Tkach and Feijen dethrone the Austrian superpower siblings

Mar 20, 2017

Kristina Tkach (RUS) and Niels Feijen (NED) have just won the gold medals in the straight pool discipline of the Dynamic Billard European Championships in Albufeira, Portugal.
In the men’s division, „The Terminator“ Niels Feijen played an outstanding tournament. Having won the coveted title in straight pool already 5-times before, Feijen really had an incentive this time. His A-status with the Dutch Olympic Committee and therefore the funding for another year was in danger if he would not have made in into the last eight of the event. After having ousted Stephan Cohen (FRA) 125:3 in the round of the last 32 players, he met the defending Champion Albin Ouschan (AUT) in the next round. Ouschan was a very high obstacle that Feijen needed to overcome in order to get into the round of the last 8. But „The Terminator“ stood tall today and took down Ouschan with 125:88 after a firefly fought match. In the quarter-final, Feijen eliminated Jakub Koniar (SVK) with 125:46 without further problems. Even clearer was Feijen’s victory in the semi-final with Kim Laaksonen (FIN). He ousted the Finish player 125:19 and one could witness Feijen’s hunger to grab his 6th title in straight pool growing strong. In the final match, Feijen met Tomasz Kaplan (POL) who has also earned his merits in the past in straight pool. Today, Feijen was too strong for Kaplan. The Dutch turned the final match into a one man show and after one hour and ten minutes, „The Terminator“ sank the final ball for a 125:13 victory over Kaplan, having used only four innings to claim the victory.
Niels Feijen and Kristina Tkach
Top 8 Men1. Niels Feijen (NED)2. Tomasz Kaplan (POL)3. Kim Laaksonen (FIN)Mieszko Fortunski (POL)5. Jakub Koniar (SVK)Miguel Silva (POR)Andreas Roschkowsky (GER)Konstantin Stepanov (RUS)
In the women’s competition, Kristina Tkach was up against the Austrian title defender, Jasmin Ouschan (AUT). Tkach’s way into the final looked quite impressive. In the round of the last 16 players she bested Marharyta Fefilava (BLR) 75:4. Then she marched on and triumphed clearly over Amalia Matas (ESP) 75:15. In the semi-final match, Tkach got the better of her teammate Nataliya Seroshtan (RUS) and remained the upper hand with 75:57. In the final match of course, Jasmin Ouschan was awaiting her. The Austrian title defender started furiously and took a 39:-2 lead over Tkach. But the young Russian remained cool as ice and played her game whenever Ouschan allowed her to do so. And she got more chances than expected. Ouschan committed several serious and avoidable mistakes. Leading 61:45, Tkach missed the break ball and Ouschan got back to an open table. The audience and Ouschan were shocked when the Austrian missed the first clear and easy shot! Tkach thanked her in her own way by running the rack and pocketing the remaining 14 balls in order to win the match and the title 75:45. It’s Tkach’s second title in the women’s division after having won the 8-ball in St. Johann i.Pg, Austria last year.
Top 8 Women1. Kristina Tkach (RUS)2. Jasmin Ouschan (AUT)3. Tina Vogelmann (GER)Nataliya Seroshtan (RUS)5. Lousie Furberg (SWE)Monica Margeta (SWE)Amalia Matas (ESP)Claudia von Rohr (SUI)
Medal table after 1 of 5 events:

Tomorrow, the tournament will continue at 09:00 GMT with matches from the 10-ball individuals competition.
Every day, one match from the events will be shown LIVE on the Facebook page of the EPBF. 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 24 tables on the internet LIVE. The FB live matches are announced on the EPBF Facebook page around noon every day. Results and schedule can be found at www.eurotouronline.com so why not come and check out all the LIVE action of the Dynamic Billard European Championships for Men, Women and Wheelchair Athletes starting Saturday 18th March at 09:00h GMT.
The event will be 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.