Alpina Wellness & Sporthotel
Alpendorf 8 - 5600
Sankt Johann im Pongau
Austria
www.sporthotel-alpina.com
www.epbf.com
www.eurotouronline.com
www.kozoom.com
Thursday-Saturday 12-14 April 2017
Alexander Kazakis (GRE)
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Kazakis takes his first title at the Euro-Tour
After a match against Denis Grabe (EST) which was dominated by him most of the time, Alexander Kazakis (GRE) won the Dynamic Billard Sankt Johann im Pongau Open 2018 with a clear 9:5 result in the final match.
Kazakis’ way into the final was not an easy one in this tournament. Already in winner’s round two he lost 6:9 to Edmond Zaja (ALB). He had a long way in fron of him on the loser’s side. In the loser’s qualification round, he was already 4:8 down to Mieszko Fortunski (POL) when he fought back and stayed alive in the tournament with 9:8. Maybe that match kind of woke him up since the results from then on were much clearer. 9:4 over Oliver Szolnoki (HUN), 9:1 over Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS), 9:2 over Abdullah Alshammari (KSA) and finally 9:5 over Eklent Kaci (ALB) the winner of the last Euro-Tour event in Treviso. The final match with Grabe was close until the score was 5:4 for Kazakis after 9 racks. Then both players went for a time-out. Kazakis came back a lot fresher and had better layouts after his break shot than Grabe did.
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Quarterfinal match: Abdullah Alshammari KSA v Alexander Kazakis GRE
Furthermore, Grabe played some poor safety shots which Kazakis turned into points for his account. His consistent break shot and his structured performance brought Kazakis the advantage he needed to get on the hill with 8:4. In rack 13, Grabe pocketed a 2-9 combination shot and turned the scoreboard to 8:5 with Kazakis’ break shot coming up next. The likeable Greek fired his break shot and pocketed the 1-ball, 5-ball and 6-ball, having a nice and easy layout in front of him. He did not commit any mistake anymore and consequently ran the table, winning the match and the tournament with 9:5. „I’m playing the Euro-Tour for four or five years now“, stated Kazakis after the award ceremony, „I lost the final twice and once I finished third. those were my best results so far. This time I won it, so of course I am very happy“. „When I started the tournament I was not feeling comfortable at the table. I had hard times making the balls“, Kazakis added, „for whatever reason I don’t know. I have prepared well for this tournament and practised hard but somehow I was thinking other things so I was not focussed on the table.“ „When I was 4:8 down to Fortunski I thought to myself ‚just play pool now an don’t think too much about other things‘ which I did and it seemed to help me. Of course, I was also lucky in that match. When you are 4:8 down in a match, you need luck if you still want to win it.“ „After that match it seemed as if the holy spirit came inside me. I played much better and felt much more comfortable at the table“.
Top Eight Finishers
1. Alexander Kazakis GRE
2. Denis Grabe EST
3. Eklent Kaci ALB
Mario He AUT
5. Wiktor Zielinski POL
Roman Hybler CZE
Abdullah Alshammari KSA
Joshua Filler GER
In the women’s tournament which started today, most favourites won their opening matches. Jasmin Ouschan (AUT), Kristina Tkach (RUS) and Oliwia Czuprynska (POL), all ranked in the top 5 of the European rankings are already in the round of the last 16 players single elimination. However, the #1 ranked player Marharyta Fefilava (BLR) lost her first match against Claudia von Rohr (SUI) with 5:7. She went to the loser’s side and ousted Denise Steinmetz (GER) 7:1 and Ortenzia Haefliger (SUI) 7:2. Tonight, she will face Tina Vogelmann (GER) for a spot among the top 16 women.
Tomorrow, the EPBF Ballazzo Women Open will continue at 09:00 CET with matches from the last 16 players single elimination.
Every day, two matches from the event will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF for free. 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 20 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page every day. Results and schedules can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open.
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.eurotouronline.com visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
FRIDAY 13 APRIL 2018
Niels Feijen (left) and Tomasz Kaplan
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Niels „The Terminator“ Feijen on his way
In an intense match, „The Terminator“ Niels Feijen (NED) took down Tomasz Kaplan (POL) by a hair’s breadth with 9:8.
Kaplan had the far better start in the match. He was always ahead of Feijen and looked like the sure winner for a long time. He was ahead 5:2 and 8:3 and it seemed to be just a matter of time before Feijen would be ousted from the event. But Feijen is known to be a tough cookie at times. He does not give up before his opponent pockets the final 9-ball on him. In this match, Kaplan had several chances to finish the match in his favour. Probably the best chance and at the same time his last chance was in rack 15 when he was still ahead 8:6. He had pocketed all balls but lined up the 9-ball a bit negligent. He had a thin angle and attempted to cut the 9-ball in the corner pocket. To the shock of Kaplan and the audience, the 9-ball hung in the pocket. Feijen accepted the gift and ran the next rack with his own break shot to get on the hill himself, tying the match at 8:8. Kaplan executed the break shot in the deciding rack #17, but no ball was pocketed and he left a shot for Feijen. Feijen ran the rack and won the match after a tremendous comeback. „The Terminator“ achieved the mission impossible to turn the match around after having trailed 3:8 and took down Kaplan with 9:8 in order to advance to the round of the last 16 players.
