THE ANNUAL EPBF European Seniors Championships get underway today in Lasko, as the first of 13 separate tournaments breaks off in the picturesque Slovenian spa town. Europe’s best senior players can look forward to an eight-day bonanza encompassing three categories – men’s and women’s plus-45 and men’s plus-55. The Official Event Host is the Thermana Lasko Hotel which is a few minutes’ walk from the event hall.
There are plenty of players in attendance – the men’s over-45 9-ball division maxes out at 110 entries and as usual there are four disciplines. The over-45 men compete in 14.1, 8-ball, 9-ball and 10-ball as do the over-55 men, while the women have 8-ball, 9-ball and 10-ball tournaments. In addition, all three categories contest the always-anticipated team competition.
2023 sees the introduction of an entirely new age category, 55-plus, which EPBF Sports Director Tommi Lamminaho explains was down to popular demand.
“For the seniors this year, we’re seeing a whole lot of participants which tells us something about Europe’s long history in the game. The generation that was once youth players are now, all of a sudden, seniors 45-plus and now also 55-plus. We saw the demand this year from the more experienced players to get their own category, plus-55, so we decided to try it.
“We set a certain limit or minimum per discipline and that was quite quickly reached. So, we saw the demand was there and decided to go with the second category. The level of the field is getting better every year because the pros like every one of us, get older every year. People still want to compete in pool and every year we get new as well as familiar faces and that’s really nice to see.
“And the winners in the 45-plus men do get a spot in the WPA World Championships in 8-ball and 10-ball which gives a little more prestige to these events. Lasko is again providing a great venue for this event everything is working well, co-operation with the host hotel is up to par and we’re very happy to continue our co-operation with the Slovenian federation,” he added.
The schedule of events is on the EPBF site and the finals will be taking place on the following days:
14.1: Tuesday 17th October
10-Ball: Thursday 19th
Teams: Friday 20th
8-Ball: Saturday 21st
9-Ball: Monday 23rd
Play can be followed on a daily basis on https://www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/ and every match from every table is streamed live https://www.reelive.de/stream-preview/eurotour/events