The 10-ball individuals competition at the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair Athletes in Albufeira, Portugal, is down to the semi-finals. Christian Sparrenloev-Fischer (SWE) booked his seat in the semis with an impressive 10:3 victory over Gabor Solymosi (HUN).
It was probably impossible to foresee that match as a quarterfinal encounter at the European Championships. Sparrenloev-Fischer as well as Solymosi cannot be regarded as favourites for the title. But their way today showed some impressive results over strong opponents. Fischer started his day with an 8:5 victory over Sascha Specchia (SUI). Then he went on and took down Jani Uski (FIN) 8:3. In the next round, the last 16, Fischer defeated Fabio Rizzi (FRA) who had just surprisingly ousted Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) the round before. 8:2 was the clear final result that brought Fischer into the quarterfinal match. Solymosi overpowered Danilo Cipriani (ITA) 8:2, then Daniel Kandi (DEN) 8:5 and finally Geronimo Weissenberger (GER) 8:6 for his spot in the match with Fischer.
Christian Sparrenloev-Fischer (left) and Gabor Solymosi
Both contestants were in good shape with Solymosi having the better start. He took first blood and lead 1:0 but then there was a long road for him without scoring. Fischer snatched the following five racks from him in a row. Solymosi could not find the key to stop Fischer. He won two more rack to make the score 3:5 in favour of Fischer. Then the Swede wasted no more time with Solymosi and won five consecutive racks in order to win the match with 10:3 after an amazing performance. In the semi-final which will be played tomorrow at 18:00, Fischer will meet Denis Grabe (EST) for a spot in the gold medal match. The other semi-final in the men’s division will be played between Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) and Francisco-Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP).
In the women’s division, the first semi-final will be played between Ana Gradisnik (SLO) and Oliwia Czuprynska (POL). The other semi-final is a bit more of a surprise. After the elimination of Jasmin Ouschan, Kristina Tkach was the clear favourite for the title. But she had to give in to strong Amalia Matas (ESP). Matas will encounter Kateryna Polovinchuk (UKR) in the other semi-final.
The semi-finals in the wheelchair division will be played between Jouni Tahti (FIN) versus Roy Kimberley (GBR) and Kurt Deklerck (BEL) versus Fred Dinsmore (IRL).
Tomorrow, the tournament will continue at 09:00 GMT with first round matches from the 8-ball individuals competition.
Every day, one match from the events will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF. All Facebook users may check out the high standard of quality which is provided for all the events and see what the Kozoom members receive all the time. You can see all the matches live via www.kozoom.com who stream the whole event on 24 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page around noon every day. Results and schedule can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair Athletes starting Saturday 18th March at 09:00h GMT.
The event will be 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.eurotouronline.com, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office [email protected].