THE 2023 DYNAMIC Billard European Youth Pool Championships concluded this afternoon in Podčetrtek, Slovenia as the destination of the two team gold medals was determined. In the end it was the Netherlands who took the U19 title and Germany who claimed the U17 crown in two matches that were exciting throughout.
The ties matches are determined by the best of three matches in 8, 9 and 10 ball respectively, with differing races, depending on the discipline.
The first team to win two matches wins and in the event of a team reaching two while the third match is still playing, the final match is discontinued.
In the U19s, the pairings were – Dutch first – Mika Van Berkel v Sandor Kont (8 ball), Sonny Haegmans v Karl Gnadeberg (9) and Yannick Pongers v Illimar Ventsel (10). In the early stages, the Netherlands were leading in one match and all-square in the other two.
After four racks in each match, the Netherlands led the 10 ball 3-1, Estonia lead the 9 ball 3-1 while the 8 ball affair was tied up at 2-2.
That 2-2 soon become 4-2 as Karl Gnadeberg powered away and with Kont leading Van Berkel, Estonia was in the dominant position.
With Gnadeberg and Pongers both leading 5-2 in their respective matches, it seemed like the destination of the gold medals would lie with the Van Berkel v Kont 8 ball match which was 3-3.
Pongers was the first to win, capping off a great week for himself as he defeated Ventsel 7-2.
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While Haegmans had it all to do, trailing 6-3 to Gnadeberg, Mika Van Berkel had fought back to lead 4-3 against Sander Kont. Gnadeberg soon took the next two to win his match against Sonny Haegmans 8-3, leaving both teams fate in the hands of Van Berkel and Kont who trailed 5-3. In the end, Van Berkel was able to close the match out 7-4 as the Netherlands collected the U19 team gold.
Dutch coach, Rinus Gennisen was delighted with his team’s showing this week; “I’m very proud of us winning the team event after a set back this morning in the 9 ball, where we weren’t among the medals. It’s a great team with a good heart, we went for the win and we did it. I’m really happy.
“We knew that we had to play Germany in the semi final so and we were thinking they would do a line-up with Dennis against Mika so I change that around so Sonny played Dennis and we had a stronger line-up after that. Very happy with the switch.
“If we were offered three gold medals before the tournament, we’d have shaken hands and said ‘fine’. Last year it was five but we had Mika in the pupils and now he’s Under 19s and he won a great match in straight pool so I’m very happy. And the new kids coming up, like Sky Van Den Berg, let’s see what they can do next year.”
U19 Medals
Gold – Netherlands (Y. Pongers, M. Van Berkel, S. Haegmans, J. Schuurman, S. Van den Berg)
Silver – Estonia (S. Kont, K. Gnadeberg, I. Ventsel)
Bronze – Finland (L. Auresto, J. Teittinen, J. Narvola, S. Hietamies)
Germany (F. Boge, E. Mattern, D. Laszkowski)
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The Germans had already finished top in the medal table prior to the team final and it seemed fitting that they claimed what was one of the final two golds of the championship. The match-ups in the Germany v Sweden U17 event were Felix Vogel v Linnea Hjalmarstrom (8), Laurenz Geitz v Walter Laikre (9) and Alessio Hybler v Gabriel Aspholm in 10 ball. Germany had the early lead in two of the games, courtesy of Vogel and Geitz, while Aspholm lead Hybler in the other.
Things looked increasingly grim for the Swedes as Vogel opened up a 4-0 lead while Geitz moved into a 3-1 lead. Felix Vogel was the first one over the line, beating Hjalmarstrom 6-2 and with Geitz 5-2 ahead in the race to 7, the Germans were looking a certainty.
Walter Laikre though was keeping it interesting as he mounted a comeback, trimming the deficit to one rack, as he trailed 5-4 in the race to 7 match. Hybler and Aspholm were level at 3-3 as the tension escalated. Geitz, though, got to the hill at 6-4. A mistake from Laikre with just two balls left on the table, set the stage for Geitz to make a pressure table length 7 ball, cueing off the rail to leave himself an easy 9 ball to bring the gold medal home for Germany.
It was Germany’s fourth gold medal of the Championships and 10th overall and Germany’s Head Coach, Gunther Geisen, was naturally delighted with their collective achievements; “It was a great event and I’m very happy for this. Last year I think the Netherlands were above us and I’m happy that we could change that on the last day. In the 10 ball event, it really wasn’t the day for the German team and I’m just happy that we had a strong last day.
“Over the last ten years we’ve had a lot of good players coming through and now we have a lot of very good and very young players and hopefully we can maintain this level over the next years,” he added.
U17 Medals
Gold – Germany (F. Vogel, A. Hybler, L. Geitz, M. Roser)
Silver – Sweden (L. Hjalmarstrom, W. Laikre, G. Aspholm)
Bronze – Finland (L. Auresto, R. Romppanen)
Poland (M. Wiech, D. Regieli, J. Chrobot)
All the matches can be viewed live by visiting http://www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/ and clicking on the ‘LIVE’ button. This will take you through to viewing options. In addition, selected matches will be streamed on Facebook Live on the EPBF page.
Schedule, results, live scoring and draws are available at www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/