THE TWO TEAM tournaments concluded as the final day of the PREDATOR European Pool Championships got underway. Both women’s and men’s matches were Germany against Austria and it was spoils shared as the Germans triumphed in the men’s final and Austria took down the women’s title.
The men’s event the best of three matches in 8, 9 and 10-ball respectively, and after two matches the destination of the title was finely poised. The teams shared the first two matches as Luca Menn defeated Max Lechner in 8-ball, while Albin Ouschan beat Stefan Casper in the 10-ball game.
That left Felix Vogel and Mario He slugging it out for glory. 18-year-old Vogel, playing with an old head on young shoulders had opened up a 5-1 lead to ease the pressure but He crept back into the game. Vogel reached the hill first at 8-6 and had a chance to close the match out but missed a 7-ball down the rail and in the end, He made up the deficit to find himself breaking for the match.
He had nothing on so chose to push out but Vogel, not liking the possibilities, returned the table to He, who went two rails but failed to make contact with the object ball. Vogel, with ball in hand, held himself together superbly to seal the victory and the gold medals for Germany.
Vogel said, “The whole team carried me and if someone played bad then the other two players carried the whole team. It’s a team event and we gave our all. The game was crazy. I saw Luca was up 5-1 in the first minutes and I was up too and the pressure was high and then Mario came back so good. It was such an amazing day!”
Casper added, “Today wasn’t my best day. I was just there for looking good, maybe! These two guys did an incredible job today. Luca played very good and Felix is yeah, unbelievable.”
Finally, Luca Menn concluded, “I had to win in the beginning or I wouldn’t stand the pressure like Felix did two or three times today. I broke really solid and finished it off so I was happy to be the first so I could watch all the drama!”
In the women’s final it was a reversal of fortune as Austria won in a match that went down to the race-to-2 decider after the teams had shared the 8-ball and 9-ball matches. Jasmin Ouschan had won her match first defeating Ina Kaplan, 6-3 in 8-ball but the Lena Primus v Pia Filler match was close with only one player winning two consecutive racks throughout.
In the end it was Filler who edged over the line to set up the shootout. Having won the first rack, they delivered victory in the second as Primus and then Filler missed 10-balls before Ouschan finished it off for gold.
Commented Jasmin, “We did it the hard way, otherwise it would be boring for everybody! It could have been easier but that shows what sport is; sometimes emotions and drama. We did a very good job and we’re really happy and it feels great!”
Primus added, “It was nerve-wracking but I’m super happy to win this. We got lucky but we still got it done!”
Play continues with the finals of the individual 9-ball competitions at 17.30.
This year sees a new streaming platform for the Predator European Championship events. Tables 1 and 2 will be streamed throughout on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel – https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV
In addition, competing players are permitted to stream their own matches on outside tables to their public social media accounts.
For all results, live scoring and draw, visit www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/