Carom Series
WIESELBURG - The 20-year-old Dutchman Gert-Jan Veldhuizen has captured the European titles in free game and balkline 47/2 for juniors under 21. In the finals the young guy defeated his Greek opponent Kostas Antonopoulos in both disciplines.
The tournament, organized by the Wieselburger Billard Sports Club in Austria, was played with eight juniors, who were divided into two groups. Gert-Jan Veldhuizen and Kostas Antonopoulos qualified for the battle for the gold by wins in the semis against Spaniard Antonio Montes and the Dutch Demi Pattiruhu.
Veldhuizen defeated Montes in the semi final free game 250-145 in 5 innings and in balkline 47/2 150-26 in three innings. Kostas Antonopoulos beat Demi Pattiruhu in free game 250-1 in 1 inning and in the balkline won Pattihuru 150-147 in 7 innings.
The Dutchman Veldhuizen, who grew up in Wageningen, played for a club in Ede and is studying at the Johan Cruyff University, was by far the best in both disciplines. He defeated his opponent in the free game 250-54 in 6 innings (runs 112, 34, 64, 1, 1, 38, moyenne 41.666) and in balkline 47/2 150-44 in 3 innings (runs 92, 33, 25, moyenne 50.00).
Gert-Jan Veldhuizen played in the preliminaries in the group with Andy de Bondt (Belgium), Kostas Antonopoulos and Gregor Karner (Austria).
The players in the other group were Demi Pattiruhu (Netherlands), Antonio Montes (Spain), Adam Kozak (Czech Republic) and Frank Matthieu (France).