FLORANGE: SPAIN DETHRONES TURKIYE IN ARTISTIC NATIONAL TEAMS
A fantastic week of artistic billiard just reached the end in Florange.
The representative of Spain is the new European Championship for teams interrupting the two years reigning of Turkiye.
Sergio Sanchez and Hector Cuadrado took their revenge from the final they lost in the first edition of this championship in 2023 in Antalya, against the same Turkish duo: Haci Arap Yaman and Baris Cin.
We could witness an exciting final, a very good match that was decided only at the fifth set in favor of the Spanish by 3-2.
In the first semifinal the Spanish duo won 3-1 against the French team of Michael Hammen and Olivier Lacroix.
The second semifinal was a Turkish affair between the Yaman/Cin team and the Gumus/Sezer team. The first representative won by 3-1.
Gold medal: Spain
Silver medal: Turkiye 1
Bronze medals: Turkiye 2 and France 1
All results and the final ranking is available on the CEB info page.
In case you missed it all matches on table 1 can be viewed again on Kozoom Youtube channel.
THE NATIONS ON THE ARTISTIC PODIUM ARE SET IN FLORANGE
The last two days in Florange are dedicated to the National Teams Championship. The qualification groups have been played today with the first two from each group advancing to the quartersfinal and the last one leaving the tournament. France and Turkiye advanced with both their teams, then Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Spain completed the last 8 field with one team each.
The group standings:
Group A: Belgium 2, Turkiye 1, Luxembourg
Group B: Netherlands, Turkiye 2, Belgium 1
Group C: France 2, Germany 1, Austria
Group D: France 1, Spain 1, Germany 2
France secured the first two places in the qualification ranking: France 1 (Hammen/Lacroix) was first and France 2 (Marin/Panis) was second, then Belgium 2 (Van Den Zegel/Grimon) and the Netherlands (Vijverberg/Smits) got respectively the third and fourth place. Among the groups seconds the best was Spain followed by the two Turkish teams and Germany 1 as last qualified.
The quartersfinal were set up in the late afternoon according to the qualifications ranking:
France 1 - Germany 1
The Netherlands - Spain
Belgium 2 - Turkiye 2
France 2 - Turkiye 1
Three out of four were clear victories by 3-0: France 1, Spain and Turkiye 2 were the first to get their pass to the semifinals.
The last one took a bit more to be decided. It was an exciting battle between France 2 and Turkiye 1; all the 5 sets needed to be played and the Turkish duo finally won.
Tomorrow semifinals live on Kozoom YouTube channel:
France 1 (Hammen/Lacroix) - Spain (Sanchez/Cuadrado) at 10:00
Turkiye 2 (Gumus/Sezer) - Turkiye 1 (Yaman/Cin) at 12:30
Schedules, results and other information are available on the CEB info pages: Individual, National Teams.
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THOMAS AHRENS IS THE NEW EUROPEAN CHAMPION OF ARTISTIC BILLIARD
Thomas Ahrens won the individual gold medal in Florange, taking the title to Germany after long time. It was him who won the last time for Germany back in 2003. Thomas Ahrens is a veteran of this discipline with a long career on his shoulders: four times European Champion in 1994, 2000, 2003, and now in 2025, silver medal in 1996 and three bronze medals. His opponent in the final, Sergio Sanchez (Spain), took the bronze in last two editions (2023, 2024) and now he can add a silver to his palmares.
The final was a one way match, Ahrens was always leading and slowly increasing the gap until the end with a final score of 139-103.
Earlier in the semifinals Sergio Sanchez won Erik Vervliet and Thomas Ahrens beat Anthony Marin in two exciting and quite similar matches. Sanchez and Ahrens started strongly taking a good advantage in the first half of the match; both opponents fought back reducing the gap and offering some suspense to the spectators in the second half, but finally they lost the match close to the finish line.
All results are available on the CEB info page.
Gold Medal: Thomas Ahrens (Germany)
Silver Medal: Sergio Sanchez (Spain)
Bronze Medals: Anthony Marin (France) and Erik Vervliet (Belgium)
Tomorrow morning the European Championship for National Teams will begin. 12 teams will compete for the gold medal. The Turkish team (Baris Cin and Haci Arap Yaman) is the defending champion and you can bet that they will fight hard after failing to get a medal in the Individual Championship. This is the third edition of this recently introduced championship and Turkiye won the first two, they will be hunting for the third victory in a row.
The 12 teams representing 8 CEB National Federations are divided into 4 groups of 3, the best two from each group will advance to quarters final. The matches are played in sets of 7 figures, best of 5. The qualification rounds and the quartersfinal will be played tomorrow, the semifinals and the final will close this week of artistic billiard on Sunday.
Schedules, results and other information are available on the CEB info pages: Individual, National Teams.
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Photos: Ton Smilde
FLORANGE: THE FOUR SEMIFINALISTS
Many interesting matches and surprises entertained today the many spectators in the theater La Passerelle in Florange.
