THERE WAS A full day’s play at the Alpina Sporthotel as the opening sessions of the Dynamic St Johan im Pongau concluded in the charming Austrian town. In all there were 203 matches played across 22 tables and a total of 20 players were eliminated on first day of play, leaving 232 left going into day two.
For the tour’s main contenders, the opening day is about staying on the winners’ side of the draw while for journeymen and up-and-comers the goal is to spring a surprise and try and stay in the tournament for as long as possible.
Of the current top ten ranked players competing this week, all stayed on the winners’ side with the exception of No.4, Alex Kazakis of Greece. He fell to a 9-7 defeat at the hands of Belgium’s capable Cliff Castelein who was making one of his rare visits to the Euro Tour. The Belgian goes on to play Petr Urban in Winners’ Round Two, while Kazakis, scraps it out in the losers’ bracket where he plays Elio Sammarini (Italy).
Maks Benko (SLO)｜©EPBF
In among the dozens of games, the draw threw up possibly the youngest pairing in Euro Tour history as two players with a combined age of 26 faced off on the winners’ side. Slovenia’s Maks Benko (12) had earlier disposed of Volker Kemeter (Germany) by a 9-3 scoreline and he faced Riku Romppanen, the 14-year-old Finnish player, who had earlier defeated Poland’s Pawel Boguszewski 9-7.
Romppanen made the early running as he moved into a 4-1 lead, before the Slovenian got it back to 4-4 after some high-quality safeties. Neither of the players lacked self-confidence and their all-round games were startling, given their respective ages. The Finn got back in the lead again at 6-4 but a missed 9 ball, cueing off the rail, kept it close.
In the end it was Romppanen who took the win by 9-5 and he goes on to face Tobias Bongers in Winners’ Round Two tomorrow. Benko’s opponent on the one-loss side will be determined tomorrow. Ultimately, the match was a terrific advert for the strength of junior pool across Europe.
Riku Romppanen (FIN)｜©EPBF
As well as the prize money, there are Tour ranking points on offer as well as world ranking points, 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 at www.kozoom.com
Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com