3-Cushion
BRANDENBURG – She is the sky high favorite for the ladies title at European championship. Therese Klompenhouwer (Nijkerk, January 3, 1983) won the title four times so far in four participations: Manisa 2005, Roeser 2007, Odense 2009 and Lille 2011.
,,I know I can only lose,'' she says in the days before the start of the tournament, which is played with sixteen players divided into four groups of four. ,,Whatever I am the big favorite, there is no extra pressure. I know I'm in a good form, in a good health and I just want to show my best.’’
She has been in some terrible weeks, Therese says. ,,I am very moved by the death of Maribel Romia, the Spanish player who was a good friend of mine. Every day I look at her pictures, when I speak about here, I still have tears in my eyes. I'm going to miss her terribly.''
But despite that big loss and intense grief, the focus is on the European championship now. And may she be a little irritated before the start? Yes, she may. Therese Klompenhouwer plays for her fifth title in a row at the European championship and for the honor.
,,There is no prize money for the ladies, we must even pay to participate, that’s not entirely fair. For all other titles, there is prize money, except for the juniors, but they don’t need to pay the fee. Anyway, I have stopped annoying me. Some things are really bad when it comes to ladies billiards. I had a small talk with mr. Dupont, the president of the UMB during the World Cup in Antalya. He promised me he is going to try to improve things. And I'm sure he will do that.’’
Four finals she won so far in four times that the European championship for women has been played. Twice she battled with Danielle le Bruyn from Belgium in a final, once with Gerrie Geelen and once with Karina Jetten.
The main competitors for this year? ,,I know that Karina is in a very good form, she will perform very well in Brandenburg, I think. But I'm in a good form as well, so we'll see how it ends.''
For the ladies, the tournament starts on Friday at 12.30, the preliminaries are closed on Saturday. The quarterfinals are that day at 15.30, the semifinals at 19.30 and the final on Sunday at 15.30, the same time as the men final.
The group line-ups are:
Group A: Therese Klompenhouwer (Neth), Helga Mitterböck (Aus), Marianne Mortensen (Den), Ana Maria Clerico (Esp).
Group B: Danielle le Bruyn (Bel), Monique van Hamond (Neth), Steffi Träm (Ger), Nathalie Dougnac (Fra).
Group C: Gülsen Degener (Tur), Céline Jacques (Fra), Karolien Matthys (Bel), Natascha Al Mamar (Aus).
Group D: Karina Jetten (Neth), Ingrid Englbrecht (Aus), Jeanette Jensen (Den), Susanne Stengl-punching (Ger).