10-Ball
Ivica Putnik (CRO) held his head up high after the match against young Maksim Dudanets (RUS), winning with 8:6.
The match was determined by many errors from both players in the beginning. The 13-year-old Dudanets seemed to struggle with his own nervousness while 40-year-old Putnik played as always: fast and aggressive. No wonder that so many mistakes happened in the early phase of the match. After six racks, Putnik was able to achieve a 4:2 lead over Dudanets. Both players had already given away points. Their styles seemed to be completely opposing: Putnik playing fast and aggressive with a lot of experience while Dudanets played slow and well thought, but very nervous. In the 7th rack, Putnik cleared all balls and left the 10-ball hanging over the pocket for his opponent. Instead of taking a comfortable 5:2 lead, the match got closer now by Dudanets making the score 3:4. Then the strong phase for Putnik started. He grew stronger and stronger and benefitted also from Dudanets’ mistakes. After nine racks, Putnik was leading 6:3 over the young Russian. The 10th rack began very promising for Dudanets but then turned into a catastrophe for him. Putnik broke the balls and the cue ball jumped off the table. Dudanets took ball in hand and ran the table until he had a straight and easy shot on the 10-ball. He aimed at it and had it hanging over the pocket. Putnik came to the table and only had to pocket the 10-ball in order to get on the hill, leading 7:3. Everybody would have expected this to break the will of Dudanets. But young Maksim was far from giving in. He tried to stay in the match and achieved to put some more pressure on Putnik. He won three consecutive racks and came to 6:7. In the 14th rack, Putnik was able to run all balls but then suddenly ran out of position for the 8-ball since he played the shot before too hard. He took a close look at the situation and played a two-way shot, calling the 8-ball in the side pocket. If he would have missed, he would have left a safety position for Dudanets. But Putnik made the shot and had a straight shot on the 10-ball. He fired it in and won the match with 8:6.
Since the Croatian Federation has negotiated some air time with a national sports TV station, this match among others will be provided to Croatian national TV for broadcasting in Croatia. The project is funded by Croatian national Olympic Committee.
Other notable results include Nicolas Ottermann (GER) defeating Richard Jones (GBR) with 8:6. Petri Makkonen (FIN) overcame Denis Grabe (EST) with 8:5.