25. April 2015
Pressemitteilung
Press Release
Communiqué de presse
Billard-Europameisterschaften 2015
Brandenburg an der Havel
24. April - 3. Mai
10-Five New Champions crowned in a memorable closing ceremony – Netherlands capture the highest medal count
On the final day of the European Billards Championships, five disciplines have been played and five new Champions were crowned. On the match table, Therese Klompenhouwer (Netherlands) showed her world class level in the Ladies 3-Cushion Event. In the final she defeated Gülsen Degener (Turkey) by 30:18 after 22 innings and defended her 2013 title successfully. The bronze medals went to Guzin Karakasli (also Turkey) and Danielle Le Bruijn from Belgium.
The best European 3-Cushion Club-Team comes from Mecidiyeköy (Turkey). The final against Andernos from France was surprisingly one-sided. Birol Uymaz took first blood for his team with a 40:15-win over Peter de Backer. At the same time his team-mate Can Capak led by 32:29 against Roland Forthomme, which was good enough to win the title by average, even if Forthomme would have won the game. The teams from C.B. Mataro (Spain) and BC Havirov from Czech Republic received the bronze medals.
Mission completed! In the discipline Baulk Line (Cadre) 71/2 Raymund Swertz made his dream come true and defended his title from 2013. In an all Dutch final Swertz won against Dave Christiani by 200:96 points after four innings. A run of 63 points brought the decision with the score at 137:96 in favor of Swertz. Thomas Nockemann (Germany) and Raul Cuenza from Spain both received the bronze medal at the awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon.
A duel of two brothers from Italy took place in the final of the 5 Pins Junior-Competition. Giovanni and Domenico Forino were qualified for the final match. Domenico took the first set whilst Giovanni evened the score by winning the second set. Domenico switched into high gear and won the title with scores of 50:11 and 50:16 in the third and forth set. Jonas Threms (Denmark) and Germany’s Max Gabel reached yesterday’s semifinals but were eliminated in that round.
The very final event of the Championships took place on the Match Table, the game was Artistique. In the semifinal Walter Bax from Belgium had a great comeback by defeating Baris Cin with 3:2-sets after being down by 0:2-sets. In the final against Cin‘s fellow countryman Serdar Gümüs, the Belgian was 1:2-sets down. In the 10th round of the fourth set, Bax managed to make 10 points and enforced a fifth set. He was up by a few points until the very final round of the last set. Gümüs managed to make the 10 points whilst Bax failed. It was the man from Turkey who took the gold medal. Erik Vervliet (Belgium) also received a bronze medal.
At the final awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon the five new European Champions received their gold medals. In his speech, the president of the European Federation CEB, Mr. Wolfgang Rittmann, looked back on ten eventful and unique days and announced that the Championship will return to Brandenburg in 2017.Two years ago the Federation organized the European Championship with all disciplines being played under one roof for the first time, it was a great success. This year the feedback from athletes, spectators, the City of Brandenburg and the press was even better. Various newspapers, Radio and TV-Stations were interested in the games of the cue artists and even broadcast live from the Stahlpalast. Around 3,000 spectators watched the matches live during the ten days and tens of thousands of people watched the action via Livestream.
All results, pictures and further media-information can be found here.
9- The Netherlands has the best 3-Cushion team in Europe!
On the 9th day of the European Billiards Championship in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany, there was only one medal presentation, a very prestigious one. In the final of the 3-Cushion team event the Belgian squad with Frédéric Caudron and Roland Forthomme faced the Dutch team with Dick Jaspers and Raimund Burgman. Jaspers played a brilliant match with an average of 2.5 against Caudron and won by 40:30-points after 16 innings. At the same time the score between Burgman and Forthomme was 31:33 after 21 innings in favor of the Belgian but not good enough to equal the overall-score where Forthomme would have won the match against Burgman. The Netherlands were the better team by average.The two bronze medals went to the German and the Turkish Team who both lost in yesterday’s semi finals.
Meanwhile the participants for the quarterfinal in the Club-Team Event 3-Cushions are set. 24 teams were divided into eight groups and only the winner of each group qualified for the final eight. Germany is represented by two teams but the duos from Andernos (France) and Maaslandse (Belgium) are more or less the favorites for the title.
