European Championships Youth – 10 Ball Golds For Vogel And Pawelczyk

THE DESTINATION OF the Girls and U17 Boys 10 ball gold medals was decided as two more finals played out at the Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships for Youth in Petrich, Bulgaria. 14 year-old German Felix Vogel looked nerveless in claiming the U17 title while Poland’s Dominika Pawelczyk claimed a wonderful gold under testing personal circumstances.

Vogel won his title with a 6-3 win over Finland’s Jori Narvola and was ecstatic at the conclusion; “It feels very good to win this. I was surprised myself that I could win this tournament. With each round I played better and better and that was very good for me.

“It was not easy and I had to play my best billiards. I didn’t really feel any pressure. At the last 32 I played not my best match but that was an important match as I won and I felt really good. It was difficult for sure but nothing is impossible!”

Narvola got off to the best possible start as he opened up a two-rack lead but Vogel though, battled back to regain parity at two racks each. The next hinged on a missed 10 ball as Narvola went awry with a difficult table-length shot. Vogel did no such thing as he moved into a 3-2 lead in the race-to-6 match. That soon became 4-2 as the young German hit his stride. Things went even better for Vogel as he put himself on the hill by taking the seventh game.

Narvola could afford no mistakes now but he missed a simple 3 ball into the centre pocket with one eye on the position. With the 9 ball blocking, Vogel could not find a way and the Finn looked set to run out but he overran the cue ball going from 9 to 10 and subsequently missed. Vogel had a fine cut for match ball but he too missed as Narvola took the rack for 5-3.

The ninth turned into a safety battle with the two players swapping some tidy snookers before Narvola pocketed the 3 ball with a fine jump shot but saw the cue ball fly into the centre pocket to give Vogel a golden chance to close the match out. However, he landed too close on the 6 ball and the safety battle resumed. Vogel got another chance though and it looked on as the youngster held himself together to run out for a superb win.

Bronze medals went to Maks Benko (SLO) and Riku Romppanen (FIN).

In the Girls event, it was 18-year-old Pole Dominika Pawelczyk who beat Alara Ghaffari (Northern Cyprus) by 5-1 to claim victory. The performance was all the more brilliant given her distressing personal news prior to the event.

“It feels great to win and I felt so confident in the final and was glad to be here to win this title. I was thinking about my brother and to win this for him as he died three days ago so this is for him.” (Dominika’s brother was 23 at the time of his death).

“I wanted to show everyone that I can play pool and show my best game. I felt nervous but I have my team with me and they helped me get through this,” she concluded. As for the match, Ghaffari and Pawelczyk shared the opening two racks before the Pole took the next. A missed bank shot on the 9 ball by Ghaffari allowed the Polish girl to take the fourth game for a good-looking 3-1 lead in the race to five match.

In the fifth game, a foul by Ghaffari, kicking on the 1 ball gave ball-in-hand to her opponent. Pawelczyk looked good for 4-1 but missed the 6 ball. It ran safe, however, and Ghaffari‘s jump attempt left an open table for Pawelczyk. This time she made no mistakes for a 4-1 lead.

Looking set for victory, Pawelczyk nudged the 9 ball giving her a harder shot on the 8 but she made it with aplomb and then duly polished off the 9 and the 10 balls for what was a wonderful victory.

The bronze medals in the 10 ball went to Tina Gulic (CRO) and Lena Primus (AUT)

Play continues on Sunday 31st July with a continuation of the 8 ball events.

All matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com as well as selected matches on the EPBF’s Facebook page.

Results, live scoring and draws are available at www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/