Bak, Helvik and Pereira Take Final 9-Ball Golds – Alison Chang

THE 2023 Dynamic Billard European Seniors Championships wrapped up this afternoon in Lasko, Slovenia as the destination of the final medals was determined. Tomasz Bak of Poland claimed his first ever EC Seniors gold as he defeated Harald Stolka (Germany) in a gripping match while Manuel Pereira of Portugal cemented his position as top dog in the 55-plus category, defeating nemesis Miroslav Kremenovic (SRB) to claim his second gold medal of the championships. In the ladies division, it was Ine Helvik who came through, defeating Ulrika Andersson (Sweden) to take her haul of gold medals to two.

In the 45-plus final, Harald Stolka who was a double gold medallist at last year’s Championships, got proceedings underway with a dry break and Tomasz Bak stepped up to the plate and delivered a confident run out to take the opener.

A crunching break from Bak saw three balls drop but his attempted 3/5 combination failed to come off. Stolka lost position after executing his own combo but retrieved the situation with a tidy pot along the top rail. However, the cue ball stuck to the 5 but his safety was a good one. Bak‘s jump shot made contact but left the 5 available and from here Stolka levelled the match.

Stolka lost the table after a hit-and-hope combination but Bak‘s weak safety gave Stolka a great chance, which he duly took to take the lead.

An illegal break from Bak saw Stolka give the table back and the Pole elected to push out. Stolka once again handed the table back. He left a long 1-ball and the German scratched playing safe. Bak worked his way through the balls to level the score at 2-2.

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An illegal break from Stolka left the 1-ball on and Bak demonstrated his considerable shot-making abilities but came up short on the 2-ball as he left it in the jaws of the pocket. Stolka needed no invitation and ran out for a 3-2 lead.

Bak made a ball off the break but played a weak safety on the 2-ball.

They both exchanged safety visits before a tremendous jump shot from Bak saw the 3-ball fluked in up-table and from that position he ran out to level the match.

Stolka came with a dry break and with the 1-ball available and the table open, Bak cleared to regain the lead at 4-3. Another terrific break from Bak set up the run out and he increased his lead to 5-3. An illegal break, leaving an open rack for his opponent, was the last thing Stolka needed and Bak didn’t look like missing, until a basic 7-ball knuckled in the jaws and then rolled down the top rail and dropped. It was a heart-breaker for Stolka as Bak took a three-rack lead. 6-3

Bak delivered his first dry break of the match but luckily left nothing on. They exchanged safeties before Bak missed the 1-ball kicking off two rails and with ball-in-hand, Stolka kept himself together to get back into the match at 6-4

Stolka slowed his break shot down and looked to be reaping the dividends before a terrible positional shot forced him to miss on the 9-ball. Bak also missed a tight table-length effort and then a table-length bank after Stolka had played safe. Another safe from Stolka gave Bak a sniff and he put it away to reach the hill.

Breaking for the title, Bak delivered another good one but had nothing pottable. His safety left it on for Stolka but his thin cut on the 5-ball left it hanging. Bak had six balls between him and the gold medal but he left himself short on the 6 and missed, trying to force it.

2023 EC Seniors - 9-ball_Tomasz Bak wins

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Stolka, hanging on for dear life, cleared for 7-5.

Stolka came up dry but left nothing on. A magnificent snooker from the German gave him ball-in-hand. He looked the picture of calm as he ran out to get within one of Bak at 7-6

Delivering his last break of the match, Bak made a ball but got nothing else so pushed out. Stolka put him back in and he moved the cue ball up table from the 2. Stolka hit it hard and scratched into the bottom left pocket and although the table was no formality, Bak kept his nerve together to run out for the title.

Commented Bak, “I’m so happy, I never even dreamed about that. I had a little bad luck with the breaks not going my way but I tried to stay mentally strong. This means a lot because I was never a junior, I started late and I love this game. I’d never won a big tournament so this when you’re sitting next to all these guys, it’s something else. I was playing each rack as it came and I believe my mental strength got me through.”

Medals – 45-Plus 10-Ball
Gold – Tomasz Bak (POL)
Silver – Harald Stolka (GER)
Bronze – Nenad Ilic (SRB)
Roman Wasilewski (POL)

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Ine Helvik (Norway) added another gold to her collection as she led throughout to defeat Sweden’s Ulrika Andersson 6-4. It was Helvik’s second title of the championships – she took the 10-ball gold earlier in the week – and the fourth of her senior’s career. Helvik had run undefeated through the tournament and her success was a testimony to her continued hard work.

Commented Helvik, “I’m absolutely delighted. I was hoping for a medal in 8-ball but my 8-ball game is all over the place. I prefer 10-ball as I prefer the call-shot aspect but you don’t have quite the same consequences of missing a ball when it can go in another pocket so you relax a little bit more. That said, 9-ball seems to be my discipline overall. I’m going to practice 8-ball ten times a week before next year’s event!”

2023 EC Seniors - 9-ball_Ine Helvik wins

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Medals – Women 10-Ball
Gold – Ine Helvik (NOR)
Silver – Ulrika Andersson (SWE)
Bronze – Christine Steinlage (GER)
Birgit Heidorn (GER)

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It was another gold medal for Portugal’s Manuel Pereira as he defeated Miroslav Kremenovic 8-5 to take the final gold in the 55-plus division.

Pereira led from the start and although Kremenovic came back at him in the middle part of the match and got the score got to 6-4, he had no further trouble as he coasted to victory. It was the Portuguese potter’s second gold medal of the week – he won the 10-ball title – and he also picked up bronze medals in 14.1 and 8-ball and gold in the team event.

Commented Pereira, “Unfortunately I only won two gold medals when I was thinking about all four of them but next year I’m going to try and make a clean sweep! I’d like to thanks my friends, family, team mates and national federation for helping me make all this possible.”