While Wiktor Zielinski (POL) defended his title in the U17, Kevin Schiller (GER) is a first time European Champion in straight pool. Both players won their finals today at the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Youth in Golden Tulip Jagershorst Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands.
Wiktor Zielinski (right) and Kevin Schiller, the two newly crowned European Straight Pool Champions
In the U17 division, the final match could have been predicted a little bit. The #1 seeded player met the #2 seeded player in the final match. Zielinski had to deal with Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH), who managed to overcome Moritz Neuhausen (GER) with 75:60 in the semi-final. In the same round, Zielinski made short work of Simon Thomassen (NOR) 75:9. The writing for the final match was on the wall. But it started out very unexpectedly. Both players did not want to lower their defence shields and the first 30 minutes of the match turned out to be more or less a safety battle. Zielinski was leading 27:12 when he found his rhythm and scored 24 points consecutive. That brought the score to 51:12 and Pehlivanovic knew he had to do something. Zielinski allowed him to the table and Pehlivanovic used his chance and ran 29 balls to lower the distance between them to 51:41. But Zielinski simply was the better and stronger player today. He forced another foul shot on Pehlivanovic and either ran racks or played good safety shots. In the end, the result was 75:40 in favour of the new and old European straight pool Champion U17 Wiktor Zielinski.
Top eight players straight pool U17
1. Wiktor Zielinski (POL)
2. Sanjin Pehlivanovic (BIH)
3. Moritz Neuhausen (GER)
Simon Thomassen (NOR)
5. Dmitri Shkudov (RUS)
Stanislav Akhtiamov (RUS)
Ivan Gallig (CRO)
Christoffer Lentz (DEN)
In the U19 division, two players who have so far never been in a final match of the European Championship met. Kevin Schiller played against Mark Magi (EST). Magi went ahead with a 43:11 lead over Schiller. But having in mind that Schiller has been trailing big time during this tournament, Magi probably knew that his opponent could finish the match at any time. And that’s exactly what happened. Magi lined up a break shot and pocketed it but the cue ball scratched in the side pocket. Schiller took his chance and ran the match from trailing 11:42 to win the match and the title with a more than convincing performance 100:42 running 89 consecutive balls over Mark Magi.
Top eight players straight pool U17
1. Kevin Schiller (GER)
2. Mark Magi (EST)
3. Calvin Washburn (CZE)
Ante Sola (CRO)
5. Daniel Lang (SVK)
Mickey Krause (DEN)
Jan van Lierop (NED)
Daniel Maciol (POL)
Medal table after 1 of 5 events:
Tomorrow, the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Youth in Golden Tulip Jagershorst Hotel in Leende, The Netherlands, will continue at 09:00 CET with matches from the loser’s round in the 10-ball individuals.
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 23 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page around noon every day. Results and schedules can be found at www.europeanpoolchampionships.eu so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Youth starting Monday July 31st at 09:00h CET.
The event is 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.europeanpoolchampionships.eu, visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office [email protected].