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Italy
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Friday 24 - Monday 27 November 2023
Mieszko Fortunski - Poland
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Dynamic Billard Treviso Open - Down to the Last 16 in Italy
Reporter: Luke Riches on behalf of the EPBF
Photography: ©EPBF
WE’RE DOWN TO the final 16 in Italy as day three of the 2023 DYNAMIC BILLARD Treviso Open completed with some terrific matches. After multiples rounds of play, Germany are the most represented nation left in the competition with six players followed by Poland with five and one each from Hungary, Bosnia Herzegovina, Finland, Ukraine and Czech Republic.
The No.1 ranked player, Mieszko Fortunski, is still standing after a hard-fought 9-8 win over compatriot Wojciech Szewczyk. Fortunski can’t be now caught and will finish the year as top dog on tour. There were ten Polish players in the last 32 and that has reduced down to five in the round of 16.
Fortunski said, “That was a really tough match. I was 7-4 down and he played perfect. But I just kept focus on the game and did everything I could to win it. I like to play here in Treviso; I’ve won a Euro Tour here as well as a European Championship gold and I like the atmosphere.
“All the players from Poland practice a lot together. We play a lot of tournaments with each other and a lot of our players are at that very high level. I’m trying not to focus on my position of No.1. Of course, it’s really important for me but I want to just focus on the matches. I’ve got Radoslaw Babica tomorrow and that’s all I’ll be thinking about.”
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Lars Kuckherm - Germany
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Germany’s Lars Kuckherm is a fast-improving player and he is now in the last 16 following an impressive 9-1 demolition of Marc Bijsterbosch. The 30-year-old first played on the Euro Tour when he was 18 but after a break, he has come back strongly and currently sits at No.27 in the rankings but with two events missing in his points tally, a high finish here will boost him up the table. He plays countryman Luca Menn in the round of 16.
He said, “Yes, I’m very with the best performance I’ve played so far in this tournament because in the winners’ qualification I played Mateusz Sniegocki and missed the 8 at hill-hill so I was very frustrated about that. In my losers’ qualification match I played really bad to be honest and I was really lucky that my opponent (Kestutis Zadeikis (LIT)) played worse than me.
“But against Marc I think I just made one error and everything went my way. From 2-0, I played perfect and for sure I’m very happy. I’ve known Marc for so long, we are playing on the same team for over ten years and now I’m looking forward to tomorrow. My very first Euro Tour was in Sarajevo ten years ago and I finished in fifth place at the age of 18. It’s a goal for me now to reach the quarter-final stages and further,” he added.
Finnish youngster Jere Virtaranta delivered an impressive performance to knock highly-fancied Spaniard Jonas Souto out of the competition. The 21-year-old from Jarvenpaa has form in the juniors and, like a host of great young players, is looking to progress in the senior ranks. His best showing this year was 9th place in Tallinn and he will be looking to improve on that as he faces Sebastian Batkowski (POL) in the final 16.
Commented Jere, “My training and all that stuff is coming together now and showing on the table. In the youth European Championships, I have six medals so I’ve been there quite a few times and that also helps. Mainly though, it’s not the results that I’m looking for, rather it’s how I play and what I’m going to focus on, those kinds of things. Sometimes I let the frustrations come out but nothing serious! The better the player tomorrow and also the later the stage of the tournament, the more I enjoy it. I like those situations.”
The round of 16 matches commence at 9.00 tomorrow morning and play concludes with the final at 16.00.
As well as the prize money, there are Tour ranking points on offer, so there is everything to play for. All Euro Tour tournaments are 9-ball and players compete in a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 32 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are races to 9 racks with alternate break.
All the matches can be viewed live by visiting www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurotour/ and clicking on the ‘LIVE’ button. This will take you through to viewing options. In addition, selected matches will be streamed on Facebook Live on the EPBF page.
Results, live scoring, and draw are available at www.epbf.com
Jere Virtaranta - Finland
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Joshua Filler - Germany
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Dynamic Billard Treviso Open - Day Two Treviso Open Round-Up
Reporter: Luke Riches on behalf of the EPBF
Photography: ©EPBF
THINGS HEATED UP in Italy as the second day of the DYNAMIC BILLARD Treviso Open unwound at the Best Western Premier BHR Hotel in the northern Italian city. From a starting line-up of 198 competitors, there are 116 players still standing and play resumes on Sunday with three rounds on the one-loss side followed by winners’ qualification and then losers’ qualification
Rampaging through the Euro Tour of late is Joshua Filler who is looking to claim his fifth title on the spin this week. The German maestro made light work of Quinten Pongers (NED) to take his place in the winners’ qualification round.
Filler has claimed seven Euro Tour crowns in his career which puts him in sixth position overall behind Engert (9), Van Den Berg (10), Feijen (11), Ortmann (14) and Ralf Souquet, way ahead on 23 titles.
Commented Filler, “Honestly, when I started playing the Euro Tour, my dream was first of all winning one of them but recently, I’m now at four in a row and I just want to extend that. If you look at Ralf with 23 titles, I think it’s really hard to catch him, I’m just thinking about doing something special now so if I could do the fifth one in a row, that would be something crazy and that’s in my mind right now.
“I’m in good form at the moment and I just want to play as good as I can. Sometimes you win, sometimes it’s not enough. It would be great to have the best record and if I keep going like that, the way I play, the way I break, it’s hard to beat me but when you go into the single knock out stage and make a couple of mistakes you can be out, because the field is always so tough but I’m well prepared and feeling good and I always enjoy playing pool for a living. As long as you’re healthy, you’ll be lucky,” he added.
