GERMANY ARE THE Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships for Youth Under 19 Team winners following a 2-0 win over Austria at the Petrich Arena. Wins for Yuma Dorner and Dennis Laszkowski completed the victory for a strong German side. Under the format of the competition, each team puts forward three players from their squad who compete in single games of 8, 9 and 10 ball in races to 7, 8 and 7 racks respectively. The first team to secure two victories wins the match.
The German side needed to battle back after losing to Poland in the Winners’ Qualification round and they secured a spot in the title match with wins over Switzerland and then Slovakia in the semi-final. Their four-man squad consisted of Dorner, Laszkowski, Finn Boge and Eric Mattern who all contributed in their quest for the gold.
For 18-year-old Yuma Dorner, it was a sweet ending to a day that had seen him lose the final of the 9-ball event to rampaging Yannick Pongers. Having already won gold in the straight pool event, it was a testimony to his fortitude that he came with such a strong performance having suffered a tough set-back earlier.
He said, “It was a tough loss but I was already qualified for the World Championship and Yannick is a great guy so I wasn’t that angry that I lost and I was still motivated for the team event. In the singles disciplines, you’re only playing for yourself but in the team match you have the other guys and also the coaches that rely on you and your performance but it’s also a bit more fun with the team spirit so I really enjoy the team event and it was a great win for us.”
Dennis Laszkowski added team gold to his 10-ball gold as well as straight pool bronze to crown a very productive championships for him; “I’m extremely delighted that I’ve won the 10-ball event and I also wanted to win with a great team.
U19 Team Final｜©EPBF
“We had a bad loss against Poland where we struggled a lot but then we managed to come back on the losers’ qualification side. But we played really good and we had a lot of motivation in our team so I’m really happy that we won. We’re definitely having a party!” he added.
Three of the four German squad – Mattern, Dorner and Laszkowski – are all playing the Dynamic Billard Petrich Open which starts this Saturday 6th August and it will be interesting to see how they progress, riding the crest of a wave.
Austria 0 – 2 Germany
Simon Astl 3 – 7 Yuma Dorner (8)
Florian Heel – – – Finn Boge (9)
Tobias Musil 4 – 7 Dennis Laszkowski (10)
Bronze medals in the competition went to Slovakia and Poland.
The 2022 Dynamic Billards European Championship Youth comprises 14 separate events across four disciplines – 8, 9and 10 ball as well as straight pool – plus the male and female team competitions. In total there are three divisions; male U19, male U17 and female U19. In total, there are 111 competitors in attendance – 19 girls, 57 boys in the U17 division and 35 boys in the U19.
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/