GETTING UNDERWAY THIS Wednesday 27th July is the 41st annual Dynamic Billard European Pool Championships for Youth. Taking place in the southern Bulgarian town of Petrich, all the best young players from across the continent will be gathering to compete for 14 separate titles across four disciplines.
First held in Bern, Switzerland in 1981, the European Championships has proven to be the first port of call for many of Europe’s biggest pool stars. From today’s crop of European superstars, the likes of Wojciech Szewczyk, Wiktor Zielinski (Both Poland), Germany’s Joshua Filler, Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz of Spain and Russia’s Fedor Gorst have all claimed gold medals at the European Youth Championships in the past.
The 2022 Dynamic Billards European Championship Youth sees 14 separate events across four disciplines – 8, 9 and 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 will be 111 competitors in attendance – 19 girls, 57 boys in the U17 division and 35 boys in the U19.
Tournament Director for the event is Finland’s Tommi Lamminaho, the Vice-President of the EPBF as well as Youth Sport Director. We caught up with Tommi to give us the low-down on this year’s event and the importance of the youth programme across European pool.
How important is the event in the grand scheme of European pool?
The Youth EC is an event all the European stars have attended in the beginning of their career. It’s an event where young athletes learn to compete under pressure and learn to become future world-level athletes. With the qualification systems our members have, the competition even to reach these championships is hard in many countries.
We’ve seen some young kids compete successfully in men’s open events recently including the Euro Tour. How good is the standard across the board?
It’s clear that the level varies a bit when some of the kids are playing their first championships and only learn to play under the pressure of bright lights but especially the ones that have had the opportunity to gain experience in our tough Euro Tour events seem to be just one bit further ahead. The youngest participants in the U17 category are only turning 12 this year and the oldest in the U19 category have already turned 18.
How much do you think it means to the kids who are successful?
Becoming a European Champion or even a medallist is something that stays with you through the whole career. The winners qualify for the World Junior Championships which is, of course, the next step. When the kids look at the names who have been successful and are now world stars, I’m sure it gives them a nice boost to continue competing in pool.
How big do you think the event could get?
When looking at the number of participants, we could have a few more athletes in, but as the time schedule is already tight with eight match days, it can only currently grow so much. Where I think the event can grow more is with the interest of the public which is where the local organiser always has a big task. It was nice to arrive in Petrich this week where you couldn’t miss all the advertisements of the event!
Play commences this Wednesday with the straight pool events in the boys’ Under 17 and Under 19 categories.
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/europ