Yuma Dorner - Germany
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With increasing former European Junior medallists making headway on tour, another young star making tremendous strides is Germany’s Yuma Dorner. He beat fellow German junior Felix Vogel 9-7 to advance to the next round. Dorner is currently at No.10 on the Euro Tour rankings, a reigning European U23 9 Ball champion and is on a clear upward trajectory.
He said “My usual goal which I want to reach at every Euro Tour is last 32, but I’ve never been to the last eight yet. A few times last 16 but never more. I’m still hoping for a last eight finish but that’s a lot to wish.
“Felix is a very difficult opponent as I’ve known him for years and I don’t like playing against someone that I like and he’s a very good young player and very scary. Of course, the pros like Josh (Filler) are always very difficult to beat but that’s what I’m here for, to play against the big guns and try and learn.”
He can look forward to a match-up against home hope Daniele Corrieri in the winners’ qualification round on Sunday afternoon.
The highest ranked Italian player competing this week is Frank Candela who sits at No.23 on the rankings. The only Italians to have entered the winners’ circle on the Euro Tour are Fabio Petroni, twice, and Bruno Muratore and despite going down 9-5 to Germany’s Niklas Dohr he lives to fight another day, albeit on the one-loss side.
Commented Candela, “I played a not-good-enough safety game. I missed two or three safeties and then in the second half of the match my break didn’t work. Honestly, Niklas deserved the win as I missed just one ball and he played perfectly and that’s all. I just focus on my game try and enjoy it and play my best. I’ve got three matches to win for the last 32 and really, I enjoy playing more matches in one day so hopefully tomorrow I’ll have a chance to reach the last 32.”
Play resumes on Sunday morning 10.30 local time with Round 3 on the one-loss side. The first round on the winners side is the qualification round at 15.00.
As well as the prize money, there are Tour ranking points on offer, so there is everything to play for. All Euro Tour tournaments are 9-ball and players compete in a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 32 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are races to 9 racks with alternate break.
The Euro Tour Women EPBF Treviso Open is down to the last 16 and plays to a conclusion tomorrow with the final taking place at 16.30.
All the matches can be viewed live by visiting www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurotour/ and clicking on the ‘LIVE’ button. This will take you through to viewing options. In addition, selected matches will be streamed on Facebook Live on the EPBF page.
Results, live scoring, and draw are available at www.epbf.com
Frank Candela - Italy
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Dynamic Billard Treviso Open 2023 - Tour Set For Final Italian Job
Reporter: Luke Riches on behalf of the EPBF
Photography: ©EPBF
TREVISO IN NORTHERN Italy is the final stop on the 2023 DYNAMIC BILLARD Euro Tour schedule as over 200 players gather to battle it out for the tour’s final piece of silverware. The Euro Tour first visited Treviso in 2010 and this year marks its 23rd visit to the Italian city.
With an Italian representation of 42 players, the highest ranked among them is Francesco Candela who sits at No.23. Candela’s best-ever placing on the Tour is a finish of 9th in 2021 and he will be looking to progress further in front of a home crowd this weekend.
The godfather of the Italian squad is the ever-popular Fabio Petroni who at 51 is still enjoying competitive life. The popular Roman has two Euro Tour victories to his name; firstly in 2001 when the Euro Tour went to England for the only time in its long history and again in 2006 in Malaga where he defeated Niels Feijen in the championship match.
Undoubtedly, all eyes will be on Joshua Filler who has won all three of the Euro Tour events he’s entered in 2023 including last time out in Lasko. He also won three times in 2022 and currently lies second on the rank despite only having competed in four of the six counting events in the ranking cycle.
2023 WPA World U19 Champion Yannick Pongers (NED) is looking to make the transition to the senior ranks. With a previous best placed finish of 9th, it seems the he is in the ascendancy and he is joined in the field by five other previous WPA Junior Champions in Moritz Neuhausen (GER), Jonas Souto of Spain and more recently Szymon Kural and Dominik Jastrzab – both Poland – and Estonia’s Karl Gnadeberg.
Play gets underway at 9.00 local time on Friday 24th November and concludes with the final at 19.00 on the evening on Monday 27th.
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Running from Saturday 25th and concluding on Sunday 26th November at 13.00 is the final leg of the 2023 Women’s Euro Tour. With a good showing of 35 players, the race is on to see who will finish atop of the rankings at the end of the year. With No.2 ranked Eylul Kibaroglu absent this week, it appears to be a two-horse race between the German pair of Pia Filler – No.1 – and Veronika Ivanovskaia who is at No.3.
The week’s action gets underway this evening with the final of the scotch doubles Longoni 9 Ball League. The event sees two-player teams comprised of the two highest-ranked players of competing countries at the time of the matches battling through a league format leading to the final match.
The championship match is a race-to-nine and features the Netherlands – Marc Bijsterbosch and Jan Rempe against Michael Oegaard and Emil Andre Gangflot who will be flying the flag for Norway.
All the matches can be viewed live by visiting www.epbf.com/tournaments/eurotour/ and clicking on the ‘LIVE’ button. This will take you through to viewing options. In addition, selected matches will be streamed on Facebook Live on the EPBF page.
Results, live scoring, and draw are available at www.epbf.com
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