Van Helmond had early Christmas this year

Aug 8, 2013

9-ball on the way in Sarajevo
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina: In a match with many presents distributed, Gijs van Helmond (NED) had the better end with a 9:4 victory over Roger Lysholm (NOR).
This morning, the 9-ball individuals have started in Sarajevo at the Dynamic Billard EPBF European Championships for Seniors and Ladies. One first round match was the encounter between Gijs van Helmond and Roger Lysholm. It must have been like Christmas came early this year for van Helmond. His opponent missed several important shots that made van Helmond stronger even though he had a difficult start himself, missing many shots. But Lysholm missed more crucial ones. It started in rack one, when Lysholm already missed the 9-ball. That was not a positive signal for Lysholm who usually performs on a pretty high level. This ran like a continuous thread through the complete match. Van Helmond got stronger and played decent pool. Whenever it looked like Lysholm would get going, he missed another 7-, 8- or 9-ball and presented a gift to van Helmond. Though Lysholm struggled, he could not find his rhythm. He managed to keep the match open for eight racks to a score of 4:4. Then, his mistakes increased and he was sentenced to watch van Helmond pulling point after point from him. In the end, the 9:4 victory for van Helmond was the logic consequence of both player's performances.
Gijs van Helmond (NED)
Other notable results from this morning include Tom Storm (SWE) whitewashing Mika Maata (FIN) 9:0. Giorgio Margola (ITA) fell to the sharp blade of Henrique Correia (POR) with 3:9. Rudi Zick (GER) who celebrates his birthday today, also received some presents from his opponent Sascha Manojlovic (SUI) and managed to take his first round match with 9:8.
9-ball will be played until 13:00 CET today. Then, the tournament switches back into the 8-ball mode to find out who will claim the titles in this discipline. The final matches in 8-ball will begin tonight at 20:00 CET.
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.billiardapps.com or contact our press office.