Today the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Seniors and Ladies features team matches and 8-ball individuals. In the teams loser’s round one, Austria defeated Sweden in a thrilling drama 2:1.
Actually, the whole match boiled down to one shot that Sanne Azar (SWE) missed. The other two matches have finished almost simultaneously. Thomas Radakovits (AUT) won the 8-ball 7:4 over Glenn Andersson (SWE) while Stefan Ericson (SWE) snatched the 9-ball match 8:7 from Michael Moser (AUT). The team score was even at 1:1 with only the 10-ball going on between Azar and Markus Weichart (AUT). The Austrian was dominating the match very much from start until the score was 6:2. He had a nice 4-rack lead being on the hill already. But Azar can fight. He made his way back into the match and pulled rack after rack from Weichart.
After 12 racks, the score was even tied at 6:6 with the showdown to come. One rack decided about going further or going home. Weichart broke the rack but no ball went down. The cue ball was frozen to the 2-ball but the 1-ball was available. Azar played an extremely difficult shot – especially in that situation – and pocketed the 1-ball. He then continued playing and had everything in front of him. No problems were on the table, it was just pocketing balls and getting position. He did everything right until he came to the 9-ball. Two more balls left on the table for the glory.
Words can hardly describe what happened then. He missed a 9-ball that was almost impossible to miss and left two balls in front of the pockets on the table for Weichart. What a drama for Azar! After that huge comeback, he failed on that easy shot. Weichart got to the table and pocketed the two balls remaining for the victory. Team Austria took a 2:1 victory over team Sweden with that match and eliminated the Scandinavians out of the team competition. Austria will now play team Portugal in the next round. The Portuguese won 3:0 over North Cyprus. Team The Netherlands won 2:0 over team Turkey and will now meet team Finland who ousted team Norway 2:1 today.
Left to right: Weichart, Mosler, Radakovits (AUT) – Ericson, Andersson, Azar (SWE)
Other remarkable results from today include defending 8-Ball Champion in the ladies division, Barbara Bolfelli (ITA), winning 5:0 over Ursula Habersaat (SUI). She now advances on the loser’s side to the next round where she will meet her teammate Cristina Moscetti (ITA). Karin Michl (GER) overpowered Ann-Sofie Löfgren (SWE) with 5:1 and will now encounter teammate Hildegard Kasper (GER) who defeated Monika Oeschger (SUI) with 5:0. In the winner’s qualification round, Ulrika Andersson (SWE) will meet Patrizia Ingest (ITA) while Monika Jarecki (GER) and Susanne Wessel (GER) will play the other match.
In the seniors division, defending Champion Sanne Azar outplayed Csaba Nagy (HUN) 7:3 and advanced to the single elimination round of the last 32 players which will be played today at 16:30 local time. Sandor Tot (HUN), newly crowned European Champion in seniors 10-ball, won a heartbreaker with 7:5 over strong Kostas Konnaris (CYP). Reiner Wirsbitzki (GER) made unexpected short work of „Fabulous“ Fabio Petroni (ITA) and sent him to the loser’s side with 7:1. Angelo Salzano (ITA) wrestled Dino Ceramic (BIH) down with 7:6. Gianluca Boni (ITA) got the better of Jim Telfer (NED) with 7:3.
The Championships are played on 24 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be purchased at www.kozoom.com. Once a premium membership is held, all events for the respective period of time can be viewed LIVE. Additionally, a huge video gallery is contained in the website.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.epconline.eu, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office [email protected].