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THERE WAS DRAMA and tears as three more gold medals were won at the PREDATOR EUROPEAN Youth Pool Championships as the 10-ball division concluded in the glittering arena. There was an unheralded double gold for Lithuania as they triumphed in both the Under 17s and 19’s Boys events.
Firstly, Jokūbas Silantjevas prevailed 7-3 over Sweden Walter Laikre in the senior age group and then 14-year-old Ąžuolas Tadaravicius overcame Maks Benko (SLO) 6-5 when he’d looked dead and buried. In the Girls competition Sweden’s Linnea Hjalmarstrom collected her fourth European Championship gold, putting paid to Shirin Volery’s hopes by a 5-1 scoreline.
All three winners have booked their spot in the WPA World Junior Championships in Spain later in the year.
Ąžuolas Tadaravicius
IN the Under 17’s, Tadaravicius gave up an early 3-1 lead to trail Maks Benko 5-4. The Slovenian straight pool gold medallist looked shell-shocked as he missed a tricky 10-ball for the championship that wobbled its way out of the pocket to throw Tadaravicius a lifeline.
It all came down to a deciding rack as the Lithuanian came back to the table with five balls left, but ran badly out of position with three left on the table. In an incredible display of nerveless potting, he dispatched the 8, 9 and 10 to carry off a glorious win.
Ąžuolas was thrilled as well as philosophical about his great victory, “I feel incredible. I feel like I’m in the cosmos right now I can’t believe it, I’m like sleeping. I can’t believe how Maks missed that 10-ball but God sent an angel to Maks and that happened. I just said to myself ‘Come on, you can do it’ and I said to myself that it should happen and I will win.
“At the end, all of my emotion through the match came out. Oh yes, I think this is the first time in history when two Lithuanian guys win the gold at the same time. As for the next events, I can’t say I’m confident and I can’t say I’m not confident. I’m just looking forward and trying to play my best game. I don’t care about the titles because I already made Lithuania proud!” he concluded.
Jokūbas Silantjevas
His countryman, Jokūbas Silantjevas had no such dramas as he enjoyed a more sedate path to victory over the dangerous Walter Laikre. He took an early 3-1 lead before the Swede levelled it but that was to be his last contribution as Silantjevas took the next four games for the gold medal, to add to his silver in straight pool.
He said, “I’m really happy. I mean, I practiced a lot for this moment and it finally came. I’m happy for my team-mate Ąžuolas, so that’s the best day for Lithuania in history so I’m really happy and proud. I wasn’t nervous as I played the straight pool final before. Of course, there was a bit of pressure but I knew what I had to do in the final so I was ready and prepared.”
Linnea Hjalmarstrom
In the Girls final it was Sweden’s Linnea Hjalmarstrom who claimed her fourth European Championship gold with a strong performance to defeat Shirin Volery (SUI) by 5-1. Prior to the championships Hjalmarstrom was buoyant about her chances in all three disciplines and so it proved as she led from the start and ran away with the match.
Commented Hjalmarstrom, “It felt amazing winning the title but I would have liked to have won it with a higher standard in the final but I’m always happy when I can win matches even when I’m not on my best game. So, I’m really relieved now that I have my World Championship spot.
“I felt pretty comfortable but of course there were nerves involved and I felt that I had the momentum so I won the mental match and that gave me that score. My confidence comes from my preparation and that’s why I can say that I feel confident and I’m just happy that it paid off and I’m standing here with the win,” she added.
Finalists (L > R): Maks Benko (SLO), Ąžuolas Tadaravicius (LTU), Shirin Volery (SUI), Linnea Hjalmarstrom (SWE), Walter Laikre (SWE) & Jokūbas Silantjevas (LTU)
立陶宛獲男子10號球雙金 瑞典抱回女子金牌
美洲豹歐洲青少年撞球錦標賽10號球項目在賽場落下帷幕，三塊金牌的誕生不僅帶來了戲劇性的一幕，更催人淚下。立陶宛隊意外地獲得了U17和U19男子組的雙面金牌。而這三位冠軍都已確定獲得了參加今年稍後在西班牙舉行的WPA世界青少年錦標賽的資格。
在U17組中，Tadaravicius 雖取得3-1的領先優勢，但被 Maks Benko 反超並以5-4領先。然而，Benko 錯失的那一計棘手的10號球，也給了 Tadaravicius 一線生機，將比賽帶入決勝局。Tadaravicius 回到球台上之時僅剩下五顆球，但在剩餘三顆球時卻出現嚴重地走位失誤；然而，他展現了令人難以置信地沉著冷靜，他一球球的打進，最終贏得了比賽勝利。
Ąžuolas 賽後激動地說道：“我感覺不可思議。我現在感覺自己彷彿置身於宇宙之中，簡直不敢相信，我就像睡著了一樣。我不敢相信 Maks 怎麼錯失那顆10號球，但上帝派了一位天使來幫助他，才讓這一切發生了。我只是對自己說 ‘加油，你可以的’，我一定會贏的。”
“比賽結束時，我所有的情緒都爆發了出來。這是歷史上第一次有兩位立陶宛選手同時奪得金牌。至於接下來的比賽，我說不上自信，也說不上不自信。我期待著並努力打出最好的水平。我不在乎冠軍頭銜，因為我已經讓立陶宛感到驕傲。” Ąžuolas 總結說道。
Ąžuolas Tadaravicius (立陶宛)
另一位立陶宛選手，U19組的 Jokūbas Silantjevas 則沒有經歷隊友那般的戲劇性，他以更加沉穩的姿態戰勝了實力強大的 Walter Laikre。Silantjevas 開局取得3-1領先，但隨後被 Laikre 追平，但那也是他最終的比分，Silantjevas 最終以直落四贏得金牌。
Silantjevas 表示說道：“我非常高興，我為了這一刻練習了很久，現在終於收穫了它。我也為我的隊友 Ąžuolas 感到高興，這是立陶宛史上最美好的一天，我感到非常高興與自豪。我並不緊張，因為我之前打過直落兩局的決賽。當然，壓力確實有點大，但我知道自己在決賽中要做什麼，所以我做好了要充分的準備。”
Jokūbas Silantjevas (立陶宛)
Hjalmarstrom 說道：“贏得冠軍的感覺很棒，但我原本希望在決賽中能以更高的水平奪冠，但即使狀態不佳，我也能贏得比賽，這讓我感到很開心。而現在的我終於拿到了世錦賽的參賽資格，我感到非常欣慰。”
“我感覺很輕鬆，當然也有一些緊張，但感覺自己的勢頭不錯，所以我贏得了心理戰，最終獲得了這樣的比分。我的自信來自於我的充分準備，這也是為何我可以說我充滿信心，我很高興我的努力得到了回報，我站在這裡就是為了贏得勝利。” 她補充道。
Linnea Hjalmarstrom (瑞典)
Play also continued today in the Teams competitions, while the 8-ball discipline got underway. 8-ball resumes on Saturday morning and plays down to the quarter-final stage in the Under 17s and 19s, and the last six in the Girls. The final rounds of matches take place on Sunday.
The Predator European Youth Pool Championships is in its 44th year and is presented by the European Pocket Billiard Federation.
Streaming of Tables 1 and 2 for the duration of the Predator European Youth Championships can be found on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel – https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV
For all results, live scoring and draw, visit www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/
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