THE SEMI-FINALS of the 2023 LONGONI 9 BALL LEAGUE played out on Wednesday evening as the Netherlands and Norway secured spots in November’s championship match in Treviso, Italy. Both matches were full of drama as they went to deciding racks.

The featured match was defending champions Poland, made up of Mieszko Fortunski and Daniel Maciol, against Norway – Emil-Andre Gangflot and Mikael Oegaard. Teams are selected from the Euro Tour rankings with the two highest rated players in attendance competing.

Gangflot, a former multiple European Youth gold medallist, who is seasoning himself in the senior ranks with some good results, was partnered by Mikael Oegaard, the No.19 ranked player on the Euro Tour.

They took the opening rack in the race-to-7, alternate shot format. In the next, Gangflot gave up ball-in-hand as he failed to connect with a rail, kicking out of a snooker, and the Poles levelled the match at 1-1.

A huge break from Gangflot saw three balls drop and a tricky pot on the red 3-ball. Oegaard made it, centre pocket but Gangflot couldn't nudge the 5-ball fee when pocketing the 4. Maciol escaped from the subsequent safety but a 5/9combination sealed the rack for Norway. 2-1.

Poland failed on the three-point rule but a missed 2-ball from Oegaard saw both teams go back and forth with safeties. In the end it was a loose shot on the 5-ball by Fortunski that gave the Norwegians the opportunity to close the rack out for 3-1.

Norway took the next to leave themselves looking good with a 4-1 lead. A good break was required from Fortunski and he duly obliged, downing four and leaving a nice open table that allowed the Poles to grab one back.

Following a push out from Norway, the Poles handed a table-length jump shot back to Gangflot and he executed it superbly, downing the 2 and gaining perfect position on the 3-ball and from that position, Norway made it 5-2. Poland, though, ran out the next rack to stay within two racks. In the ninth game, Gangflot left a testing 9-ball to reach the hill but Oegaard was equal to it.

The Poles cleared from the break to keep themselves in the match at 6-4 and a ball-in-hand opportunity following an Oegaard scratch, saw Poland run through the table to reduce the arrears to a single rack.

Norway had a great opportunity to close the match out in the penultimate rack. The two players left each other a succession of difficult shots before Oegaard missed on the 8-ball to hand the rack to Poland and take it to a decider. It was Norway who prevailed though, to reach the final of the second running of this event.

“We’re very happy with that. We played pretty solid all match, although we struggled a bit to close the match and fortunately, they missed on 6-6,” said Gangflot.

The other semi-final also went to a decider and was a terrific showcase for some of Europe’s up-and-coming stars making their way after a ton of success in the juniors.

It was Estonia comprised of Revo Maimre and WPA World Under 17 champion Karl Gnadeberg, against the Netherland who were represented by Jan Rempe and multi-European Youth gold medallist, Yannick Pongers.

The match itself was nip and tuck all the way. The Estonian pair opened up a 2-0 lead which soon became a 3-2 Dutch lead. The Netherlands couldn’t break away as it went 3-3, 4-4 and then 5-5 before Estonia reached the hill at 6-5.

Pongers and Rempe dug in though, to square the match. It was the type of match where it was a shame one of them had to lose, but it was the Netherlands who clinched it to take themselves into the final which takes place on 23rdNovember.

Commented Rempe, “It was a very exciting and close match. I was struggling myself, missed some easy shots and wasn’t comfortable so I was concentrating on my own game rather than what they were doing. I left all the decision making to Yannick.”

Pongers added, “I didn’t really expect to play to play - I was here for the Euro Tour so that was nice and a great win for us. Hopefully, we’ll be back for the final.”

The competition involves 12 national teams divided into groups of three. Each team plays the other once and the country which tops each table moves forward into the semi-finals. All competing players are selected on a match-by-match basis with the two highest-ranked players from competing nations in attendance making up the team.

All matches and groups are contained within the attached graphics and all matches can be viewed at https://www.reelive.de/stream-preview/streams