Lineup last 16 players single elimination
Abdullah Alshammari KSA v Evangelos Vettas GRE
Alexander Kazakis GRE v Ruslan Chinakhov RUS
Joshua Filler GER v Ralf Souquet GER
Niels Feijen NED v Eklent Kaci ALB
Wiktor Zielinski POL v Maximilian Lechner AUT
Marc Bijsterbosch NED v Denis Grabe EST
Markus Buck GER v Roman Hybler CZE
Wojciech Szewczyk POL v Mario He AUT
In a loser’s qualification match, former World Champion Oliver Ortmann (GER) met Karol Skowerski (POL). The match was quite open with Ortmann having the better start. However, Skowerski took his time-out and closed in on Ortmann. He even overtook the German and took a 7:5 lead over him. Ortmann then took his time-out and got back to 7:7. At that stage, Skowerski ran another rack which brought him on the hill with 8:7. The 16th rack was shaped by errors from both players. Ortmann had the chance to make the rack and tie the match at 8:8. But he missed the 3-ball. Then, Skowerski ran out of position. Ortmann got back to the table and missed another makable shot. Skowerski in turn ran out of position, again, but fired the 5-ball and the 7-ball over one rail into the center of the pocket. He then ran the remaining balls and took the match with 9:7 over Ortmann. This kept Skowerski alive in the event while Ortmann was sent on his way home.
Other remarkable results include the match in the loser’s qualification round between local hero Albin Ouschan (AUT) and dark horse Edmond Zaja (ALB). It was clear before the match that this would be a fierce fight for both of them. Though Ouschan has much more trophies to show, Zaja was hungry and that says it all about the expectations for that match. The demand of the audience was completely fulfilled since both of them played extraordinary high class pool. Zaja stunned everyone and raced to the hill with an 8:6 advantage over Ouschan. After 16 racks, the showdown was there with both players on the hill at 8:8. Zaja had the break shot. The 3-ball went in and he had a nice and comfortable layout in front of him. But he still needed to pocket eight balls to win this battle. He seemed to be completely relaxed and played all balls at a decent speed, demonstrating a huge portion of confidence to whoever watched him play. Consequently, he pocketed all balls and ran the rack to take the huge surprise victory over Albin Ouschan with 9:8. With this victory, Zaja made his way into the last 32 players of the Dynamic Billard Sankt Johann im Pongau Open 2018. Ouschan however needed another victory in the loser’s qualification round where he faced Sergey Lutsker (RUS). The young Russian gave Ouschan a hard time and in the end won the battle with 9:8 after an energetic match to eliminate Ouschan completely from the tournament.
Tomorrow, the event will continue at 10:00 CET with matches from the last 16 players single elimination. At 09:00, the EPBF Ballazzo Open for women will commence.
Every day, two matches from the event will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF for free. 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 20 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page every day. Results and schedules can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open.
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.eurotouronline.com visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
THURSDAY 12 APRIL 2018
Left to right: Alexander Kazakis, Edmond Zaja and Joshua Filler
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Zaja takes down Kazakis
In winner’s round 2 of the Dynamic Billard Sankt Johann im Pongau Open 2018 Euro-Tour, underdog player Edmond Zaja (ALB) took down favoured Alexander Kazakis (GRE) with 9:6.
The late match between Zaja and Kazakis started just before midnight. Due to the large amount of participants, this late round was necessary. In the beginning, Kazakis was in complete control of the match. But Zaja stood tall and gave Kazakis a hard time. After six racks, the scoreboard displayed 3:3. In rack 7, Zaja even got in control of the match and got a 4:3 advantage over favoured Kazakis. From that time onwards, the match emerged into a close combat between the two contestants. They both took their racks in turns and kept the score tight. It was Edmond Zaja who managed to break that rhythm when he won the 14th rack in order to get an 8:6 lead over Kazakis, being on the hill. He had his own break shot coming up. The break was good and he sailed smoothly through the rack, winning the match with 9:6 over Kazakis.
Earlier today, Joshua Filler (GER) stormed over Daryl Peach (GBR) with 9:1. Filler played very fast but also had several mistakes. However, Peach did not benefit from them at all. Instead, he played very negligent and it looked like he did not want to win that match at all. Maybe Filler’s performance had destroyed him in the early stage of the match already. When Filler committed some positional errors in the first racks, he still cleared the rack using rails and jump shots in order to finish the table to his liking. That was too much for Peach. Trailing 1:8, he even missed an easy 9-ball which was lying close to the corner pocket.
If a trophy for the best sportsmanship would be awarded at the Euro-Tour, today Jan Kjetil Nordrum (NOR) would definitely have achieved it. In his winner’s round 1 match against Friedrich Rassi (AUT) the score was 8:8 when Rassi was at the table after the break shot. The table was completely open. Rassi was aiming at the 2-ball, ready to fire it in. In that moment, Nordrum informed him before the shot that the 1-ball was still on the table. Rassi thanked him and ran the table so that Nordrum lost that match with 8:9. However, he has won a lot of respect from everybody who could witness that action of true sportsmanship.
Tomorrow, the event will continue at 09:00 CET with matches from winner’s round 2.
Every day, two matches from the event will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF for free. 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 20 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page every day. Results and schedules can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard Treviso Open.
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.eurotouronline.com visit us on Facebook or check out our youtube channel for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.
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