European Pool Championships!

[hegeland]

In what is one of the biggest event of the year in cue sports, the European Pool Championships is taking place in Willingen, Germany, between 7-16 August.

Over 40 nations and 700 players are participating in what is also the 30th year anniversay of the EPBF (European Pocket Billiard Federation).

It's a full championship, meaning that all divisions (girls, juniors, ladies, men, pupils, seniors, women, wheelchair) are respresented and competing in all disciplines (8-ball, 9-ball, 14.1 and teams). For the first time, all matches are played in the same arena and can be followed simultaneously on the link below.

Free live coverage are available on 8 tables:
http://www.regiowebtv.info/streampla.../pooltest.html

[bongo]

Thanks hegeland, great website link!

[calebk]

When are they showing matches? I'm on it now and so far, nothing! Probably cause play for the day is over. Any information on when they'll be playing?

[hegeland]

Indeed, the players are (hopefully) asleep now!

Otherwise, play is on from 09.00 to about 21.00 CEST, see http://www.europeanpoolchampionships.com/ for schedules.

[calebk]

Brilliant thanks a lot. Hopefully I'll finish off my assignments in time to catch some action.

[rivercard]

Yes, good link, no problems with streaming. Does anyone else think that there should be a shot-clock (25-30 sec)? I've watched a few matches and some of the (mostly lesser known) players make Peter Ebdon look pretty fast. I can tolerate slow play in snooker and at the first shot after the break in pool, but it just bores me to watch players taking 30 seconds at straightforward shots.

[hegeland]

I think that, just like in snooker, most people feel that the shot clock does not really belong in the main championship tournaments. What if the outcome of the final of the european championships was to be set by someone rushing a shot due to the shot clock? It's not suitable for the most prestigious events IMO.

I think most of the players perfer to play without a shot clock as well.

That being said, some players do take forever before shooting.

[calebk]

A 512kbps connection should be enough to view the stream right? My internet is a lot slower than that right now!

[rivercard]

I think that, just like in snooker, most people feel that the shot clock does not really belong in the main championship tournaments. What if the outcome of the final of the european championships was to be set by someone rushing a shot due to the shot clock? It's not suitable for the most prestigious events IMO.

It worked quite OK in the World Cup of Pool and the Mosconi Cup, and of course there could be a limited amount of extensions available.

I think most of the players perfer to play without a shot clock as well.

Yes, I think that's right, but I would prefer it from the spectators point of view.

Anyway, I can understand one taking his time in the final stages of a tournament when the pressure is starting to build, but in the frist few rounds it looks to me like the lesser players are trying to use slow play to break the other players rhythm, or maybe they just want to have as much table time as possible.

[calebk]

I think they shouldn't use the shotclock in the individual tournaments. If you watched the World 9-ball championships, Daryl Peach certainly wouldn't have won it as he takes too long to analyse his options. Sure it got boring waiting 2 minutes for him to analyse the consequences of a stop shot into the middle pocket but in the end the best man won. Then again I'm a bit of a purist so others might just find waiting for him to shoot too annoying.

[hegeland]

Results so far:

8-ball, men:
Gold: Chamat, Marcus. SWEDEN
Silver: Svilar, Zoran. Serbia.

8-ball, women:
Gold: Ouschan, Jasmin. Austria.
Silver: Kjorsvik, Line. Norway.

8-ball, seniors:
Gold: Gries, Holger. Germany.
Silver: Pereira, Manuel. Portugal.

8-ball, juniors:
Gold: Lechner, Maximillian. Austria
Silver: Pruchay, Roma. Russia.

8-ball, girls:
Gold: Wagner, Anja. Germany
Silver: Trangärd, Sara. SWEDEN

8-ball, ladies:
Gold: Buschhuter, Sylvia. Germany.
Silver: Ganze, Brigitte. Germany.

8-ball, pupils:
Gold: Saris, Ivar. Netherlands.
Silver: Szewczyk, Wojciech. Poland.

8-ball, wheelchair:
Gold: Read, Karl. Great Britain.
Silver: Larsson, Henrik. SWEDEN



14.1, men:
Gold: Putnik, Ivica. Croatia.
Silver: Souquet, Ralf. Germany.

14.1, women:
Gold: Sorensen, Charlotte. Denmark.
Silver: Kjorsvik, Line. Norway.

14.1, seniors:
Gold: Geisen, Gunther. Germany.
Silver: Fransson, Tony. SWEDEN

14.1, juniors:
Gold: Nolle, Stefan. Germany.
Silver: Jentsch, Dominic. Germany.

14.1, girls:
Gold: Stadlbauer, Petra. Austria.
Silver: Naverschnig, Sabrina. Austira.

14.1, pupils:
Gold: Chinahov, Ruslan. Russia.
Silver: Saris, Ivar. Netherlands.