WITH JUST ONE day left to play at the PREDATOR EUROPEAN Youth Pool Championships in Slovenia, both the 9-ball division as well as Under 19s and 17s Teams played their way down to the closing stages. 9-ball is the last chance for individual medals and the two boys events are at the quarter-final stage whilst the girls have two semi-finalists in place, to be joined by two more tomorrow morning.
One player into the medals is 10-ball gold and 8-ball silver medallist Linnea Hjalmarstrom (Sweden). She defeated Turkey’s Öykü Altin 6-1 to cast aside her disappointment following defeat in Sunday’s 8-ball final.
“That win felt good and I’ve played good throughout the whole tournament which my results proved. 8-ball didn’t go my way yesterday so now I’m extra motivated and that win gave me a lot of confidence,” said Hjalmarstrom.
“I’m very quick to get back on it and as soon as I win, I want to win the next one and as soon as I lose, I want to win also. So, for me, it’s not really a problem to bounce back, it’s quite easy. I came here just focusing on my game really but I know if I played good, I would get medals, and maybe trophies so that was my focus.
“I love 10-ball so that was my goal initially; I always want to win the 10-ball so then you can kind of relax through the rest of the tournament so when I got that I was super-relieved and super-proud of myself but now with the 9-ball, it’s just a bonus if I win,” she concluded.
Another player chasing more medals is Polish talent Jakub Chrobot. A runner-up in the opening straight pool tournament, he’s well-positioned in the 9-ball as he starts on Tuesday with a quarter-final match against countryman, Mateusz Sadlik. Jakub felt his make-or-break game came in the last 32 round where he defeated 10-ball champ Ąžuolas Tadaravicius 7-3 to progress.
He said, “I had a very tough match in the last 32 which I played almost perfectly. It was me and Azuolas and we made one mistake between us, so we played really good and I just kept that going and won my match.
“Losing in the other events didn’t really matter because my opponents played really well and I didn’t make many mistakes so I’m not angry at myself. I just played my game and that’s what I’m doing right now. Every match is the next one so I’m not thinking about the medal, just playing and trying to show my best on the table.”
In the Under 19s, Robin Hauge Pettersen is also chasing more EC honours to add to his 8-ball silver and he defeated Luka Bugarski 8-5 after fending off a comeback from the Serbian, to reach the last eight stage.
He commented, “I played good in the start but he played really good to catch up to 6-5 and then I played great. The 8-ball has given me a lot of confidence going into the 9-ball. I played really good and I’m really satisfied with my tournament. In the 8-ball final I couldn’t get my break going but I’ve a chance now in 9-ball and hopefully looking for gold.”
The Team quarter-finals were full of their customary camaraderie and highs and lows and in the U17s, tomorrow’s semi-finals will be contested by Poland, Germany, Slovakia and Slovenia. In the U19s, the last four are Sweden, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden.
Tuesday is the final day of the Predator European Youth Pool Championships, and gets underway with the 9-ball quarter-finals of the Under 17s and 19s as well as the last six in the girls. Final matches are scheduled for 12.00 noon.
The Predator European Youth Pool Championships is in its 44th year and is presented by the European Pocket Billiard Federation.
Streaming of Tables 1 and 2 for the duration of the Predator European Youth Championships can be found on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel – https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV
For all results, live scoring and draw, visit www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/
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