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WITH FIVE TOURNAMENTS yet to be determined among 9-ball and team events, it will take seismic shift to dislodge the German squad from their current position on top of the medal table at the Predator European Pool Championships with two days to go. With three golds, three silvers and two bronze medals, they are some way ahead of their nearest rivals. In fact, it would be Germany’s fifth consecutive medal table victory should things go to plan.
With a battery of super-talented players on tap, National Squad Trainer Ralf Eckert gave some insight into pool in Germany.
He said, “Of course, pool is structured but also, we are a big country and have a lot of people. Billiards is not super-popular; we have the same problem in other countries when we compare ourselves with soccer but of course, we have a long history.
“The game started in the 70’s in Germany and we started with all those clubs. We have structure, not only in public pool halls but we also have private pool billiard clubs so you have to be a member and you pay 50/100 euros a month and after a while you usually get a key and then you have 24-hour access. So, if someone is really ambitious and wants to find his goal then he has access and can bring all his time onto the table.
“And then you find in every club a trainer or someone who understands something of the game and usually they help the youth and ambitious players to take the next steps.”
Eckert acknowledges to overall contribution of Günter Geisen, who has worked with many players every step of their careers; ““I have to admire the work of my colleague Günter who’s also responsible here. What he does is to take care and observe the national youth squads so from there he can take the best talent into the men’s squad and so on. He can really develop them from the youth and take the best of them into the men’s squad,” he concluded.
Making his debut at the 2026 Predator European Pool Championships is new EPBF Sports Director Gino De Ruyter, who brings years of experience to the game. He said, “I started off being a player myself when I was very young. I was like 7 years old when I started playing billiards. I ended up playing in the clubs in Holland and that was the reason why I started getting involved in the organisation of events because we were lacking a lot of tournaments in Holland for the regular player.
“So, I picked up organising tournaments and that evolved into working with the Dutch Federation and Belgian Federation and making steps from there on. I think the main goal here is to create the right type of consistency which makes it clear to follow the sport and clear in terms of communication towards the fans and also the players – it’s definitely key.
“I do feel that we need to be aware of how the sport needs to evolve; we’ve seen Predator do a lot of great things over the years looking at maximising the exposure and maybe thinking a little more commercial in some aspects. I think that is something you have to keep in mind when you set up events like this as a sports director, to make it a more attractive sport for the players and also the fans, to really enjoy the sports,” he concluded.
EPBF Sports Director Gino De Ruyter
Play continues tomorrow with day two of the three 9-ball events. The men’s last 64 starts at 10.45 while the women resume with the losers’ qualification round. The Under 23 is at losers’ qualification stage.
Tables 1, 2 and 3 at the Predator European Championships will be streamed throughout 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/
EPBF Sponsors
▸ Predator Group
▸ Iwan Simonis Billiard Cloth
▸ Aramith Billiard Balls
▸ Longoni Cues
▸ Kamui Brand
德國隊歐錦賽獎牌榜獨佔首位
距離 Predator 歐洲撞球錦標賽結束還有兩天，在九號球和團體賽中還有五項比賽的冠軍尚未決出，德國隊目前穩居獎牌榜榜首，想撼動他們的地位幾乎已是不可能。目前，他們已斬獲三金、三銀和兩銅，遙遙領先其他競爭對手。事實上，如果一切順利，將會是德國隊連續第五次蟬聯獎牌榜冠軍。
德國隊擁有一群才華橫溢的球員，國家隊教練 Ralf Eckert 也分享了他對德國撞球運動的看法。
Eckert 說：“撞球運動在德國有著完善的體系，但同時，我們也是一個人口眾多的大國。撞球在德國並不像足球那樣普及；我們和其他國家一樣，在撞球運動方面也面臨著同樣的問題，但我們擁有悠久的撞球歷史。”
Eckert 對 Günter Geisen 的貢獻表示讚賞，Geisen 曾指導過許多球員在職業生涯的各個階段；“我不得不佩服 Geisen 的工作，他也負責這方面的工作。他的職責是關注和觀察國家青年隊，從中選拔最優秀的人才進入成年隊，以此類推。”
新任歐洲撞球協會 (EPBF) 賽事總監 Gino De Ruyter 在2026年 Predator 歐洲撞球錦標賽上首次亮相，他為這項運動帶來了他多年的經驗。De Ruyter 說：“我從小大概7歲時就開始打撞球了，後來我在荷蘭的俱樂部打球，也正因如此，我開始參與賽事組織工作，因為當時荷蘭對於業餘選手的賽事太少了。所以我開始組織比賽，後來逐漸發展到與荷蘭和比利時撞球協會合作。我認為我們的主要目標是建立一種合適的規範，讓喜歡這項運動的人能夠清晰地了解這項運動，並確保與球迷和球員之間的溝通順暢，這至關重要。”
“我確實覺得我們需要意識到這項運動需如何發展；多年來我們看到美洲豹 (Predator) 做了很多很棒的事情，力求最大限度地提高曝光率，並在某些方面考慮得更商業化一些。我認為身為賽事總監，在組織這類賽事時，必須牢記著如何才能使這項運動對球員與球迷都更具吸引力，讓他們真正享受比賽。” De Ruyter 總結道。