The preliminary round for the ladies 3-Cushion tournament was played today. Therese Klompenhouwer from the Netherlands is not only the title holder but also one of the biggest favorites for the entire European Championship. That was made clear in her group where she beat her opponents with 25:16 and 25:14. The quarterfinals will be played on early Sunday morning.
In Baulk Line (Cadre) 71/2 the Dutch title holder Raymund Swertz is on the way to defend his gold medal of two years ago. In today’s two matches he only needed four innings to reach the necessary 400 points. In tomorrow’s final he will play against his fellow countryman Dave Christiani who beat Thomas Nockemann from Germany in the semifinal. Besides Nockemann, Raul Cuenca (Spain) will receive the second bronze medal at tomorrow’s awards ceremony.
One of the day’s biggests surprises was the elimination of Eric Daelman in the Artistique event. The title holder from Belgium lost in round 16 against Baris Cin from Turkey. Germany’s Thomas Ahrens is out after losing to his fellow countryman Marvin Heinrich. Tomorrow Heinrich will face Walter Bax from Belgium in the quarters.
In the Men’s Division the Italians are dominating the Junior 5 Pins tournament. The final on Sunday will be played by the brothers Giovanni and Domenico Forino. Giovanni played Germany‘s Max Gabel who had a very good chance to take a 2:1-leads in the sets but failed, Giovanni won later by 3:1 sets. In the second semifinal it was Domenico Forino who beat Jonas Threms from Denmark.
All results, pictures and further media-information can be found here. Pay-per-View-Livestream is broadcasted by www.kozoom.com.
8-Susanne Stengel-Ponsing and Kenny Miatton crowned in Brandenburg!
On Day 8 of the European Billiards Championships in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany, the Winners were crowned in the women’s Libre competition (Match Table) and in the Men’s 3 cushion, small table.A big surprise in the Women’s tournament was the elimination of Magali Declunder (France) in the semifinal against Germany’s Susanne Stengel-Posing. Declunder played a very good preliminary round yesterday evening and was considered the absolute favorite. But Stengel-Ponsing took her chance, beat Declunder and finally won the whole tournament by a 53:42 win over Mirjam Prium-Emmens from the Netherlands. Along with Declunder, Veronique Ales, also from France, won the second bronze medal.
The new European Champion in Men’s 3 cushion on the small table comes from Belgium. Kenny Miatton and Steven van Acker played a duel, with Miatton being one step ahead of his opponent for the most of the match, the final result 40:37 was in favour of Miatton. The bronze medals went to Dirk Harwardt from Germany and Ömer Karakurt (Turkey), who was the winner of the Junior‘s Competition two years ago.
Tomorrow the final will be played in the Men’s 3 cushion team event. The German duo Martin Horn and Christian Rudolph reached the semifinal after a thriller against France, but were eliminated by the Netherlands. Dick Jaspers and Raimond Burgman will face the Belgian team on Saturday. Frédéric Caudron and Roland Forthomme had the better result in the semis against Turkey.
The groups in Cadre 71/2 competition finished today, with the titleholder Raymund Swertz qualifying for the next round in the hope that he can forget his bad results in Cadre 47/2. The German Thomas Nockemann has also qualified without problem for the quarterfinal. Sven Daske hopes have been dashed and he is out of the competition, leaving Brandenburg without a medal. In a tragic elimination the 47/2 European Champion, Xavier Gretillat and another favourite, Eddy leppens, are both out oft he competition.
On Thursday evening the club-team competition on the small tables began and today the preliminary round was played. An overall of 32 teams are divided into eight groups, only the winner of each group will reach the quarterfinal. Tomorrow the final elmination matches will be played and the quarterfinal will start on Sunday morning.
On late Friday evening the Artistique event began. In the first stage 16 players are divided into four groups while only two of each group will qualify for the main stage, after which the eight seeded players will join the competition. Seeded Eric Daelman (Belgium), as title holder will play, as well as the host country’s biggest hope, Thomas Ahrens from Germany.
All results, pictures and further media-information can be found here. Pay-per-View-Livestream is broadcasted by www.kozoom.com.
