THE OPENING DISCIPLINE of the Dynamic Billard European Youth Pool Championships concluded today in Podčetrtek, Slovenia and it was Mika Van Berkel (NED) and Riku Romppanen (FIN) who took home the gold medals after a delayed opening two days. Severe flooding had caused power cuts in the region which meant there was no play for several hours yesterday.
However, an early start today got the schedule back on track and it was Van Berkel who defeated countryman Yannick Pongers 100-58 in the U19’s division and Romppanen – 75-32 over Revo Maimre (EST) – who took home the gold in the U17s .
With both players hitting top form, the all-Dutch final in the U19s was always going to be a tense affair and so it proved. Pongers started the proceedings with a 42 point visit. With an awkward opener in the next, Pongers couldn’t make any inroads into the pack and was forced to play safe. That allowed Van Berkel back to the table for the first time since the opening break of the match.
Van Berkel kept himself at the table with a couple of gutsy bank shots and closed the rack out to take the score to 43-12. At high-level 14.1, a player may not get many opportunities and Van Berkel was making the most of his visit as he ran down the next rack to move the score to 43-27.
A great split from Van Berkel really set things up in sixth rack of the match, and he cleared the table although he left himself a little straight on the opening ball. Van Berkel had no chance to split the pack and relied on picking any loose balls off. He did very well to clear the rack from a difficult position and he closed the rack 55-43 to the good.
Mika Van Berkel (NED)｜©EPBF
A solid break off from Van Berkel left the balls out in the open, and he looked in total control as he ran the rack to take a 69-43 lead. The opening ball in the next though, was dead straight. He called a ‘safety’ and the rack was replaced with Pongers breaking off. He fouled, seeing no advantage in the position, and Van Berkel failed to dislodged anything with his next shot.
A miss on his next ball, trying to do too much, saw Pongers back to the table. He, though, made a bad miss to hand the table back to Van Berkel. The youngster, however, missed the same ball himself as the match went back and forth at a critical juncture. Pongers ran out the rack to leave the match poised at 72-53 to Van Berkel.
A positional error from Pongers saw him miss a more difficult shot than he’d have hoped for and Van Berkel was back to the table looking to hopefully close the match out. He cleared the table to leave himself 84-55 ahead.
Van Berkel scratched early in the next rack to give Pongers ball-in-hand behind the headstring.
His safety wasn’t tight enough and Van Berkel potted the only ball in the open. However, he missed his next up table to get Pongers back to the table.
Mika Van Berkel wins in U19 division｜©EPBF
Pongers though, had a bad slice of misfortune as the cue ball took a slight nudge which diverted it into the centre pocket. Needing only 14 for the win, it was a heaven-sent opportunity for Van Berkel. With seven required, Van Berkel split the pack nicely and from there he composed himself to win the U19 straight pool gold medal.
Commented Van Berkel, “I think, at the moment, right now, 14.1 is my game. I play a lot of straight pool and last week I had my new record of 186 and I really like this game.
“You never know when Yannick plays at the table as he can always run so many balls so I just had to take my chance. I was sitting in the chair and when it came, I took it.”
Van Berkel took a gold medal in the U17 8 ball division last year in Bulgaria and he has got off to the best possible start at this year’s championships.
U19 Medals
Gold: Mika Van Berkel (NED)
Silver: Yannick Pongers (NED)
Bronze: Silvan Starkermann (SUI) & Dominik Jastrzab (POL)
Riku Romppanen (FIN)｜©EPBF
In the U17 division, it was Finland’s Riku Romppanen who made up for last year’s bronze and silver as he claimed the first gold of the U17 division. The young Finn has been achieving some terrific results in senior pool and was delighted to get off to a gold medal-winning start.
Romppanen said, “I’m really happy to have picked up my first gold medal at the European Championships. I came close last year with silver and bronze but only managed fifth place in straight pool which was disappointing.
“I didn’t play my best through the straight pool here but I saved my best for the final with a 55 break. I’m really looking forward to the other three events and I feel that this could really be my year!”
U17 Medals
Gold: Riku Romppanen (FIN)
Silver: Revo Maimre (EST)
Bronze: Maks Benko (SLO) & Ivan Rudenko (UKR)
Riku Romppanen wins in U17 division｜©EPBF
All the matches can be viewed live by visiting www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/ 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.
Schedule, results, live scoring and draws are available at www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/