Kamui European Youth Pool Championships
Terme Olimia, Podčetrtek, Slovenia
YOUTH ECs ARE UNDERWAY IN SLOVENIA
13th July 2026
RETURNING TO THE Terme Olimia resort in the western reaches of Slovenia, the annual KAMUI European Youth Pool Championships begins its nine-day stint today (Monday). Organised by the European Pocket Billiard Federation, historically, the Championships are contested in three distinct groupings, – Under 17 and Under 19 boys and Under 19 girls. In total, there are 13 events taking place during the Championships which sees Tuesday 21st July as its final day.
Dating back to its origins in 1981, in Bern, Switzerland, this is the 45th edition of the European Youth Pool Championships and it sports the largest-ever field with a total of 178 athletes in attendance. The biggest group is the Under 17 Boys with 92 competitors, followed by Boys Under 19 with 64 and the Girls events with 22.
It’s fair to say that it was Lithuania’s year in 2025, as they swept the medal table, winning four golds as well as a silver and a bronze. Jokūbas Silantjevas took two individual gold medals in the Under 19 tournaments but was superbly assisted by Ąžuolas Tadaravicius, who clinched 10-ball glory in the Under 17’s.
It was a victory that changed Tadaravicius’s life and he returns this time, still in the junior age category, with his sights set on further accolades, as his career progresses strongly in the right direction.
He said, “Of course, that 10-ball win gave me a lot of new opportunities and new experiences - I started going to more tournaments, got some sponsors, it was a big step in my career and I’m really happy for Lithuania because it was the first time that Lithuania was even in the top three in the medal ratings so it was one of the best years for me, for sure.
“It got a lot of attention – from the billiards community of course, from my friends and from everyone who was cheering for me - it was great. There was some TV attention, they picked us up from the airport and it was really fun. It was the first time that we got that much attention from everyone.
“Since then, a lot of things have improved for me. I changed my whole playing style, now I play a lot slower, more focused, I changed a lot of things about my technique, safety games. I was practicing a lot for this European Championships.
“I think I’m one of the best here but I try not to think about it when I play because, of course, when you think about medals and being the first, it ruins your game and you have to focus on what you’re doing at the table not what’s going to happen later. II mean, I would love to be on the podium but I try not to think about it,” he concluded.
One Youth ECs stalwart is Sweden’s Walter Laikre who is back in Slovenia for a last go-round having enjoyed a successful career in the juniors. That culminated in an emotional gold-medal winning performance last year, following a run of three final defeats down the years.
Commented Walter, “It was a big win because I’d lost a couple of finals before and that made it more important and it meant a lot to me and I still think about it of course. After my win I spent a lot of time in the US, Vietnam and other countries just playing a lot of pool and I practiced a lot and changed my behaviour around the table also and practice schedule and so on.
Laikre feels his winning experience of 2025 stands up his chances of grabbing another medal; “Of course and that’s the goal but I’ll just focus on playing my game and hope I can stay pretty consistent throughout the event because there’s a lot of matches to be played.
The first couple of years I kind of under-performed but at least I got the gold last year so I’m not going to complain too much about it when I’m looking back on the past years,” he concluded.
Play got underway today with the opening day of the 14.1 tournaments in the two boys’ divisions. The Under 17s have played down to the last 16, whilst the Under 19s has eight players determined in the last 16, to be joined by eight from the losers side of the draw on Tuesday morning.
With 13 separate tournaments, the start and finish dates of each event is as follows:
Starts Completes
Straight Pool (U17 & U19) Mon 13 July Tues 14 July
10-Ball (U17, U19 & Girls) Tues 14 July Thurs 16 July
8-Ball (U17, U19 & Girls) Weds 15 July Sun 19 July
9-Ball (U17 U19 Girls) Sat 18 July Tues 21 July
Teams (U17 & U19) Weds 15 July Tues 21 July
Tables 1, 2 and 3 at the Kamui European Youth Pool Championships are streamed throughout on YouTube, via the Pro Billiard TV channel -https://www.youtube.com/@ProBilliardTV
For all results, live scoring and draw, visit www.epbf.com/tournaments/european-championships/
EPBF Sponsors
▸ Predator Group
▸ Iwan Simonis Billiard Cloth
▸ Aramith Billiard Balls
▸ Longoni Cues
▸ Kamui Brand
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