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107 men, 52
women, 17 wheelchair players and 26 men teams and 13 women teams competed
at this year’s European Championships.
14/1
– 64 competitors
The first competition was, as usually, the 14-1. 64 men fought for
the title and my first opponent came from host country Czech Republic.
Even if I did not convince, I still managed to win 125-32 against D.
Halamka. In round two, I played G. Adam (FRA) who had beaten Oliver
Ortmann; although I was trailing most of the time, I finally could win the
match (125-100). In the next round, I faced F. Petroni from Italy and did
not play well. I lost 25-125 and had to go into the losers bracket. Here I
had to play R. Lysholm from Norway and playing not very well, I lost
50-125 and was out of the competition. The most consistant performance was
shown by Dutchman N. Feijen, who won his third consecutive title in
14.1 against T. Engert (GER), winning 125-63 in the final. Third
place went to R. Hybler (CZE) and R. Diks (NED).
In the women competition, L. Kjörsvik from
Norway won gold before rookie D. Benz from Germany. Third places
went to W. Jans (BEL) and F. Stark (GER).
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Arena
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8-Ball
– 64 competitors
As the defending champion, I played my first match against J. Janata (CZE),
who turned out to be a fierce opponent, but I still won 8-5. My second
opponent was Dutchman A. Lely, who had a furious start. After trailing 1-3
I could turn the match around and enter the next round with an 8-4 win. By
beating E. Koveos from Greece 8-2, I entered the final round of the last
16 players. The draw made me play against D. Jungo from Switzerland. The
was no rhythm in this match and at a score of 4-3, the shot clock was used.
I totally lost control and had to accept the 9th rank due to a
7-8 defeat. The gold medal went to 9-Ball World Champion T. Hohmann (GER),
who defeated the new 14.1 European Champion N. Feijen (NED). The
third places went to K. Thygesen (DEN) and last years runner-up T. Storm
from Sweden.
In the women competition, L. Kjörsvik (NOR)
won her second gold medal against defending champion C. Sörensen
from Denmark. Third places went to the two German players F. Stark and W.
Thamsen, who won a medal at her very first appearance at this competition.
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Team Germany
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9-Ball
– 94 competitors
For the first time, the 9-Ball competition was
extended to 96 players, but only 94 showed up. After my deception in the
8-Ball competition, I now wanted to go for the last remaining individual
title. But it started slowly in round 1 against B. Munkvold from Norway,
even if I finally win 9-6. The next match against A. Habo from Hungary was
already better (9-1). In the third match against the young Russian player
K. Zolotilov, I sowed my best match so far and fully deserved to win 9-1.
The next match was already played in KO format and my opponent was once
more F. Petroni from Italy. During my 9-5 win, I could pot three times the
9 ball upon the break and still, the final score was quite tight. In the 4th
round, I played V. Kristiansen from Norway. I won once more quite clearly
9-3 and so enter the quarter-finals. Against the Swedish shooting star E.
Weiselius, I had to go to my limits to finally win 9-7 and to enter the
semi-finals. Here, it came to the ever exciting clash with O. Ortmann
(GER). At the beginning, both players were waiting for the other one to
react, before I could extend my 2-1 lead to 7-1. Ortmann could book
another two racks, but then had to give in 3-9 and to make do with the
bronze medal. In the second semi-final, 14.1 runner-up T. Engert had to
play Dutchman N. van den Berg. Engert won 9-7 and so entered the final. At
the beginning of the final. I could not do much and was rapidly trailing
0-5. But after a jump shot, I came back into the match and could come back
to 4-5. At 6-6, I could equal the score for the first time, but
then missed the opportunity to take the lead for the first time. Another
mistake at 7-8 brought the decision in favour of Engert, who
assured the 9-Ball title. Even if I was not satisfied with this silver
medal, it also meant the direct qualification for the World Games 2005 in
Duisburg and this made it a bit easier for me.
The
title in the women competition went, a bit of a surprise, to L. Dos
Santos from France, who won the final against U. Andersson from
Sweden 7-6. Third places went to T. Cacciamani (ITA) and M. Borch (DEN).
Team Men
In the final, Holland
defeated team Germany 2-1 and so won the team competition for the
second time after 2000. In the semi-finals, Italy lost to Germany (1-2)
and Finland to Holland (0-3).
Team Women
After an initial defeat, team Germany managed
to win against Denmark and so successfully defended the title. In
the semi-finals, Holland lost to Germany and Finland to Denmark.
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