THE 10 BALL division at the annual Dynamic Billard European Championships concluded today in Tampere, Finland and there were hard-won golds for Switzerland, Germany and a first-ever for Slovenia.
It was discipline No.2 in the none-day festival of pool and in the men’s division, Ronald Regli (Switzerland) defeated Germany’s Stefan Kasper
8-4 in a good quality match where little separated the two antagonists in open play but where a couple of dry break shots conspired to undo Kasper’s hopes.
A former German national snooker champion without much of a form-line on nine foot tables, Kasper won the lag and dropped three balls from the break. He ran into trouble as the 5 and 9 locked themselves together and couldn’t do anything with it to leave Regli to mop up and take the opening rack.
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Regli made four balls from his opening break shot and made plain sailing with the rest of the table to open up a two-rack lead. He got back to the table in the next but a positional error forced an easy safety which Kasper was able to successfully extricate himself from. They went back and forth before the German gave Regli the opportunity to clear a fairly difficult table for a 3-0 cushion.
Regli found himself hooked on the 1 ball in the next and played a tidy containing safety. Kasper had the first pocketing chance of the rack and gave his confidence a real boost as he ran out to get on the scoreboard.
Kasper nearly scratched from his break in the fifth game but the balls were laid out nicely for him, and moving the cue ball around freely, he took the rack to reduce the deficit. Two balls down in the next for Regli but with no pocketing shot on the 1 ball pushed Regli to adopt safety tactics. Kasper kicked out of the snooker but left the 1 ball available and Regli was able to complete the table to reach the halfway stage at 4-2.
An excellent break and run after a solid break, gave Kasper the next rack and a dry break from Regli gave him the opportunity in the next. A tremendous combination 5/9 from the German gave him the initiative and some solid potting, riding his luck, saw him level the match at 4-4.
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A dry break from Kasper returned the table back to the Swiss and he ran through the balls to regain the lead and in the next, Regli kept the cueball in the centre of the table and with a shot on the 1 ball, was on his way. Playing some nice shots and always in control, Regli moved the score onto 6-4.
Another inopportune dry break from Kasper put Regli back to the table and the Swiss shooter didn’t waste any time to reach the hill at 7-4.
Another lovely break once again left a wide-open table for Regli and he cleared it with confidence to claim his first ever European Championship gold medal.
Regli was understandably thrilled in victory; “At last after 20 years of playing European Championships! You know me, I like to be with the people but I’m really happy now that I made it finally and now, they’re cheering for me and I’m happy and really thankful for all of them now that I made it. It’s a win for all of us.
“Now for sure the first thing I do is enjoy the win that I had today but tomorrow is a new day and we will be going for the next disciplines.”
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| Medals – Men | |
| Gold 金牌 | Ronald Regli (SUI) |
| Silver 銀牌 | Stefan Casper (GER) |
| Bronze 銅牌 | Mikael Oegaard (NOR) Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) |
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Veronika Ivanovskaia continued her superb 2023 as she defeated compatriot Pia Filler 6-3 in an all-German final to take the gold medal in the Women’s 10 Ball division. In her three Euro Tour starts this year, Ivanovskaia has won one and finished runner-up in the other two and with two more individual golds to be contested, her purple patch may not yet be over.
The tournament wasn’t all plain sailing for the Russian-born German. She lost a hill-hill affair at the winners’ qualification stage to the ever-reliable Eyllul Kibaroglu. She bounced back, beating local hope Riikka Vayrynen 6-3 to qualify for the single elimination stage. Wins over Christine Feldmann (SUI) and then compatriot Ina Kaplan got her in the medals, and a semi-final victory Spain’s Lopez Fibla (claiming her first-ever EC medal) saw her contest the championship match.
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The final against Pia Filler was close in the early stages before Ivanovskaia pulled away to complete the victory and give herself her second ever European Championship gold medal.
Veronika said, “It feels amazing as I’m playing really good, really solid at the moment. I believe my mental toughness is becoming better and stronger so I’m very pleased with the outcome and that I won the title in 10 ball.
“I’m having a very good season on the Euro Tour this year so I’m definitely aiming to go far in the next events but nevertheless we have great women here from all over Europe so it’s going to be tough,” she concluded.
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| Medals – Ladies | |
| Gold 金牌 | Veronika Ivanovskaia (GER) |
| Silver 銀牌 | Pia Filler (GER) |
| Bronze 銅牌 | Eylul Kibaroglu (TUR) Silvia Lopez Fibla (ESP) |
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There was glory for Slovenia in the Wheelchair division as Matej Brajkovic held off the challenge of Finland’s medal machine, Jouni Tahti by 5-3 to claim his first-ever European Championship gold medal. Tahti, who had previously claimed an incredible 29 individual gold medals across the EC disciplines in a stellar career, was the fancied player and well-supported in the arena.
In fact, it was Slovenia’s first-ever European Championship gold and although it took a long time coming, it was worth the wait.
“It was hard actually – I was expecting a bit of a chess game which is what it was at the beginning but then it opened up a bit so I was fortunate I guess,” said a delighted Brajkovic.
“He’s a very strong player and as soon as he appears your knees are weakening but this is my 17th European Championships; I skipped a few but I started 20 years ago so I think finally my time has come. I’ve achieved what I came her for so the remaining two disciplines are a bonus!” he added.
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| Medals – Wheelchair | |
| Gold 金牌 | Gold – Matej Brajkovic (SLO) |
| Silver 銀牌 | Silver – Jouni Tahti (FIN) |
| Bronze 銅牌 | Emil Malanowski (POL) Henrik Larsson (SWE) |