In the quarter-final round of the men’s 10-ball individuals at the Dynamic Billard European Championships 2019 in Treviso, Italy, Caspar Matikainen (FIN) eliminated Tomasz Kaplan (POL) with 8:7.
It was the third tough match for Matikainen today already. In the 15:30 round, he defeated Eklent Kaci (ALB) with 8:6. Then, in the next round he went ahead and ousted Daniele Corrieri (ITA) 8:7. These close results prove that Matikainen has to be a good fighter. He was already trailing 4:7 against Kaplan and things did not look at all promising for him. When Kaplan had the chance to finish the match, he snookered himself and ran out of position with the cue ball, hiding it behind the 9-ball when the 8-ball was still on the table. That situation gave second life to Matikainen who hung in there and kept his nerves under control. He made shot after shot and forced Kaplan into a hill-hill match at 7:7. With Kaplan’s break shot coming up, the Polish again had the better odds. He pocketed a ball on his break shot but could not really use the position he found for the 1-ball. He attempted to play a push-out but the result was very poor. Matikainen accepted the table, ran it and advance into the semi-finals tomorrow where he will face Joao Grilo (POR) who won 8:5 over Mariusz Skoneczny (POL).
One round earlier, Thorsten Hohmann (GER) eliminated the defending Champion Joshua „Killer“ Filler (GER) from the field, winning with 8:7 over the newly crowned US Open Champion.
Left to right: Matikainen, Feldmann and Dinsmore
In the women’s division, one semi-final will be the clash between the two most dominating athletes in European women’s pool, Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) versus Kristina Tkach (RUS). Both of them won their quarter-final matches but Tkach took the straight way into the semi-final while Ouschan had lost one match and needed to come back over the loser’s side. The other semi-final will take place between Christine Feldmann (SUI) and Tamara Peeters-Rademakers (NED) who already took a silver medal in straight pool on Sunday.
In the wheelchair division, Henrik Larsson managed to overcome his long-time rival, defending Champion Jouni Tahti (FIN) with 6:5 to proceed into the semi-final of the wheelchair division. The other semi-final will be played between unheralded Kaspars Turks (LAT) and favoured Fred Dinsmore (IRL).
The semi-final matches in all disciplines will be played at 18:00 CET with the final matches to follow at 20:00 CET.
Men:
Thorsten Hohmann (GER) v Mieszko Fortunski (POL)
Casper Matikainen (FIN) v Joao Grilo (POR)
Women:
Christine Feldmann (SUI) v Tamara Peeters-Rademakers (NED)
Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) v Kristina Tkach (RUS)
Wheelchair:
Henrik Larsson (SWE) v Tony Southern (GBR)
Kaspars Turks (LAT) v Fred Dinsmore (IRL)
The Dynamic Billard European Championships 2019 for men, women, U23 and wheelchair athletes will commence tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches in the 8-ball individuals competition women and Under 23.
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 obtained 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 or visit us on Facebook for regular news clips or contact our press office [email protected].