8-Ball, 9-Ball, 10-Ball and 14.1 for Men, Women and Wheelchair
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12-22 April 2015
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Kazakis, Khodjaeva and Tahti grab the 10-ball titles
The newly crowned Dynamic Billard European Champions in 10-ball are Alexander Kazakis (GRE), Kamila Khodjaeva (BEL) and Jouni Tahti (FIN).
Men’s division
The story of the final match is quickly told. It was a close combat between Francisco Diaz (ESP) and Kazakis. They were taking racks in turn. At 6:5 to Kazakis, Diaz played a bad safety shot and left a possible shot for Kazakis. The Greek went for it, made it and went on the hill 7:5. There again, a safety battle occurred. Diaz played an unforced error on the 3-ball and gave ball in hand to Kazakis. That was enough for Kazakis to win his first title with 8:5 at European Championship level.
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In the earlier rounds today, defending Champion David Alcaide (ESP) had hard work to do. In the round of the last 64 players, he just sneaked past Germany’s Sebastian Ludwig with an 8:7 victory. Then, fate got him. He played Alexander Kazakis (GRE) in the next round and the match went hill-hill again. This time, lady luck was not on his side anymore. When he broke the decisive 15th rack at a score of 7:7, he scratched and left an open table for Kazakis. That was the end of Alcaide’s dreams to defend his title in 10-ball from last year. Kazakis ran out and won 8:7. HIs journey into the final match brought Kazakis up against Andreas Gerwen (SWE) 8:5, Andreas Madsen (DEN) 8:3 and Nick van den Berg (NED) 8:6 in the semi final match.
Francisco Diaz also had a hill-hill thriller in the round of the last 64 players. He defeated his teammate Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz (ESP) by a whisker with 8:7. Then, he marched on over Ronnie Oldervik (NOR) 8:4, Kasper Kristoffersen (DEN) 8:4, Aki Heiskanen (FIN) 8:6 and Fabio Petroni (ITA) in the semi final with 8:3.
Women’s division
The women’s final was an exact replay of the straight pool final, but with another outcome. This time, Khodjaeva was able to win over Jasmin Ouschan (AUT). She even managed to win the decisive rack at 5:4 in her favor with forcing Ouschan to play three consecutive fouls. This brought Khodjaeva the 6:4 victory for the Championship.
Kamila Khodjaeva’s way into the final match of the women’s 10-ball was a bit amazing. First, she defeated Jasmin Ouschan in the first round with 6:5, but she lost the winner’s qualification round to Kynthia Orfanidou (NED) 4:6. Being drawn against Severine Titaux (nothing) in the round of the final 16 players, she won 6:1. The next round, she met Orfanidou again. This time, Khodjaeva remained victorious with the closest of all results, 6:5. In the semi-final match, Khodjaeva ousted Marika Poikkijoki (FIN) who had defeated the defending Champion Katarzyna Wesolowska (POL) the round before, with 6:3. That booked her a seat in the final match.
Jasmin Ouschan took the detour through the loser's round since she lost her opening match to Kamila Khodjaeva. In the single elimination round of the final 16 players, Ouschan won 6:4 over Ana Mazhirina (RUS). Then, she defeated Louise Furberg (SWE) clearly with 6:1. In the semi-final match, Ouschan prevented the final in women’s 10-ball becoming a „family affair“ by winning 6:1 over Diana Khodjaeva (BEL), Kamila’s younger sister.
Wheelchair division
The wheelchair final looked long time as if Kurt Deklerck (BEL) would be a sure winner. 4:2 and even 5:3 were the intermediate results in favor of Deklerck. But Tahti never gives up and managed to pull rack after rack from Deklerck, winning the match with 6:5 in the end.
Jouni Tahti had no bigger problems with Roy Kimberley in the first semi final of the wheelchair division. He booked his seat in the final match with a 6:4 victory over the Brit.
Kurt Deklerck had already lost to Tahti in the winner’s qualification round. On the loser’s side, he ousted Tony Southern (GBR) clearly with 5:2. Then, he met Fred Dinsmore, the defending Champion, in the semi-final match. The match went hill-hill with the better end for Deklerck.
The tournament will continue tomorrow at 09:00 local time with men’s 8-ball matches.
All matches can be viewed LIVE at www.kozoom.com. 24 tables in HiRes quality are providing you with all the action of the event. You do not miss out one single match! Join today!
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.epconline.eu.
The event will be hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.
DAY 4
Jasmin Ouschan wins straight pool title
In an intense final match, Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) won the title of the European Straight Pool Champion 2015 with 75:57 over Kamila Khodjaeva (BEL.
