The European Billiards Championship in Brandenburg an der Havel/Germany already has their first big sensation. Two time defending champion Serdar Gümüs from Turkey has been eliminated in the Artistic Billiards-Event with two defeats in his group. He lost first to the Hungarian David Keller, before the Dutchman Sandor Jonen ended Gümüs’ hopes.For the host nation this tournament is a success so far. The German champion Marvin Heinrich as well as Thomas Ahrens and former vice world-champion Bernd Singer are in the round of the last 16, which will be played on Saturday. Heinrich kicked out Baris Cin, who lives in Germany, but competes internationally for his home-country Turkey.The group stage in the 5-pins tournament was played today. In total 48 players divided into 16 groups played for 16 places in the single elimination stage. Losing wasn’t allowed today and one of the group winners was Michelangelo Aniello. The former European champion from Italy had to play the qualification due to the fact that too many Italians were already seeded for the round of last 32, Aniello also reached that stage without a problem.Meanwhile the biggest hope for the host nation is Toni Rosenberg who finished 5th at the last world championships. He will have to deal with his fellow countryman Christopher Schock in the first round of the single elimination stage. The winner of that match will face the winner of Aniello and Gualemi Matteo (both Italy).The third tournament which also started today is Balkline 71/2 on the match table. Dutchman Raymond Swertz seems to be on a mission once again. Both games of the group stage were finished by him in the first inning. One victim of the superiority of this exceptional player was the German Thomas Nockemann who unfortunately was eliminated as runner-up in his group.However, his compatriot Sven Daske is still in the running, playing for a place in the quarterfinal against Spaniard Raul Cuenza. Fans should also keep an eye on the two Dutchmen Sam van Etten and Dave Christiani, who were also playing their final group stage matches on Friday evening.
From the German point of view the 3-cushion competition for players under 17 years is very pleasing. Youngster Ali Ibraimov played a great group stage with three wins and is through to the quarterfinals. He is followed by his countryman Jan Gaspari, who also won his group to advance to the final eight. The favorite for the European title seems to be Denizcan Akkoca from Turkey who performed also very well in his group.
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