The European Juniors just recently competed in Moscow, Russia, for the coveted title in the Girls, Under 17 and Under 19 divisions. Though no gold medal could be won this year, the outcome of six medals in total can be regarded as fairly successful.
In the Under 17’s division, team Europe achieved its best result with Emil Andre Gangfløt from Norway becoming runner-up, winning the silver medal in this age group. That was an overall huge surprise since others were meant to be the favoured players. Gangflot just made the team through a qualifying event. He then played high class pool all through the event and found himself in an unexpected final match where he met Mahkael Parris (USA). Ganfløt seemed to be veyy nervous in the final and committed too many easy mistakes. He left the 9-ball hanging over the pocket two times. That was easy prey for Parris who resides in US Virgin Islands. The draw in the group was a bit unlucky for Europe. Denis Laszkowski (GER) was drawn against Christoffer Lentz (DEN) which meant that two rays of hope clashed in an early stage. The match went 9:8 in favour of Lentz. The only medal that did not go to team Europe in that round was the gold medal. Christoffer Lentz and Christian Mrva (SVK).
Team Europe Final Results Under 17
Emil Andre Gangfløt NOR – Silver medal
Christoffer Lentz DEN – Bronze medal
Christian Mrva SVK – Bronze medal
Denis Laszkowski GER – 5th
Quinten Pongers NED – 5th
Artem Lukin RUS – 5th
Ivan Galic CRO – 9th
2018 Juniors WC – Six medals for European Juniors Team at the Word Championships (Emil Andre Gangfløt )
In the Under 19’s division, the level of play was very high. The tournament was determined by a lot of clashed between European players in the early stage of the event. Fedor Gorst (RUS) was sent to the loser’s side by Wiktor Zielinski (POL). Jan van Lierop (NED) was eliminated by Gorst. Then Gorst got ousted by Christian Fraulich (GER). Gorst and Zielinski were definitely two hopes to make it to the final but they did not. Zielinski committed a huge mistake in his semi-final match against Robbie James Joaquin Capito (HKG) when he missed an easy 7-ball. That mistake allowed Capito to come back and runout the rack at hill-hill. Fraulich just got smashed in his semi-final match by later Champion Kin-Ling Yip (HKG).
Team Europe Final Results Under 19
Christian Fraulich GER – Bronze medal
Wiktor Zielinski POL – Bronze medal
Fedor Gorst RUS – 5th
Vladimir Matvienko RUS – 5th
Sanjin Pehlivanovic BIH – 9th
Jan van Lierop NED – 9th
Alen Salic GER – 13th
Vladislav Shopik BLR – 13th
Stanislav Akhtiamov RUS – 17th
Ragnar Ossian Grinsten SWE – 17th
Illia Nekleenov RUS – 17th
Micke Strom FIN – 17th
In the girls division, the Taiwanese Chia-Hua Chen was second to none. She took the title this year. Best European girl was My Nguyen (SWE) who took the Bronze medal. From the European angle, the biggest match was the winner’s qualification match between Nguyen and April Larson (USA) when Nguyen was already trailing 0:4 and 4:6 but still took the match against the US player.
Team Europe Final Results Girls
My Nguyen SWE – Bronze Medal
Daria Siranchuk UKR – 5th
Nina Torvund NOR – 7th
Palina Chernik BLR – 7th
Valeriia Trushevskaia RUS – 9th