In the Under 19’s division of the Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth in Tirana, Albania, Team Poland just won 2:1 over Team Czech Republic.
Day five of the Championships started with two rounds of team competition, before the event switches back into 8-ball mode. One team match was the encounter between Team Poland and Team Czech Republic. The Polish team was definitely favored, having won so many medals in the past and being also one of the most successful teams in the medal rankings for some years now. But as we have witnessed so often already during this week, sometimes things don’t quite turn out as expected beforehand. What was expected to be a clear affair for the Polish turned into a thriller with the better end for team Poland.
Kamila Szaszor took first blood over Petr Brancusky in 10-ball with 7:2. The Polish seemed to be on track. But Ladislav Hajsman gave Krystian Cwikla a fierce battle in 9-ball and after 14 racks, the score was 7:7 in a race to eight. It was Cwikla’s break shot coming up. He pocketed the 2-ball and had a good shot at the 1-ball. The layout was nice and easy. He continued shooting balls until he got to the 8-ball. He had a perfect position for it and everything looked like the match was in the bag for him. But Cwikla missed the 8-ball in the corner pocket. It hung over the pocket and brought Hajsman back into the table.
Left to Right: Maciol, Cwikla, Szaszor and Washburn, Hajsman and Brancusky
The Czech player used his chance and pocketed the 8-ball and the 9-ball to win his match with 8:7 over Cwikla and turn the score in the team match to 1:1. Now the 8-ball had to decide. Daniel Maciol was encountering Calvin Washburn. Maciol was better than Wash burn and won the 8-ball quite comfortably with 7:4. This brought the 2:1 victory to Team Poland but it was anything else but a walk in the park for the favorites.
Other remarkable results from the winner’s qualification round include defending Champions Team Germany winning 2:0 over Team North Cyprus. The Netherlands took down Team Norway 2:0 and last year’s silver medallists Team Russia defeated Team Austria 2:0. On the loser’s side, Slovakia ousted Luxembourg 2:0 while Switzerland ousted host nation Albania 2:0.
In the Under 17’s, Team Russia got the better of Team Germany, winning 2:0 over the defending Champions. Fedor Gorst and Ilia Nekleenov wasted no time with their opponents. Gorst defeated Leon Kohl 7:3 in 9-ball while Nekleenov won his 10-ball match 6:3 over Luca Menn. At that time, Egor Trifonov was leading 5:2 over Pete Herman so the match went pretty clearly to the Russians. Denmark defeated North Cyprus 2:1 and Poland won 2:0 over Norway. Since the Albanian team was disqualified, The Netherlands had a walk-over this morning in the winner’s qualification round.
The Dynamic Billard European Championships Youth will continue today with 8-ball matches in the individuals.
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