THE FINAL SINGLES discipline of the 2024 DYNAMIC BILLARDS European Youth Championships was played out in Podčetrtek, Slovenia this morning and it was Felix Vogel (GER), Jolien Schuurman (NED) and Revo Maimre (EST) who collected the gold medals.
In the Under 19 final, Vogel, who had won two bronzes in the earlier events, finally came good with a dominant 8-2 win over Finland’s Sasu Hietamies, while Jolien Schuurman got the better of 8-ball champion Linnea Hjalmarstrom by 6-4 to claim her first gold. The Under 17 match saw Revo Maimre and Maks Benko renew their rivalry, with the young Estonian coming out a 7-4 winner.
In the Under 19 match, Felix Vogel was certainly the form horse with a haul of three golds and a silver from previous events as well as a Euro Tour final earlier in the year. That proved to be the case as he cashed in on some tentative play from the Finn to open up a very comfortable 4-0 lead.
Again, Vogel was the first player with a good look in the fifth and there was no hesitation as he sped through the table to make it 5-0. Hietamies had his first real chance in the sixth but lost position travelling to the 6 ball. His attempted bank missed into the centre pocket left a difficult cut for Vogel who too missed. Sasu never quite had full control of his positional play but he had enough to get his first point on the board.
Hietamies had the initiative in the next and his safety on the 5 ball forced Vogel into a slightly unlucky scratch. However, with ball-in-hand, the Finn lost position travelling to the 6. His hit-and-hope left it open for Vogel who made it 6-1. With a chance to reach the hill, Vogel inexplicably missed a straight 8 ball and the score moved to 6-2.
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Hietamies changed sides for the next break and it reaped dividends with two balls down. Just when he didn’t need it, he scratched, pocketing the 3 ball. Shedding any nerves he might have held over from the miss in the last, Vogel cleared up to reach the hill at 7-2.
Vogel went close with the 9 ball from the break, but he had a shot on the 1 ball, albeit with the jump cue. He made it and from there he ran out for his first gold medal of the championships.
At 17 years of age, it was Vogel’s first run in the Under 19 division and he came into the championships having played in the adults’ ECs as well as the recent Euro Tour event.
“It feels great and I’m very happy about it. This gold in the last discipline was very important as I had some problems with myself in the first disciplines maybe because I was not 100% fit but yes, I gave all my remaining power and I’m happy to make it.”
Bronze medals in 9-ball were won by Mykola Moroz of Ukraine and Matous Vlk of the Czech Republic.
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Another player who has been mixing it in the adults division, as well as the Euro Tour, where she won last year, was Jolien Schuurman, who held off Linnea Hjalmarstrom to claim the 9-ball gold. Schuurman had taken silver in the 10-ball as well a bronze in the 8-ball and she overcame a tough opponent for the win.
Linnea was on a roll, having taken the gold in the previous event – 8-ball – and she opened up a 2-0 lead in the race-to-six match. Jolien, though came right back at her, winning five consecutive racks to put herself on the hill. Hjalmarstrom wasn’t done and piled on the pressure, winning the eighth and ninth games to get within one of Schuurman. The Dutch girl composed herself however, to clinch the next and seize the victory.
Commented Schuurman, “It feels amazing! After I got bronze and silver, I knew it had to be gold today so I did what I really wanted to do. We played two semi-finals against each other; the first one I won, the second one she won and this time it was the ultimate in the final.
“I know Linnea very well and I know she’s a very good player. It’s always going to be a tough match against each other. This morning, I knew there was a good chance that we would meet in the final and I knew I had to play my best game. It’s a big relief!” she added.
The two bronze medal winners were Shirin Volery (SUI) who added to her haul this week and Romina Lenk (GER, who also doubled her medal tally.
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The Under 17 final was another rematch and this time it was Estonia’s Revo Maimre who ran out a winner over Maks Benko (SLO) by 7-4 to clinch his first gold of the tournament. The two had met in the 10-ball final with Benko proving the victor, but this time it was Maimre’s day in the sun.
As predicted, it was a close match with it all tied at 3-3 at the halfway stage. Revo, though, broke away to lead 5-3 before Benko made it tight by taking the next. However, Maimre took the next two for a tremendous victory and the 9-ball title.
Commented Revo, “I was feeling very well today. I woke up at 6.50 this morning, ate and came to the venue to practice. My best discipline is 10-ball but I lost to Maks and I was thinking that I had to beat Maks today and that’s what happened.”
Maimre will be joining Benko on the flight to New Zealand in September to compete in the Predator World Junior Championships. There was a Polish double on the podium as Michal Wiech and Wojciech Glab took the bronze medals.
Play can be followed on a daily basis on https://www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/
For viewers at home, Tables 1 & 2 will be streamed throughout on YouTube. Table 1 will be on the Kozoom channel, while Table 2 will be available throughout on the EPBF platform. All other tables can be viewed on the Kozoom.com website, where there are a variety of subscription options.
Table 1 link = https://www.youtube.com/@KozoomTV/streams
Table 2 link = https://www.youtube.com/@theepbf/streams
Tables 1-20 = https://home.kozoom.com/en/all-cue-sports