In the first session of last 16 the defending champion Baris Cin (TR) had to surrender to the Spanish Sergio Sanchez. Haci Arap Yaman got few problems against Mathieu Franck (LU). Belgian Erik Vervliet eliminated the Turkish Emrah Tac in an exciting match. Bastien Panis won the French challenge with Kevin Tran.
In the second session another favorite had to leave the tournament early, Bernd Singer (DE) won Michael Hammen (FR). Thomas Ahrens (DE) eliminated Hector Cuadrado (ES). Dutch Erik Vijverberg beat Serdar Gumus (TR). Anthony Marin played an amazing match against Manfred Hekerle, setting the best game average and the best high run so far, for the matches to 28 figures.
The quarter finals were set up as follows, race to 35 figures:
Yaman (TR) - Vervliet (BE)
Panis (FR) - Sanchez (ES)
Marin (FR) - Vijverberg (NL)
Ahrens (DE) - Singer (DE)
In the quartersfinals first session two tense and tight matches were played: the last survived Turkish and one of the favorites, Haci Arap Yaman, left the tournament by the hands of the Belgian Erik Vervliet; on the other table Bastien Panis (FR) and Sergio Sanchez (ES) fought until the last figure for a place in the semifinals, at the end it was the Spanish who clinched a place on the podium.
In the second session Thomas Ahrens outplayed his German compatriot Bernd Singer while Anthony Marin (FR) won Erik Vijverberg at the last figure.
Tomorrow's semifinals on table 1, live on Kozoom website and on Kozoom YouTube channel:
Erik Vervliet (BE) - Sergio Sanchez (ES), at 10:00
Anthony Marin (FR) - Thomas Ahrens (DE), at 12:30
The final is scheduled at 16:30.
Schedules, results and other information are available on the CEB info pages: Individual, National Teams.
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Photos: Ton Smilde
FIRST DAY IS OVER IN FLORANGE, LAST 16 ARE DECIDED
Today the qualification rounds of the individual championship of artistic billiard were played.
The field is now reduced to the last 16 who won their group or finished as seconds.
Yaman (TR) was the best in the qualifications (2 wins, 70.491%) closely chased by Hammen (FR, 2 wins, 69.086%).
Still 8 countries are represented in the last 16: Turkiye and France with four players, Spain and Germany with two, The Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and Luxemburg with one each.
Below the group winners and the runners up, both qualified to the next stage.
Group A: Cin (TR), Panis (FR)
Group B: Hammen (FR), Hekerle (AT)
Group C: Vijverberg (NL), Singer (DE)
Group D: Yaman (TR), Tac (TR)
Group E: Cuadrado (ES), Franck (LU)
Group F: Marin (FR), Gumus (TR)
Group G: Tran (FR), Ahrens (DE)
Group H: Vervliet (BE), Sanchez (ES)
Tomorrow morning the competition will continue with the last 16 KO round in two sessions, at 10:00 and at 12:30 local time.
Quartersfinal will follow in the afternoon, at 16:00 and 18:30.
Last 16 matches, schedules, results and other information are available on the CEB info pages: Individual, National Teams.
Kozoom will broadcast the whole events free on Kozoom website and T1 on Kozoom YouTube channel.
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Photos: Ton Smilde
THIS WEEK FLORANGE IS THE HOME OF ARTISTIC BILLIARD
The Theatre de la Passerelle in Florange (France) is going to be the venue for a week of amazing Artistic billiard.
Two European Championships are scheduled this week, organized by the French Billiard Federation and Michael Hammen's club, under the auspices of the CEB. The first one (Wednesday to Friday) is one of the CEB oldest, it was played in 1947 for the first time: the Individual Artistic Championship now featuring the 51st edition. The second (Saturday and Sunday) is the National Teams Championship, an innovation introduced by the CEB in 2023 and now playing the third edition.
The Individual defending champion is Baris Cin from Turkiye, he will try to clinch his second individual gold in a row. Cin is also member of the strong defending champion in the teams competition, together with the former European Champion Haci Arap Yaman; they won the first two edition and will be hunting for the third title in a row. Will the Turkish stronghold resist to the contenders from all over Europe and confirm its supremacy in this discipline ? We will know soon.
The format:
- the Individual tournament is played by 24 athletes divided in 8 groups of 3. Best two from each group will advance to KO round of last 16 and then forward until the final; race to 28 figures until last 16, 35 figures from quarters final onward.
- the National Teams is played by 12 teams representing 8 countries. First two teams from each group will play the quartersfinal and then semifinals and final on the closing day. Matches are best of 5 sets of 7 figures.
Daily updates will be published on this page.
Games are played on Simonis cloths with Aramith billiard balls.
Schedules, results and other information are available on the CEB info pages: Individual, National Teams.
Kozoom will broadcast the whole events free on Kozoom website and T1 on Kozoom YouTube channel.
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Photos: Ton Smilde
Video by KOZOOM
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