Stadthalle Baunatal
Marktplatz 14
34225 Baunatal
Germany
www.baunatal.de
www.epbf.com
www.epconline.eu
www.kozoom.com
Thursday-Saturday 4-6 June 2015
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Makkonen wins his first Euro-Tour tournament
Petri Makkonen (FIN) has just won his first Euro-Tour tournament of his career, winning the final match with a convincing 9:3 result over Konrad Juszczysyn (POL).
Juszczysyn had the tougher fight in the semi-final match the round before. While Makkonen overcame Florian Hammer (GER) quite easily with 9:4, Juszczysyn needed the full distance to oust former World Champion Karl Boyes (GBR) from the Dynamic Billard German Open. In the final match, Juszczysyn’s break shot did not work at all for him. He seemed not to be able to find a proper mean against Makkonen who almost steamrolled him. Makkonen played as confident as he did all day long. His first match in the single elimination was a 9:8 over Pijus Labutis (LIT) last night. Today, things went better for him. He defeated Nick van den Berg (NED) 9:5, Denis Grabe (EST) 9:7, then Florian Hammer 9:4 and finally Konrad Juszczysyn with 9:3 even. „I think my break shot worked better today than yesterday“, stated Makkonen in an interview after the final match. „This game is all about the break shot nowadays. Mine worked fine today and if that will continue, I’m sure to be back to the winne r’s podium for some more tournaments in the future“, added Makkonen.
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Both players had their first final match appearance in a Euro-Tour event today. Makkonen’s best result so far was a third place 2013 in St. Johann, Austria, while Juszczysyn had never made it to the medal ranks before. It is striking that so depth in quality in European Pool Billiard is so widely spread and high. Today, two young players who probably no one had on the list for the winner before the event, played the final match. In the high ranks, famous and familiar names are found as well as new and promising names of rising stars. The quality and strength of the players rise with the level of the Euro-Tour tournaments.
Top eight finishers
1, Petri Makkonen FIN
2. Konrad Juszczysyn POL
3. Florian Hammer GER
3. Karl Boyes GBR
4. Radoslaw Babica POL
4. Albin Ouschan AUT
4. Denis Grabe EST
4. Kevin Becker GER
Top Ten Players Euro-Tour rankings
1. Niels Feijen NED
2. Denis Grabe EST
3. Mark Gray GBR
4. Nikos Ekonomopoulos GRE
5. Mario He AUT
6. Nick van den Berg NED
7. Marcus Chamat SWE
8. Petri Makkonen FIN
9. Mateusz Sniegocki POL
10. Albin Ouschan AUT
The women’s Euro-Tour event will start tomorrow at 10:00 local time. Up to 8 tables can be watched LIVE throughout the event on www.kozoom.com. The event is hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion, IBP. For further information, please check the event website at www.womeneurotouronline.com, visit our Facebook page or contact the EPBF press office at press@epbf.com
DAY 2
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Ouschan terminated Ortmann in a classic thriller
It was definitely a day of many surprises at the Dynamic Billard German Open in Baunatal, Germany, today.
The tournament is down to the final 16 players now. The round of the last 32 players was the last round of the day and many surprises happened.
One feature match was the encounter between Albin Ouschan (AUT) and Oliver Ortmann (GER). They met on table 1 and the match was an ongoing fight over the whole distance. Ouschan went on the hill first, taking an 8:7 lead over Ortmann. But the German fought back and got to the hill himself, tying the match at 8:8. The drama was so real and present in the venue. Many spectators held their breath when Ortmann broke and pocketed a ball, but the necessary conditions for a legal break were not met so Ouschan got to the table. He cleared the table until he got to the 7-ball. The positions he played got harder and harder and consequently, Ouschan missed the 7-ball since he had to jack up his cue stick because the cue ball was lying too close to the 9-ball. Ortmann got another chance in the match. But he also missed the 7-ball. That brought Ouschan back in. He pocketed the 7-ball and ran the rack, winning the match in a breathtaking final with 9:8 over Ortmann.
Another interesting match was the clash between Karl Boyes (GBR) and number one Euro-Tour player, Niels „The Terminator“ Feijen (NED). Boyes always had a small advantage of one or two racks over Feijen throughout the match. After 13 racks, it looked like Feijen could even out the gap when the score was only 7:6 for Boyes. But Boyes managed to win that deciding rack and claim the next one straight after it, winning the match with 9:6, ousting Niels Feijen in an early stage from the tournament.
Feijen’s fellow countryman Nick van den Berg (NED) had a better end on his side. He had to go over the whole distance with Tomas Larsson (SWE), trailing 7:8 after 15 racks. But he kept his nerves together and overpowered Larsson, winning the match with the closest of all results 9:8.
Two German youngsters were also still in the race: multiple European Junior Champion Joshua Filler and Kevin Becker. While Becker had smooth sailing in his match with Rui Edgar Franco (POR), Filler had to accept a fierce fight. Becker took his match easily with 9:5. Filler went hill-hill and then fell to the sharp blade of Serge Das (BEL) with 8:9.
The open tournament will continue tomorrow morning at 10:00 local time. The women’s Euro-Tour event will start tomorrow at 09:00 local time.