7-Italy wins 5 Pins EC against Germany in
the closest final ever - 200:199!
Even Alfred Hitchcock couldn‘t have directed it any better! On Day 7 of the European Billards-Championships the gold medalists in the 5 Pins Team-Event were found. Italy’s professional players were by far the favorite, with the host country Germany doing their best to win the title for the second time after 2010.This afternoon the semifinals were played, both matches Germany vs. France and Italy vs. Switzerland, were decided in the relay. Both Germany and Italy were ahead of their opponents by 2:1, the relay counts for two points and anything could have happened. Whilst Italy had no problem in beating Switzerland by 200:98 points, the German game was very close.
At the end it was Sven Petzke who made the better end for his team and scored the deciding points to reach the final.The final itself was a thriller from the very beginning. Gerd Kunz on German side managed to win his game and make it 1:0. Thomas Hähne was down throughout but didn’t fall, when it came to the decision he was the first to score the 120th point. However, Germany needed one more point, Sven Petzke/Alexander Reh looked good in the doubles, consistently around ten points ahead, but in the end it was the Italian crew who scored much better, they turned the match around and won by 120:107 points. Everyone‘s expectations became a reality with the relay bringing the decision. Once again it was Germany who made the better start. Alexander Reh was the first to reach 50 points and handed over to Gerd Kunz. He managed to increase the lead and it was Thomas Hähne who played solidly and sent Sven Petzke with a 30-points lead on his journey. At around 180:155 Petzke looked strong but began to struggle. Italy‘s Daniel Lopez had a bit of luck by making eight points instead of zero which motivated the Italian while Petzke ran into more problems. At the score of 193:191 it was Italy in the lead for the first time. Petzke fought back and scored another eight points to make it 199:193. With only one point missing for Team Germany’s dreams to come true, Lopez, with experience and finesse scored the final seven points! It was an all Italian celebration at the award ceremony. Germany showed great sportsmanship and congratulated their opponents whilst celebrating the silver medal. They played exceptionally well, promoting both Billiard sports and 5 Pins in their home-country.
The preliminary stage of the men’s 3-Cushion Team-Event was played today. Both Belgium A and Belgium B won their groups and will perform in tomorrow’s quarterfinals. For the German A-Team the European Championships were almost over before they even began. Martin Horn and Christian Rudolph lost their first match against Sweden and therefore had to win against Spain by a significant result. Both played brilliant Billiards under a diffcult situation and as a result the fans will see their idols playing in the quarterfinal on Friday.
In the Men’s 3-Cushion-Tournament on the small tables the participants for the quarterfinals are set. Already out of the event is Austria‘s Herbert Szivacz who finished second two years ago. Also Birol Uymaz (Turkey) who played a very strong preliminary round dropped out in round 32. His fellow countryman Ömer Karakurt, who became European Champion in the Juniors devision in 2013, is still in and may bring home the next gold medal for Turkey. The quarterfinals will be played early on Friday morning.
The women have begun their first event in this Championship with Libre matches. Six players are divided into two groups and the semifinals and the final will be played on Friday. The best matches have been played so far by French Magali Declunder who will face Susanne Stengel-Ponsing from Germany in the semis.
All results, pictures and further media-information can be found here. Pay-per-View-Livestream is broadcasted by www.kozoom.com.
6-Xavier Gretillat beats Thomas Nockemann in the Cadre final 47/2
There was only one medal decision on Day 6 of the European Billiards-Championships in Brandenburg an der Havel. The gold medal in Baulk Line (Cadre) 47/2 goes to Xavier Gretillat from Switzerland.After the preliminary rounds finished the title holder Raymund Swertz (Netherlands), was out of the tournament and the seach for a new Champion began. One of the favorites was Sven Daske from Germany, however he failed in the quarterfinal against Xavier Gretillat. Daske’s fellow countryman Thomas Nockemann was more successful and reached the final after winning against Marek Faus (Czech Republic) and Patrick Niessen (Belgium). Meanwhile Gretillat managed to win a semifinal-thriller against Eddy Leppens (also Belgium) after being down 116:245-points.The final saw a brilliant Xavier Grettilat with a highrun of 177 points. The final result against Nockemann was 250:23 after three innings.
