Ralf Souquet (GER) - Photo: EPBF/DK 

Cohen and Helvik eliminated

Sunday, 25 March 2012: “The Kaiser” Ralf Souquet (GER) is back on track. He terminated Blerim Skara (ALB) with an impressive performance 8:3.

It was Skara who had the better start. He seemed to be in the zone and used the fact that Souquet couldn’t make a ball on his first break. He ran this rack and his own, taking a quick 2:0 lead over the German. One could have been surprised how self-confident Skara performed. But Souquet is not a newbie to the game. He stayed extremely calm and tied the match at 2:2. Souquet even took a 3:2 lead over Skara. Then, in the 6th rack, Souquet ran out of position for his second last ball. He tried to masse the ball in but he did not succeed. Skara came to the table and though it looked a bit lost at times, Skara managed to tie the game again. 3:3. That was obviously not to the likings of Souquet. He remained as focussed as one could be and took rack after rack, only admitting one mistake in between which Skara was not able to benefit from. While Souquet got more and more focussed, Skara lost his concentration and seemed to play worse than in the beginning. With all the experience of “The Kaiser”, it was no big deal for Souquet anymore to take the remaining racks and win the match with 8:3.

Other notable results in the men’s division include Stephan Cohen (FRA) losing his second match today. This time he had to give in to Milan Klobucnik (SVK) with 7:8 and left the 8- ball competition. He is joined by Huseyin Borankan (TNC) who was gunned down by Luxemburg’s Steve Leisen with 8:1.

In the women’s division, Chantal Manske (GER) ended the 8-ball medal hopes for Ine Helvik (NOR) with 6:1

In the wheelchair competition, Tankred Volkmer (GER) whitewashed Fred Dinsmore (IRE) with 5:0 and made it to the semi-final.

The 8-ball competition will continue Monday morning at 09:00 CET.

The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.epconline.eu , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.