The first day of the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open 2018 did not provide too many surprises.
#1 of the Euro-Tour rankings Eklent Kaci (ALB) had a walk in the park today. Smooth and easy victories over Finish young talent Micke Strom (FIN) with 9:0 and Wilhelm Georg (GER) 9:3 did not take too much of an effort from Kaci. The Albanian will meet Mariusz Skoneczny (POL) tomorrow at 14:00 in the winner’s qualification round.
Just like Kaci, Mario He (AUT) was not really challenged today. He played Germany’s Thomas Lindloff and delivered almost perfect pool. „I’ve barely seen such perfect pool“, stated Lindloff on his facebook page after the match. „Mario has not missed any shot until he was 7:0 ahead of me, including 4 jump shots.“ „What a performance from Mario!“ He will play Daniele Corrieri (ITA) tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time in winner’s round 2.
Albin Ouschan (AUT), Mario He’s teammate and friend, also did not undergo too much pressure today. He wasted no time against Eric Geppert (ITA) 9:1 and Michele Bianchi (ITA) 9:3 and will now join Kaci in the winner’s qualification round. His opponent there will be Radoslaw Babica (POL).
eft to right: Mario He, Wiktor Zielinski, Eklent Kaci, Denis Grabe and Albin Ouschan
Wiktor Zielinski (POL), currently ranked #4 in the Euro-Tour rankings, was the exception to the rule today. The young Polish lost his opening match surprisingly clear against Germany’s Tobias Bongers with 4:9. On the loser’s side, Zielinski took down Jere Virtaranta (FIIN) 9:3 and is now up against Giovanni Di Martino (ITA). Zielinski will need to win many more matches to make his way to the round of the last 32 players single elimination. However, last year in November he demonstrated almost perfect pool here in Treviso so everyone knows that Zielinski is capable of coming back and far from being eliminated yet.
Denis Grabe (EST), who is currently on 5th place in the rankings, had two tough opponents today. In his first match, he had to deal with Henrique Correia (POR) who is always good for a surprise. Today, Grabe remained the upper hand and took the match 9:7 against the Portuguese senior player. Then Grabe went up against Imran Majid (GBR) in winner’s round 2. He quickly gained the lead in that match and achieved a 7:3 advantage over „The Maharaja“. Majid tried to come back but his attempt failed. After 13 racks, the match was over with a clear 9:4 victory for Grabe. The Estonian will now be up against Mieszko Fortunski (POL).
Friday through Sunday, EPBF will show two feature matches LIVE on the EPBF Facebook page. The complete tournament is shown on kozoom.com for premium pass holders.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organised by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). Play starts Thursday at 09:30 local time, for further information and reference please go to the federation website eurotouronline under the Eurotour tab. You can also visit us on our Facebook page or check out the EPBF YouTube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office [email protected].