian Express“ Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) wiping the floor with Miha Zajc (SLO) 9:1. Ralf Souquet (GER) even whitewashed his opponent in the first round, handing Iker-Andoni Echeverria (ESP) a 9:0. Ivar Saris (NED) sent Joshua Filler (GER) to the loser’s side with 9:5 in their opening match. Kasper Kristoffersen (DEN) came up with a bit of a surprise, winning 9:6 over Spain’s #1 David Alcaide. Kim Laaksonen (FIN) won a heartbreaker with 9:8 over favoured Konstantin Stepanov (RUS). Laaksonen’s teammate Jani Siekkinen (FIN) took down newly crowned 8-ball Champion Bahram Lotfy (DEN) with 9:6.
In the girls’ division, two medallists from this week met in the first round of their 9-ball quest for glory. 8-ball Champion Darya Siranchuk (UKR) took it up against 10-ball runner-up Daria Cheprasova (BLR). The match was determined by many mistakes. Especially Cheprasova came up with a lot of positioning errors which Siranchuk was able to capitalise from. In the end, Siranchuk was a deserved 6:3 winner over Cheprasova.
In the women’s division, Line Kjoersvik (NOR) was drawn against Tamara Peeters-Rademakers (NED). The winner of that match would go up against defending Champion Kelly Fisher (GBR). The match was quite even for the first 9 racks. Kjoersvik was up 5:4 with her own break shot coming up. She had a ball down and a tough shot on the 2-ball which she missed. Peeters had the chance to level the match at 5:5. But she missed an extremely easy 2-ball to the corner pocket and gave second live to Kjoersvik in that rack. Both athletes had several more attempts at the table but Peeters always missed one shot too many. Kjoersvik took the rack and went on the hill with 6:4. To make matters worse, Peeters scratched when breaking the balls in rack #11. Kjoersvik got to the table with ball in hand and that sealed the deal for the Norwegian. She finished all balls on the table and won the match with 7:4. Kjoersvik will be up against defending Champion Kelly Fisher (GBR) in the next round.
The seniors’s, ladies’ and U17 division had their first round matches played with no big upsets. In the Under 19 division however, Tin Petljak (CRO) surprisingly managed to defeat Christian Froehlich (GER) by a hair’s breadth with 8:7 in the first round. Another top gun who was put in the loser’s round was Wiktor Zielinski (POL). The stellar talent from Poland had to accept a 7:8 defeat against Ilia Nekleenov (RUS). The only wheelchair match played so far today was Daniel Savic (AUT) winning with 7:4 over Gintas Jonauskas (LTU).
The Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships 2018 will commence tomorrow morning at 10:00 CET with the first matches from the 9-ball individuals competition. The team’s finals are scheduled for 17:00 CET.
The Jubilee Championships are played on 60 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 obtained 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 or visit us on Facebook for regular news clips or contact our press office [email protected].