THE FIRST TWO gold medals were determined at the PREDATOR EUROPEAN Youth Pool Championships in Slovenia. Straight pool was the game and it was Germany’s Felix Vogel and Maks Benko of Slovenia who emerged victorious from two exciting, hard-fought finals.
In the Under 19s, Vogel was pushed all the way by Jokūbas Silantjevas of Lithuania who was playing in his first-ever European Championship final, winning 100-85. Benko emerged from a battle royale as he edged out defending champion Jakub Chrobot (Poland) 75-68.
For Vogel, it was his fifth European Youth Championship gold and his first in straight pool. But he knew he was in a match against Silantjevas. The Lithuanian came racing off the start line as he racked up a 45-point advantage to leave Vogel reeling.
The German came right back into it, establishing a 72-47 lead and at 95-57, the match looked all but over. Silantjevas wasn’t done though as he fired back to get within 10 points, before Vogel took a deep breath and saw the match out.
He said, “I’m very happy to win straight pool for the first time in my life at the European Championships. It was a hard fight and I could also have lost but, in the end, I’m the happy winner. I started with the break and then he ran around 50 and then I was under pressure. Luckily, I was able to get back and tie the score and take the lead after. Despite the pressure, I had a lot of fun also and that’s the important thing and now I’m happy.”
Silantjevas took all the positives from a tremendous performance, “It was a very close match and my first medal and first final. I felt really comfortable and I’m happy that I showed my good game in such a tough final.
“He has way more experience in playing finals and it was a bit shaky at the end but I fought. It’s a big confidence boost because it was the first discipline and now we have three more,” he added.
Maks Benko came into this European Championship off the back of a semi-final finish at the recent Predator Euro Tour event and he carried on his terrific form in the U17 straight pool final. Like all champions here this week, a gold medal also carries a spot in November’s WPA World Junior Championships in Spain.
It was the Slovenian 15-year-old’s fourth EC gold medal and he was delighted to come through a tight match, winning by just seven points from Chrobot.
Commented Benko, “It felt even better than the others because it’s straight pool and I’m just feeling relieved because it’s over and I’m in the World Championships. At the beginning I was very focused, I played almost perfect as I made something like 40 but then at the end it was feeling nervous and it’s always tough to win, especially the first discipline. I’m not going to say I don’t care how many medals I win as I’m going to fight for all of it and the goal is to win all four but we’ll see how it goes.”
Whilst it was a tough defeat, Chrobot took it in his stride, “I was really surprised that I was struggling a bit in the first two rounds but after that I played really good pool and I was close to winning this, one more time.
“The table was really good and I was feeling really comfortable on this table. It was easy for me to play this final but of course on those last balls I had some pressure and I missed it by a few millimetres but I enjoyed it.”
The Medals
U19s
Gold – Felix Vogel (GER)
Silver – Jokūbas Silantjevas (LIT)
Bronze – Riku Romppanen (FIN)
Luca Bugarski (SRB)
U17s
Gold – Maks Benko (SLO)
Silver – Jakub Chrobot (POL)
Bronze – Martin Roser (GER)
Maj Badovinac (SLO)
The Predator European Youth Pool Championships is in its 44th year and is presented by the European Pocket Billiard Federation.
Play continues with action in the 10-ball divisions which plays through to the three finals on Friday evening. Streaming of Tables 1 and 2 for the duration of the Predator European Youth Championships can be found on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel – https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV
For all results, live scoring and draw, visit www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/
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