Dynamic Billard St. Johann im Pongau Open – 16 Standing in Quest for St Johann Prize

WE ARE DOWN to the last 16 players after a full day’s play at the Dynamic Billard St Johann Open and there will be plenty of Europe’s big-name players vying for the title on Monday. There are four rounds of matches tomorrow to determine the destination of the second Euro Tour trophy of the season.

There are five Poles, three Austrians and three Germans among the last 16 but flying the flag for Norway in youngster Emil-Andre Gangflot, a multiple gold medallist at the EPBF European Junior Championships.
It’s the first time he has reached the last 16 stage on the Euro Tour in his fledgling career and he did it an excellent 9-1win over Czech David Zalman. Undefeated so far, could Gangflot make a serious impact tomorrow? He faces Daniel Guttenberger, who beat Niels Feijen by the narrowest of margins, buoyed on by some local support around an outside table.

Austrian Guttenberger has not done too much on the Euro Tour going back to 2012 but has since reapplied himself to the game following the break for the pandemic. A silver medal in 9-ball at last year’s European Championships may well be a pointer to where his is headed.

Commented Daniel, “It was a crazy match again! Every time I play against Niels, somehow, it’s hill-hill and crazy things happen and this time I wanted to win so bad as I’d lost the last three times against him so I’m proud that I put it together. For sure the crowd made me a bit nervous and I was shaking!”

Another Austrian, Max Lechner, is on track for his first-ever Euro Tour final as he defeated Georgi Georgiev 9-5 in a match where the shot clock was called in with Lechner leading 5-3.

Commented Lechner, “I was very pleased to be honest. My opponent played really, really slow. I’m not the fastest of the players, I know that but my opponent played in slow motion. It was a relief when the shot clock came and as I expected, he started to make mistake. At 5-3 he didn’t do much wrong and nor did I but then I could grow the lead to 7-3. Then I had a couple of bad breaks and he came back but he made a crucial mistake at 7-5 and then I could close the match out.”

He now faces old friend Mario He in the round of 16 tomorrow.

Another top-quality player still hunting for his first Euro Tour title is Wojciech Szewczyk who has come through to the last 16 unscathed, defeating countryman Mateusz Sniegocki 9-5 in the last 32. He faces tough veteran Roman Hybler tomorrow.

Said Szewczyk, “I considered this draw a very tough one especially as I think Mateusz has been in very good shape lately. He looked very confident so I didn’t expect him to miss much. On the Euro Tour, the Polish team is pretty strong and we have to play each other from time to time so I was prepared for that. Nevertheless, I wasn’t very happy when I saw the draw.

“I’ve also played Roman many, many times and I’m looking forward to it but I don’t know what to expect really. We’ve had an all-Polish final once before; Sniegocki versus Kaplan (2013) and I’ve always managed to get my best results in St Johann so I’m pretty positive about tomorrow,” added Wojciech.

Play gets underway on Monday morning at 10.00 local time with the final scheduled for 19.00.

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.

The semi-finals and final, played out on Monday night, will be live or highlights on the following television stations across Europe;

SportKlub HD – Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia,
Bosnia Herzegovina, Greece
Eyecons – Netherlands
SportKlub – Poland
ORF – Austria

Results, live scoring, and draw are available at www.epbf.com