DAY ONE CONCLUDED at the Dynamic Billard Terme Olimia Open at Podčetrtek, Slovenia as four full rounds of play completed. Often the story on the opening day is more about who lost than who won and early casualties in Podčetrtek included No.2 ranked Mario He who was defeated in the first winners round, 9-2, at the hands of young Polish player Sambor Stachowiak.
Like quite a few players in the field, Sambor had recently competed in the U19’s division of the European Youth Championships and this would most certainly be the biggest scalp of his fledgling career. Mario went on to defeat Wiktor Fortunski, another young Pole, to keep his hopes alive. Stachowiak also kept his good form going as he went on to beat Bulgaria’s Kalin Varbanov to take his place in the winners’ qualification round, which gets underway at 15.00 on Sunday.
Paul Vilches-Pardo (FRA)｜©EPBF
Another youngster adding a big name to his resume was Paul Vilches-Pardo who defeated Ralf Souquet by 9-8. Vilches-Pardo, a 20 year-old from Bordeaux was delighted with his win. He said, “At 7-2, I told myself that I can beat him! And at that moment, I make 2 or 3 mistakes that allowed him to come back, but I remained professional until the end and it paid off!”
Vilches-Pardo came unstuck in the next round, going down to compatriot Benjamin Belhassen but gets his second chance on the one-loss side tomorrow. Other noted players to suffer defeat on day one include Mohammad Soufi (Syria), Oliver Szolnoki of Hungary, Thorsten Hohmann (Germany) and Italy’s Frank Candela.
Nick Van Berg (NED)｜©EPBF
Making his return to the Euro Tour after a six year absence was Nick Van Den Berg whose storied career has included nine victories on the pan-European tour. This time he was in the company of his young son Sky, who recently competed in the European Youth Championships which concluded last Wednesday in the same venue.
Van Den Berg senior recorded wins over Matjaz Erculj and Marinus Gennissen to take his place in the winners’ qualification round tomorrow while junior lost his opening game and will be fighting to stay in the competition when play resumes on Sunday morning.
Commented Nick, “A lot of new young players who are shooting very well are my opponents now, but I am trying hard to still have the edge. I really like to be back here at the Euro Tour and compete with the best players in Europe.
“I am very proud of Sky; he’s only been playing for one year and improving every week, so for him we see this Euro Tour as picking up experience. Coaching-wise he is in the hands of Rienus Gennissen who is a great coach. Being his father, it’s hard to do any coaching. I just like to see him play and enjoy it.”
Oliwia Zalewska (POL)｜©EPBF
In addition, the Euro Tour Women got underway today, running concurrently to the men’s event. Big names already eliminated include Bojana Sarac (Serbia) and Germany’s Ina Kaplan. On the winners’ side through to the qualification round are the likes of No.1 ranked player Eyllul Kibaroglu, Pia Filler, Veronika Ivanovskaia and Oliwia Zalewska. Play continues on Sunday morning at 10.00 local time.
Earlier on Friday evening, the final stages of the Longoni 9 Ball League qualifying stages took place and it was the young duo of Revo Maimre and Karl Gnadeberg who came through for Estonia as they defeated Czech Republic 7-4. Maimre, who played in the recent European Youth Championships, was a replacement for Dennis Grabe and he held his end up superbly to help defeat the vastly experienced Roman Hybler and Petr Urban.
The win brought Estonia a semi-final spot in Lasko on October 11th where they will face the Netherlands. The other semi-final will be contested between Poland and Norway and the two successful teams will then meet in the final which takes place in Treviso, Italy on the 23rd November.
As well as the prize money, there are Tour ranking points on offer, so there is everything to play for. All Euro Tour tournaments are 9-ball and players compete in a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 32 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are races to 9 racks with alternate break.
All the matches can be viewed live by visiting www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurotour/ 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.
Results, live scoring, and draw are available at www.epbf.com