Both players have just arrived here from Asia, playing the Amway Cup in Taiwan. Therefore, one could see that they were both really exhausted. However, the match was still high class pool with a bit too many mistakes from both sides. Since none of the two contestants could really gain a big lead over the other, the match remained really exciting until Khodjaeva played a bad safety shot at the score of 64:57 in favor of Ouschan. That was her last visit to the table. Ouschan ran the table and won her 8th straight pool European Championship in the past 11 years.
„I am really happy this is over“, said Ouschan after the match, „I am so exhausted. I took a defeat in the early rounds and had to fight my way all through the loser’s side“, Ouschan added.
Semi-final results:
Marharyta Fefilava (BLR) v Jasmin Ouschan 36:75
Kamila Khodjaeva v Caroline Roos (SWE) 75:29
Quarter-final results:
Marharyta Fefilava v Kristina Tkach (RUS) 75:35
Silvia Lopez (ESP) v Jasmin Ouschan 24:75
Line Kjoersvik (NOR) v Kamila Khodjaeva 41:75
Sandra Baumgartner (AUT) v Caroline Roos 44:75
Earlier today, several rounds of 10-ball were played in the various disciplines.
Men
Several unexpected results occurred in the men’s division. In round one, Sebastian Staab (GER) defeated Andreas Gerwen (SWE) unexpectedly clear with 8:3. Then, in the winner’s qualification round, defending Champion David Alcaide (ESP) left no doubts he wants to defend his title. 8:4 was the final result over Karol Skowerski (POL). A big loss happened to „The Terminator“ Niels Feijen (NED). He had to give in to unheralded Dino Cerimagic (BIH) with 5:8. Eklent Kaci, young talented player from Albania, handed a whitewash to Marek Hajdovsky, winning 8:0. Petri Makkonen (FIN) overcame Albin Ouschan (AUT) 8:4 and send him to the loser’s side. Totally unexpected was also the result from Roger Rasmussen (NOR). He won 8:5 over Alexander Kazakis (GRE). Michael Gavenciak (CZE) had a hill-hill thriller with Mario He (AUT) which was already a huge success for him. On top of that, he managed to win the deciding rack and took the match with 8:7 from the Austrian. Tomasz Kaplan (POL) g ot the better of BCA Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet (GER), winning 8:4. However, most favored players made their way through the loser’s qualification round and will enter the single elimination stage tomorrow. Only Mario He got eliminated by his teammate Maximilian Lechner with 5:8. Two more famous casualties of the loser’s qualification round were Niels Feijen, who also lost to a teammate Marc Bijsterbosch with 6:8. Albin Ouschan (AUT) is the third in that line. He lost to underdog Nicolas Kalb (nothing) with 7:8.
Women
The women’s 10-ball started with a big upset. Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) lost a hill-hill thriller with her long-time rival Kamila Khodjaeva (BEL) 5:6 in the first round. Defending Champion Katarzyna Wesolowska (POL) wasted no time with Nathalie Seichter (NED) and handed her a clear 6: defeat in the first winner’s round. Claudia Kunz (SUI) had a good day today. She made her way straight into the single elimination, winning her matches with Daria Sirotina (RUS) 6:5 and Martine Christiansen (NOR) 6:4. After having defeated Jasmin Ouschan in the first round, Kamila Khodjaeva smashed Christine Feldmann (SUI) 6:0, before she lost to Kynthia Orfanidis (NED) 4:6. Ana Mazhirina (RUS) had three straight victories to book her set in the round of the last 16 players. She won over Oliwia Czuprynska (POL) 6:3, then got the better of Line Kjoersvik (NOR) 6:1 before she powered past Vania Franco (POR) 6:2.
Wheelchair
Only one round of wheelchair 10-ball was played today. In the second loser’s round, Henrik Larsson (SWE) lost 1:5 to Roy Kimberley (GBR). The same result was good for Matej Brajkovic (SLO) in his match over David Himpe (BEL). Tony Southern (GBR) eliminated his teammate Daniel Luton 5:3. Manfred Gattinger (GER) just made it over Daniel Lee (GBR) with 5:4.
The tournament will continue tomorrow at 09:00 local time with women’s 10-ball matches. Tomorrow night at 21:00 local time, the final matches in 10-ball in all divisions will be played.
All matches can be viewed LIVE at www.kozoom.com. 24 tables in HiRes quality are providing you with all the action of the event. You do not miss out one single match! Join today!
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.epconline.eu.
The event will be hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.
DAY 3
Jasmin Ouschan on her way with obstacles
Defending straight pool Champion in the women’s division, Jasmin Ouschan, has made her way through to the quarter-finals and is on her way to defend her title.
