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PRESSE - ERKLÄRUNG - PRESSRELEASE
Due to travel problems and sickness,
11 players had to withdraw from this event at the last
moment but that still left the field at an impressive 117 players from 19
countries.
The event was held at the Quality plaza centre in the centre of Antwerp,
this was to prove a
perfect setting for a fine tournament. With the 5 star Park Plaza hotel as
our home for this event,
the tournament lived up to the 5 star mark itself. Some great matches were
seen here and
some great surprises too. Nick van den berg, NL,ranked number 1 in Europe at
the beginning
of this week goes out in the early stages, he fell victim to three 9-8
matches with two of
them going against him. Tom Storm, SWE, ranked number 2, loses his first
match and
goes to the losers side, learning from his mistakes in that match he coasts
through to
the knockout stage winning, 9-0, 9-5 and 9-2. Erik Weisellius also SWE and
the winner
from the last Eurotour in Finland goes out in the early stages, this goes to
show that
winning 2 events in a row is an achievement that very few can acclaim. The
local hero`s,
Karl Laverge and Jan Dulst both made it through to the last 32, both however
drawing the dutch
masters Feijen and Diks respectively. The first knockout round brought 2 big
guns together
Storm against Ralf Souquet, D, who himself had a great escape. Trailing 8-2
against
Kasper Thygessen, DK, but eventually winning 9-8 and playing some super pool
in the process.
Tom beat Ralf 9-7, he then beat Aris Damoulakis, GR 9-4 and found himself in
the quarter-finals.
With only 8 players left representing 7 different countries, this really
proved to be a great
international event.
In the Quarter-finals, the biggest battle was between Oliver Ortmann,
D and Niels Feijen.
After Niels took an early lead he had to sit and watch as Oliver pulled back
frame after
frame and eventually comming out a 9-6 winner. Meeting him in the Semi`s is
the relatively
uknown Polish player Mariusz Roter who beat David Alcaide 9-7 in the
quaterfinal match.
The semi-finals went the way the form showed with Tom beating Rico
Diks NL 9-3 and
Oliver beating Mariusz 9-2. All was set for a fantastic final and both
players did
not let the audience down. Tom, playing such pool that reminded us of his
earlier days, looked
unstoppable as he raced to a 4-1 lead. Oliver fought back a little but still
found himself
trailing 4-8, when Tom broke for the next he didn`t pot a ball and Oliver
ran out. Oliver then
ran the next 2 frames but after these came a battle of the minds. Oliver
looked
to be winning this battle taking a further 2 frames bringing the score level
at 8-8. The last
frame was also a tight one with several safety shots by both players. Oliver
failed to maximise
his control of the safety game and let in Tom for a shot at the 3 ball.
After making that
he had the audience and Oliver holding their breath with the 4 ball, only
just dropping in
after it looked like staying up. Composing himself and thanking someone up
in the heavens,
he ran the table from there and took first prize. There was some great
matches here and with
so many good players coming through from different countries, i am sure its
going to be an
interesting year for the Eurotour.
David Morris
Tourmanager
For more information: please contact us: Fax
0049-2274-81397
E-mail: epp43@aol.com, Eurotourhv@aol.com |