In the Birilli team event all favorites had little problem in reaching the main stage of the tournament. In the quarterfinals late Wednesday-evening the most interesting game was Germany A against Denmark A. Two years ago they met in the semis, a high-class thriller, but this time Germany had no problem with the Danish players. Team Italy, who has dominated the single-event, also made it to tomorrows semis with a 3:0-win over Denmark B. The other teams fighting for the title are France and Switzerland.
On the small tables the Men’s 3-Cushion-Event is still underway. Some of the 15 preliminary groups are already finished and the main stage will start on Thursday at 11 o’clock. The player with the best average so far is Birol Uymaz from Turkey. The single elimination round of the best 32 is sure to bring some surprising results tomorrow.
All results, pictures and further media-information can be found here. Pay-per-View-Livestream is broadcasted by www.kozoom.com.
5-Caudron and Aniello defend their title
After a very unsatisfying result in the 3-Cushion-Event Frédéric Caudron from Belgium defended his title in the men’s One-Cushion sucessfully. The 47 year old played in a league of his own, a fact that his final-opponent Nicolas Gerassimopoulos became well aware of. After some tough matches in different disciplines the Greek didn‘t seem to have the power to compete on the same level. After five innings Caudron had reached the goal of 120 points while Gerassimopoulos was stuck at 52. The bronze medals went to Bernard Villiers (France) and Arnim Kahofer. The Austrian had his chance to beat Gerassimopoulos in the semis but failed in the end.
Michelangelo Aniello is both thee old and new Champion in Birilli. In an all Italian final against Thomas Primon the title holder had the better finish with 3:2-sets. Also the semifinals were vey close. The eventual winner Aniello seemed to be already out of the tournament as Andrea Quarta (also Italy) surprisingly didn’t manage to make the final points. Aniello took his chance and ran out the match. Sandro Giachetti completed the all-Italian-triumph as the fourth Italian in the semifinal.The best non-Italian players were Thomas Hähne (Germany) and Angelo Cossu from Switzerland. Both reached the quarterfinals but were more or less chanceless against their Italian opponents.
In the 3-Cushion-Tournament for players under 17 years of age, Arda Güngör won the second gold medal for Turkey. In the final he managed to win against Daniel Pena (from Spain), who beat his fellow countryman Adria Garcia Dienas in a semifinal-thriller. Marcel Back (Germany) also reached the final four and received the bronze medal as well as Garcia Dienas.After Sam van Etten from the Netherlands played a very average group stage he finally found his way back to former strength and took the title in the Junior Division Libre. Against his fellow countryman Ferry Jong, van Etten reached the goal of 300 points in the third inning. The pressure was obviously too high for Jong and he missed very early on. The bronze medals were won by both Czechs, Adam Kozak and Ondrej Hosek.
The group stages are still running in the Baulk Line (Cadre) 47/2-Tournament. Raymund Swertz (Netherlands), as title holder, is already out after two matches. Ties against Patrick Dupont (France) and Eddy Leppens (Belgium) were not good enough to reach the quarterfinals. 4 players are already qualified for this round. Besides Leppens there is Sven Daske (Germany), Marek Faus (Czech Republic) and Nicolas Gerassimopoulos from Greece.
The very first matches were played in the men’s 3-Cushion-Event on the small tables. A total of 60 players is divided into 15 groups in the first stage, with this round being played until Thursday morning after which the final round of the 32 best players will begin.The same is happening over in the Birilli team-tournament, the top favorites from Italy and Germany joined the event late onTuesday evening. The host country also had a second team in the tournament which won the first match against Switzerland B by 5:0-points.
All results, pictures and further media-information can be found here. Pay-per-View-Livestream is broadcasted by www.kozoom.com5-
Uwe Große (Manager Axxon Hotel), Gerd Kunz (DBU head coach), Sebastian Bradtke (CEO sports confederation of the City of Brandenburg), Helga Blawid (EC co-organiser), Viola Conen (department head sports of the City of Brandenburg), Dr. Dietlind Tiemann (Lord Mayor), Ronald Priebe (main sponsor Mittelbrandenburgische Sparkasse) und Bennie Deegens (CEB vice president).