In the Under 19 division of the Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth, Kostas Koukiadakis (GRE) overmastered defending Champion Krystian Cwikla (POL) in 9-ball.
The round was the quarter-finals. Cwikla had already two victories under his belt. He demolished Marco Peroco (ITA) 8:0 and Timofey Sereda (BLR) 8:2. There was not much resistance he had to face so far. Same goes for Koukiadakis. He took down Aykin Burcu (TNC) 8:0 and then went on and contended Federico Amendola (ITA) 8:4. Cwikla was definitely favored to win that match. But from the very beginning, Koukiadakis proved that he was not intending to become easy prey for the defending Champion. To the contrary, the Greek provided a fierce fight to the Champion and never let Cwikla get any advantage on the scoreboard. After eight racks, the match was all square at 4:4.
Then Koukiadakis managed to get a small lead with 6:4 over Cwikla. That was probably the turning point in the match. At 7:5, Cwikla’s nerves let him down and Koukiadakis went on to triumph against the Polish, winning 8:5. This victory takes Koukiadakis into the semi-final tomorrow and promises him his first medal at European Championships. He will encounter Russian all-star Maksim Dudanets (RUS) who remained victorious over Mark Magi (EST) 8:4 today. The other semi-final in the Under 19’s will be played between Patrick Hofmann (GER) and Daniel Maciol (POL). Hofmann has a shot to pick up his third title this week.
Kostas Koukiadakis (GRE)
In the Under 17’s, Wiktor Zielinski (POL) is probably the hottest candidate for the title. He creamed Szymon Blazej (POL) 7:2 today, then whipped Andreas-Steen Bonnelykke (DEN) 7:2 and finally skunked Jan van Lierop (NED) even 7:1 in the quarter-finals. He will be up against Luca Menn (GER). The German surprisingly ousted Zielinski’s nightmare opponent Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH) in the quarter-finals 7:5. In the other semifinal, Fedor Gorst (RUS) and Kestutis Zadeikis (LIT) battle it out.
In the Girls division, Kristina Tkach (RUS) is up against Palina Chernik (BLR) in the semi-final while Diana Khodjaeva (BEL) has to deal with Pia Blaeser (GER).
The Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with the semifinals of the team competition. The finals team are scheduled for 11:00 local time. Right after that, the semifinals of the 9-ball individuals will start at 14:00 with the finals scheduled for 15:30.
The Championships are played on 24 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be purchased at www.kozoom.com. Once a premium membership is held, all events for the respective period of time can be viewed LIVE. Additionally, a huge video gallery is contained in the website.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.epconline.eu, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office [email protected].