Germany snatches the first two Gold medals
Jul 23, 2019
At the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Under 19, Under 17 and Girls in Veldhoven, The Netherlands, team Germany snatched the first two Gold medals in the straight pool division. Moritz Neuhausen (U17) and Christian Froehlich (U19) conquered the first two titles at this year’s event.
In the U19, the final match was a more than clear affair for Christian Froehlich. He was up against Jonas Souto (ESP) who has one Bronze medal from last year’s 8-ball competition under his belt. In the same year, Froehlich took the Gold medal in 8-ball and the silver medal in 9-ball. So the German could have been seen to be favoured to win the match. And he had the better start. He pocketed 15 balls before ran out of position and attempted a safety shot. This did not go too well for him and Souto entered the table, starting to pocket balls himself. But amazingly he missed the 4-ball with an open table in front of him after he had cleared only 5 balls. That brought Froehlich back to the table and he made 49 balls in a row. The scoreboard displayed a 64:5 lead for Froehlich when Souto got to the table again. Obviously impressed, the Spaniard only made 2 balls before he left the table again. This time, Froehlich went to 98 points. Under this immense pressure, Souto rose to the occasion and pocketed 52 balls to get to 65 points before he missed again. Then Froehlich made the two points he needed in order to win the title in straight pool Under 19.
Top eight finishers Under 19 straight pool
1. Christian Froehlich GER2. Jonas Souto ESP3. Christoffer Lentz DEN Daniil Kalialiev UKR5. Ivan Galic CRO Andreas-Steen Bonnelykke DEN Aatu Suoraniemi FIN Daniel Todorov BUL
In the U17, the final match was an all German clash between Moritz Neuhausen and Dennis Laszkowski. This match went pretty one-sided to the liking of Neuhausen. Laszkowski never got into the match and in the end deservedly lost to Neuhausen who took an impressive 75:4 victory.
Christian Froehlich (left) and Moritz Neuhausen
Top eight finishers Under 17 straight pool1. Moritz Neuhausen GER2. Dennis Laszkowski GER3. Luka Galic CRO Ajdin Piknjak BIH5. Oskar Jamorski POL Yannick Pongers NED Luca Montanari ITA Szymon Kural POL
Medal table after 1 of 5 events
Also during today, the 10-ball individuals were played. In the U19, Christoffer Lentz (DEN), last year’s Champion in the U17, had two highly impressive appearances. He defeated Ricardo Mota (POR) 7:0 and then Noah Portmann (SUI) 7:1 to advance on the winner’s side. In the U17, last year’s Bronze medallists Emil-Andre Gangflot (NOR) and Moritz Neuhausen won their first two matches to make it to the single elimination stage of the event already. In the Girls division, defending Champion Nina Torvund (NOR) lost her opening match 1:5 to Polina Vinkurova (UKR).
The Dynamic Billard European Youth Championships 2019 will commence tomorrow morning at 09:00 CET with matches in the 10-ball individuals competition of the U17 and U19.
The Championships are played on 24 tables which are all streamed LIVE throughout the whole event. In order to be able to follow all the action LIVE, premium membership can be obtained at www.kozoom.com. Once a premium membership is held, all events for the respective period of time can be viewed LIVE. Additionally, a huge video gallery is contained in the website.
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.epconline.eu or visit us on Facebook for regular news clips or contact our press office press@epbf.com.