DAY 1
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Souquet and Drago take a shattering defeat
At the Dynamic Billard German Open in Baunatal, Germany, Ralf Souquet (GER) loses his first winner’s round match to Kevin Becker (GER) by a whisker with 8:9.
The first huge upset of the German Open has happened. Ralf Souquet lost his first match to Kevin Becker with 8:9. The match was a tough fight from start to the end. However, after 14 racks at a score of 7:7, it was Souquet to get on the hill first, turning the scoreboard to 8:7 in his favor. Rack 16 brought some safety shots by both players when suddenly Souquet had the better end on his side, being at the table in command of the match. But he committed a grave mistake. He attempted to play a safety shot on the 6-ball, hiding the cue ball behind the 9-ball. But the cue ball rolled too far and the outcome was an easy layout for Becker. Kevin Becker pocketed that 6-ball and the remaining other balls to turn the match into a hill-hill thriller at 8:8. Then again, the match evolved into a safety battle after the break shot. It was remarkable that the 4-ball was pretty close together with the 9-ball in the vicinity of the corner pocket. Kevin Becker got to the table, finding himself in the position to pocket the 1-ball, 2-ball and 3-ball. Then, he played a kiss shot into the 4-ball with the cue ball pocketing the 9-ball in full accordance with the rules of the game. That brought him the 9-8 victory over Ralf Souquet who needs to fight his way through the loser’s side now while Becker can continue his quest on the winner’s side of the event.
Another remarkable match was the encounter between Tony Drago (MLT), „The Tornado“, and Nick Malai (GRE). Both players are known for their fast speed at the table. After 30 minutes, Malai was already leading 7:1 since Drago committed some errors in the early stage of the match. But then the tide seemed to turn in favor of Drago. He pulled back rack after rack from Malai and after 11 racks the score was 4:7 for Malai with Drago being at the table. He broke and it looked like he would run another rack on Malai to make the score 5:7, closing in on his Greek opponent. But then Drago missed a horrible shot on the 6-ball. He really seemed to be out of his concentration and allowed Malai to get on this hill after that grave mistake. With worse coming to worst, Malai ran another rack on Drago, winning the match with 9:4, not allowing Drago another visit to the table.
Other remarkable results from today include Florian Hammer (GER) defeating Poland’s Tomasz Kaplan with 9:6. Abdullah Alyousef (KUW) won over Can Salim-Giasar (GER) by a hair’s breadth with 9:8 in the first round. Then, he encountered Karl Boyes (GBR) who got the better of him with 9:5. „This is my 5th Euro-Tour event, and I simply love playing it“, stated Alyousef. He is one of the players from the Arab region that regularly come to play in the Euro-Tour. „I really enjoy the tour and I think it is very well organized. My favorite place is Austria“, admitted Alyousef with a smile. Another German young gun, Joshua Filler, defeated „The Maharaja“ Imran Majid (GBR) with 9:6 in the first winner’s round. Erki Erm (EST) surprisingly won 9:5 over Daniele Corrieri (ITA).
The tournament will continue tonight with winner’s round 2 matches at 23:30 local time. This late round is due to the fact that there are so many participants here to compete in Germany.
The open tournament will continue tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time.
DAY 0
German Open features over 200 players
The next stop of the Euro-Tour series, the Dynamic Billard German Open promises to become a huge success again.
192 men and 46 women from over 30 countries all over the world have announced their participation in this tournament. The location for the event is superb. Baunatal is in the center of Germany. One of the biggest factories in town, also one of the event’s main sponsors, is the Volkswagen company. They run Europe’s largest spare parts center for cars in Baunatal. But also other strong entities like Raiffeisenbank or Sparkasse belong to the local sponsors of the event which helped to make the Euro-Tour stop in Baunatal possible. The person who stands behind all these efforts is Sandra Seichter, the mother of Dutch elite female player Nathalie Seichter. Sandra and her husband Michael Seichter together with the local club, Billard Union Kassel, made ends meet and used their excellent connections to the authorities and local companies to stage the event in Baunatal. The venue is the town hall which is located in the dead center of the city, within 50 meters of the players hotel, th e Best Western Ambassador Hotel. The logistics could not be better for an event. Many restaurants, shops, sports facilities are in walking distance from the hotel and the venue.
20 Dynamic Billard III tables have been installed in the town hall and are awaiting the contestants for hot action. The top players of the European rankings have all announced, including famous names such as Nick van den Berg (NED), Niels Feijen (NED), Ralf Souquet (GER), Daryl Peach (GBR), Tony Drago (MLT), Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE), Jasmin Ouschan (AUT), Ana Mazhirina (RUS), just to name a few… High class pool action will be guaranteed in the next four days. The final match of the open event will be played on Saturday, 18:00 local time while the women’s final is scheduled for 16:00 on Sunday afternoon.
The open tournament will begin tomorrow morning at 09:00 local time. 16 tables can be watched LIVE throughout the event on www.kozoom.com. The event will be hosted by the European Pocket Billiard Federation EPBF and organized by International Billiard Promotion, IBP. For further information, please check the event website at www.eurotouronline.com, visit our Facebook page or contact the EPBF press office at press@epbf.com
