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Day 5: Ricardo Matino and Jelle Billiet are new European Champions

Day 5: Ricardo Matino and Jelle Billiet are new European Champions
04/30/2019
On day 5 of the European Billiards Championships in Brandenburg an der Havel/Germany two further competitions were completed. New European champion in the Junior 5-pins discipline is the Italian Riccardo Matino who beat Lukas Mortensen 3:1 in the final. The Danish youngster was only able to compete in the second and third set, but managed only to win the second one. All other sets went in favor of Matino who impressively demonstrated his superiority -especially in the first and fourth set.In the semifinal Germany’s Max Gabel was eliminated by Lukas Mortensen. Gabel won the first set but his Danish opponent shifted up to a higher gear and played brilliantly with almost no mistakes. Another medal for Germany was won by Michel Peters, who was defeated 1:3 by the eventual European champion.
 
The continental champion in the free game for players under 17 years of age is Jelle Billiet from Belgium. He beat the Frenchman Nathan Legendre in ten innings with a score of 200:66. Nick Dudink (Netherlands), who had the best results after the group stage, was unable to match his performance in his semi-final against Legendre and lostin nine innings. At the same time Jesse Billiet beat his countryman Nick Rosier in just five innings.
 
In Balkline 47/2 the two finalists were determined today. In two high-class semi-finals, Willy Gerimont (France) and the Swiss Xavier Gretillat prevailed. Gerimont managed to beat top favorite Raymund Swertz (Netherlands) with a score of 240:4 which included a run of 228 points. In the second semi-final the Belgian, Eddy Leppens, was on his way to the final before he missed a shot at 131 points. Gretillathad only 45 points but ran a fantastic 205 points in the second inning to win the match. The final will be played on Tuesday.
 
The competition of the 5-pins national teams is still underway. As usual, the Italians had no problems reaching the quarterfinals, they gave no chances to their opponents from Spain and won both singles and doubles. Therefore the relay which brings two points for the winner does not have to be played.The German quartet also made it very clear against Luxembourg. After the first three matches the game was over and the host nation will find themselves in tomorrow’s semi-final. There they will face France while Italy has to deal with the winner of Denmark vs. Switzerland.
 
A brand new competition in the European Billiards Championships is the team event Biathlon for players under 21. Biathlon is a mixture of 3-cushions and 5-pins. To begin the 3-cushion competitors play until a certain score and then the match is continued in 5-pins billiards. Only four matches are finished until now. Italy has won its match as well as both German duos. The match between Germany 2 and Austria was a very close one with an interesting ending. Austria was ahead 194:190 in a race to 200 until Sebastian Heimrath (Austria) made a foul which brought Germany the missing ten points.
 
At the same time the club team-event in 3-cushions on the small tables is getting underway. A total of 32 teams are divided into eight groups, whilst the first two duos of each group will reach the round of 16. The final will be played on Thursday.

 

 

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