NEWS - 12-07-03 Diamond 9 Belgium Open – Everything comes to an end...




142 players competed at the last event of the EuroTour season 2003 in Kortrijk, Belgium. This year for the first time, there were some „Diamond 9“ tournaments with a higher registration fee, but also a higher price money for the lower ranks. The promoters of these tournaments have signed a three-year contract and the players can earn more ranking points than in normal EuroTour events.

As number 9, I was seeded in group B and had a walk-through in round 1. My first opponent was my former team mate A. Roschkowsky, who now plays in third division for Moers. He had a good start, played better than I did and finally deserved to win 9-4.

 In the losers bracket, I had another walk-through, because a registered player from the Czech Republik did not show. So, my next opponent was G. Frigiola from Italy. Thanks to a clear improvement of my game, as compared to my first match, I could beat my opponent 9-0.

Then I defeated the Dutch junior player R. Kloostermann 9-2. My next match was against G. Smit, also from the Netherlands. The match was balanced until 4-4, but then I could take control and enter the next round with a 9-5 win.

Since Roschkowsky had lost to Schmitt, I had to play once more against my former room mate from Duisburg. But this time, the match went back and forth and I had a little advantage on my end. Towards the end, both players committed a few mistakes and I could finally enter the round of the last 32 players by winning 9-6.

The draw made me play against W. Trajdos from Poland, who came from the losers bracket. After a slow start from both players until 2-2, I gained control over the match and fully deserved to win 9-4.

Due to the fact that the tournament schedule was trailing for about an hour, my next match against M. Juva from Finland was played with a shot clock limit. Every shot had to be played within 35 seconds, with a possible extension to one minute once per rack. Right from the start, I found a good pace and was leading 8-0 after 30 minutes. After a black break, my opponent managed to win two racks, but couldn’t help the 2-9 defeat.

In the quarter-finals, I had to play another player from Finland. S. Sellberg took a rapid 2 racks lead, because I attacked too much and so I committed some mistakes. After a Time-out requested by my opponent, I came back into the match and cold-bloodedly made use of my opportunities. With an almost perfect performance, I entered for the second consecutive time the semi-finals of an EuroTour event by winning 9-6.

Here, it came to a pure German match against T. Schober from Hamburg. Schober, who plays in the first German division for Anderten, did not stand the slightest chance and had to accept his overall 3rd place after losing 1-9.

In the final, my opponent was the Mosconi Cup Captain and team mate O. Ortmann. The former World Champion who now lives in Hamburg, had won the Rotterdam Open in the previous week and also showed here in Belgium, that he is playing again up to his potential. But he did not stand any chance until trailing 0-6 and had to assist to two aces I shot. Then, Ortmann came back to 2-6, but after another missed shot, he couldn’t help his 2-9 defeat. Mosconi Cup player M. Chamat from Sweden also finished on a shared third place after his semi-finl defeat against Ortmann.

After a long frustrating period in the EuroTour, I finally could book another title and climb in the overall ranking from 9 to 3. Overall winner of the season 2003 was T. Storm from Sweden before T. Hohmann, the current 9-Ball World Champion from Fulda.