IT WAS AN EVENING of double Portuguese gold as Miguel Silva and Henrique Correia won the 8-ball divisions in the 45-plus and 55-plus categories respectively at the 2024 DYNAMIC BILLARD European Seniors Championships, which are taking place at the Xanadu Resort Hotel in Belek.
That took their nation’s medal tally to four golds, two silvers and one bronze, a position that is unassailable with just the 9-ball to be played out. In the women’s division it was Nathalie Rohmer of France who took the title for her first-ever European Championship gold medal.
Miguel Silva, who lost a heart-breaker in the 45-plus 10-ball final, made amends in style as he dominated Finland’s Ari Heiskanen by 7-2 to claim gold in the 8-ball division. Heiskanen’s scratch off the opening break of the match proved ominous, and Silva selected the solids with the 1-ball into the centre pocket. From there he cleared quite comfortably for a 1-0 lead.
Another scratch from the Finn set Silva up for rack number two, but he got his first point on the board in the third as he rode his luck following a miss from Silva. In the next, a miss on the orange 5 from Silva left him muttering under his breath and Heiskanen stepped up to take the rack and level the match at 2-2.
Silva looked set in the next but he missed on the 2-ball down the rail with just one more remaining. Heiskanen, though missed himself to effectively hand the rack to his opponent. A solid break from the Portuguese spread the table out nicely and he selected the solids. He dealt with a problem cluster nicely and cleared up to increase his lead to 4-2.
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A dry break in the seventh was the last thing the Finn needed and Silva didn’t hesitate to dish up for a 5-2 lead. Silva was timed out to give ball-in-hand to Heiskanen and he looked to have made the run out before he managed to miss a straightish 8-ball to gift the rack to Silva and put him on the hill at 6-2.
Heiskanen had a huge task ahead of him as he broke off in the ninth game but a miss on the 6-ball gave Silva the opportunity to close the match out. There was some difficulty with two stripes remaining but Silva came with his best shot of the match as he speared one in table length to gain perfect three-rail position for his final stripe. He knocked that in and had no problems with a pressure 8-ball to take the gold medal.
Commented Silva, “This is my first gold medal and I’m very happy for it – I practised a lot! I was nervous in my quarter-final match against Francisco Diaz – really nervous as I respect him a lot and he’s a great player. After that one, I didn’t feel the pressure in the semi and in the final. I don’t know why? I just focused on all the matches and hoped they would go right… and they did!”
Medals – 45-Plus 8-Ball
Gold – Miguel Silva (POR)
Silver – Aki Heiskanen (FIN)
Bronze – Sami Karttunen (FIN)
Roman Wasilewski (POL)
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Henrique Correia cemented his position as star of the 55-plus category as he defeated Austria’s Karl Hanscho by 7-4 to claim another gold medal to add to the one he took in the 14.1 discipline as well as a silver in the 10-ball. The veteran Portuguese got off to a good start as he led 3-1 but Hanscho came back into it as he stayed with Correia at 3-2, 5-3 and 6-4. Ultimately, he ran out of racks as Correia closed out the match to make it two golds in the evening for Portugal.
He said, “This transition to 55 is like a dream, it’s really going perfect. Two golds and one silver, in all the finals. It feels really, really good to still be able to do something and I enjoy it a lot. I’ve had four titles in the 45-plus group, the full set. Let’s see what I can do in the 9-ball now but it’s good for our country which is always above us and to bring gold medals to Portugal is what really matters. “
Medals – 55-Plus 10-Ball
Gold – Henrique Correia (POR)
Silver – Karl Hanscho (AUT)
Bronze – Michel Natali (FRA)
Johann Schernthaner (AUT)
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In the ladies, it was France’s Nathalie Rohmer who ground out a 5-2 victory over Christine Steinlage to claim her first EC gold. Nathalie was never behind in the match, and after they’d shared the first two racks, she stretched out a 4-1 lead. Despite Steinlage, who won this event last year, winning the sixth game to make it interesting, the hard work was enough to see her over the line to glory.
After a long time playing the game, Rohmer was overcome with emotion at the finish: “I’m very happy, very surprised and it’s beautiful, I have a lot of emotion. I’ve played Christine twice – I lost the first time and now I win and I’m very happy! Every time I’ve found it difficult to finish up my matches as my emotions run so high. I was nervous but I tried and gave my best,” she concluded.
Medals – Ladies 10-Ball
Gold – Nathalie Rohmer (FRA)
Silver – Christine Steinlage (GER)
Bronze – Riikka Vayrynen (FIN)
Susanne Wessel (GER)
Play continues on Sunday with 9-ball.
For streaming fans, Tables 1 & 2 will be shown throughout on YouTube. Table 1 will be on the Kozoom channel, while Table 2 will be available throughout on the EPBF platform. All other tables can be viewed on the Kozoom.com website, where there are a variety of subscription options.