However, this has not been an easy task so far. After having arrived from the Amway Cup which was held in Taiwan just yesterday, Ouschan won her first match over uprising Russian star Kristina Tkach with relatively clear with 75:41. In the next round, Ouschan had to accept a defeat. She ran out of position when she was on the hill, leading 74:58. Then she missed the next shot which brought her opponent, Sweden’s Louise Furberg back to the table. Fur berg knew that she would not get many more chances like this and made perfect use of the situation, running out and winning the match with 75:75, the closest result possible. Fur berg was qualified for the last 16 single elimination stage while Ouschan had to take the detour over the loser’s qualification round. There, she met Tamara Peeters-Rademakers (NED) and defeated her clearly with 75:50. After that, Ouschan was drawn against Darya Sirotina (RUS). In that match, Ouschan also missed some shots and ran out of position when she was on 71 points. Sirotina could not capitalize from her mistakes and did not get into gear. 75:54 was the final result which booked the defending Champion her seat in the quarter-finals which will be played tomorrow afternoon.
Also today, the wheelchair 10-ball competition has started. In that division, no surprises occurred. The „regular suspects“ Fred DInsmore (IRE), Jouni Tahti (FIN) and Kurt Deklerck (BEL) have played their way through to the winner’s qualification round. The only „casualty“ today way Henrik Larsson (SWE). The Swede lost his match with Fred Dinsmore 4:6 and needs to make his way over the loser’s bracket now. In his first match on the loser’s side, Larsson remained victorious with a 6:3 win over Emil Malanowski (POL).
The team competition today saw men’s and women’s matches. The following results happened in the men’s winner’s qualification round:
AUT v NED 1:2
SVK v POR 1:2
GER v CRO 2:0
ITA v POL 0:2
That takes teams The Netherlands, Portugal, Germany and Poland into the quarter-final matches. Their opponents will be the teams from Spain, Austria, Finland and Croatia who won the loser’s qualification round.
In the women’s team competition, the first winner’s round provided these results:
AUT v POR 2:0
NED v SUI 0:2
NOR v SWE 2:0
GER v RUS 0:2
The team competition will be played throughout the event.
The tournament will continue tomorrow at 09:00 local time with men’s and women’s 10-ball matches. Tomorrow night at 21:30 local time, the women’s straight pool final will be played.
All matches can be viewed LIVE at www.kozoom.com. 24 tables in HiRes quality are providing you with all the action of the event. You do not miss out one single match! Join today!
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.epconline.eu.
The event will be hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.
DAY 2
Van den Berg goes for the title
European straight pool is firmly in dutch hands. In the final match, Nick van den Berg (NED) defeated his teammate, defending Champion Niels Feijen (NED) with 125:94.
The match started out pretty evenly. After one hour, the tournament director Waldemar Debski from Poland decided that the match was too slow and out a shot clock on it. Feijen did not agree with this decision and made his coach Johny van Rijkel protest against that. The Sports Director of the EPBF, Anamaria Matesic, decided that Debski’s decision was totally in order and the match continued with the shot clock. Feijen managed to take a 94:70 lead over van den Berg, when he missed a shot. That was the chance that van den Berg needed. After having lost to Feijen in exactly the same final last year in North Cyprus, he took revenge for that this year and won the title. „I am really happy that I have won the title“, stated van den Berg after the match. „When I won the first title a few years ago, I thought I could lay back and did not achieve much more during the rest of the EC. That will not be the case this year“, mentioned van den Berg as a warning to his fellow competitors.
The first semi-final between Feijen and Francisco Diaz (ESP) was pretty much a one man show. After a few safety shots, Feijen ran 104 balls on Diaz. The Spaniard never really recovered from that blow. He tried everything he could, ran a few balls, even committed 3 consecutive fouls for a serious penalty in a situation where he could not find good safety to play. It always looked as if Feijen had the better answers to Diaz’ play. 125:1 was the final result that booked Feijen a ticket in the final match.
Van den Berg had to deal with Tomasz Kaplan (POL) in the other semi-final match. Kaplan, van den Berg and Feijen can be considered regulars in this late stage of the European Championships. These three were also in the medal ranks last year. Van den Berg had the better start today. He stormed off with a 51:28 lead. Then the match turned tactical. Van den Berg also committed a 3-foul-penalty and lost 15 points which brought the match back to draw. Players at this level prefer this method to giving the opponent a shot because at that level, it could mean the end of the match. Even after the 3-foul-situation, the match remained a tactical maneuvers. Van den Berg managed to get going in the right moments and scored the needed points to win over Kaplan with 125:61 in the end.
