Pool
In a match that was not as close as many spectators expected it to be, Mario He (AUT) outfought Petri Makkonen (FIN) with 8:4.
Makkonen should have gone in front but he missed an easy 6-ball in the first rack and instead of him drawing first blood against He, he allowed the Austrian to go ahead. In the next few racks, Makkonen could be watched when making mistakes on relatively easy shots whereas He seemed to be more “in the zone” and focussed. No wonder, the scoreboard showed 5:1 in favour of He after 6 racks. Then Makkonen seemed to get a bit better into game. He fired the 8-ball over one rail into the called pocket and made the 2:5. Was that the turning point for him? Not according to He’s liking. Mario He allowed Makkonen to take two more racks but played very strong and won the match with 8:4. As a summary it can be stated that Makkonen made too many avoidable mistakes and was not able to benefit from He’s few errors.
Other notable results from the 8-ball quarterfinals include Francisco Diaz (ESP) overpowering Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) with 8:7. With the same result, Artem Koshovyi (UKR) remained victorious over Tomasz Kaplan (POL). In the women’s division, Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) and Marika Poikkijoki (FIN) both won their matches and will now face each other in the upcoming semi-finals.
Earlier today, the first two rounds of 9-ball were played. Erki Erm (EST) defeated Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) with 9:6. Artem Koshovyi (UKR) fell to Milinko Vukajlovic (SRB) with 7:9. In the clash of two very experienced players, Ralf Souquet (GER) remained the upper hand over Bruno Muratore (ITA) with 9:2. Denis Grabe (EST) lost to Francisco Diaz (ESP) with 7:9. IN the wheelchair division, Henrik Larsson (SWE) received an unexpected defeat against Eduard Karamatic (CRO) with 4:7.