Quarter-final results:
Niels Feijen NED v Stephan Cohen nothing 125:44
Francisco Diaz ESP v Serge Das BEL 125:41
Tomasz Kaplan POL v Maximilian Lechner AUT 125:107
Nick van den Berg NED v Marco Teutscher NED 125:71
In between the last 16 and the last 8 players of the straight pool competition, one round of team matches were played. It was the loser’s round 1 and these were the results:
LUX v ESP 0:2
DEN v CZE 2:0
nothing v GRE 2:1
NOR v FIN 0:2
TUR v SLO 0:2
SWE v RUS 1:2
The tournament will continue tomorrow at 09:00 local time with women’s straight pool matches. During the day, team and 10-ball matches will be played in all divisions.
DAY 1
Das and Ouschan make their way to the final 32 players
Serge Das (BEL) and Albin Ouschan (AUT) have both won their matches in the single elimination round of the final 64 players to proceed to the last 32.
In an action packed match, Das had to deal with Tomas Larsson (SWE). The Scandinavian player had a better start and took a 50:32 advantage over Das. Both players seemed not to be on their „A“-game yet. However, at 50:32, Larsson played a good break shot but unfortunately scratched with the cue ball in the corner pocket on the far end of the table. Das got to the table and ran the complete match with a series of 93 points. „I think we both did not have a good start“, stated Das after the match. „We made too many mistakes. When I got to the table I started to feel better and better and managed to run 93 balls and out. That was pretty good and I’m happy I’m still in the competition“, added Das.
Another high class match was the encounter between Albin Ouschan (AUT) and Mariusz Skoneczny (POL). Just like in the match above, Ouschan trailed big time with 11:54. Then Skoneczny missed a makable ball and allowed Ouschan back to the table. The Austrian ran 61 balls to take a 72:54 lead himself before he stepped off the table. Then, Skoneczny started shooting again but at a 77:72 lead he again missed an easy shot. That was too much for one match, especially if you play a top player like Ouschan. Albin Ouschan ran the remaining 53 balls and finished the match and Skoneczny’s hope for a title in straight pool with 125:77.
Other remarkable results include defending Champion Niels Feijen (NED) winning his first match over Jani Siekkinen (FIN) with 100:36. The result is a bit misleading here. Feijen was almost there when he played an unbelievably bad shot at 98:22. He gave second life to Siekkinen who had almost surrendered. But Siekkinen could not benefit from Feijen’s mistake. He pocketed 13 balls and left 2 balls on the table for Feijen who then took the match to proceed to the next round. There, Feijen made short work of Jorge Tinoco (POR) by defeating the local player with 125:44.
Karol Skowerski (POL) eliminated former Champion Fabio Petroni (ITA) with 125:25 from the straight pool individuals. The same fate came to Mario He (AUT). He fell to the sharp blade of Mieszko Fortunski (POL) with 52:125.
There were also two rounds of men’s team matches played today. These were the results:
Round 1:
RUS v LUX 2:0
SVK v DEN 2:1
nothing v FIN 0:2
NOR v GRE 0:2
TUR v CZE 0:2
POL v SWE 2:1
Winner’s round 1:
AUT v RUS 2:0
NED v TNC 2:0
SLO v SVK 0:2
FIN v POR 1:2
GER v GRE 2:1
CZE v CRO 1:2
SUI v ITA 1:2
POL v ESP 2:0
The tournament will continue tomorrow at 09:00 local time with the round of the last 32 players single elimination, men’s straight pool. The final will be played at 20:00 local time.
All matches can be viewed LIVE at www.kozoom.com. 24 tables in HiRes quality are providing you with all the action of the event. You do not miss out one single match! Join today!
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.epconline.eu.
The event will be hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.
DAY 0
European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair athletes opened
Today, the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair athletes have been opened in Ria Park Hotel in Vale do Lobo, Portugal, by the President of the EPBF, Mr. Gre Leenders.
The opening ceremony started with the entrance of the flags of the participating nations. One athlete with his or her national flag entered the final arena and the group altogether looked really impressive.
The dignitaries present tonight were the Vice Mayer of the city of Loule, Mr. Joao Martins, the President of the Portuguese Federation, Mr. Ricardo Salgado, and the President of the EPBF, Mr. Gre Leenders.
The program was completed by a local singer, Mrs. Ines Santos, who performed some typical Portuguese songs which was very much appreciated by the crowd. The different rhythms made the crowd clap and provided the right feeling for the southern european location.
Tomorrow, at 09:00 local time the tournament will begin with straight pool matches. Later on during the day, some team matches will also be played. Currently, we will only have men’s matches since the Amway Cup for women is going on in Asia and some European women are participating there. In order for them to compete here as well, the women’s matches will start from Monday on.
All matches can be viewed LIVE at www.kozoom.com. 24 tables in HiRes quality are providing you with all the action of the event. You do not miss out one single match! Join today!
More information about participants, schedules, achievements, rankings, etc can be found on the event website www.epconline.eu.
The event will be hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion Foundation IBPF.