THE DYNAMIC BILLARD Euro Tour has returned once again to the magnificent Alpine resort of St Johann im Pongau as a whopping 243 players have arrived to contest the second Euro Tour stop of the year. Always a popular venue with its never-ending mountain views, the tournament gets underway at 9am local time and plays to a conclusion on the evening of Saturday 25th, with the final at 17.00.
A solid Austrian showing sees 35 players in the line-up with Mario He and Daniel Guttenberger being the stand-out names. Of the top ten ranked players on Tour, nine of the top ten are cueing it up this week, with only recent father Wojciech Szewczyk an absentee.
That means Joshua Filler, who has rampaged through the Euro Tour over the past 18 months will be gunning for his ninth title and it would take a brave man to back against him. That said, the event has the strongest field for sometime and players like Mieszko Fortunski, who has hit a rich vein of form, will doing everything to stop him.
Fellow Pole, Daniel Maciol, who was a first-time Euro Tour winner last time out in Tallinn, will also surely have something to say on the matter. In addition, a host of medal-winning junior stars are competing as they look to advance their careers in the senior ranks.
With such a large field, there are a lot of matches on the opening day with Round 1, Winners’ Round 1, and Losers’ Round 1 completing.
In addition, the Predator Ladies Euro Tour also takes place this week, getting underway on Saturday 26th and playing down to the final which takes place this Sunday. 49 players have signed on to compete which is another deep field for the ladies tour.
The defending champion is Veronika Ivanovskaia (Germany) while her compatriot, Pia Filler was a winner last time out in Tallinn.
For viewers at home, Tables 1 & 2 will be streamed throughout on YouTube. Table 1 will be on the Kozoom channel, while Table 2 will be available throughout on the EPBF platform. All other tables can be viewed on the Kozoom.com website, where there are a variety of subscription options.
Table 1 link = https://www.youtube.com/@KozoomTV/streams
Table 2 link = https://www.youtube.com/@theepbf/streams
Tables 1-20 = https://home.kozoom.com/en/all-cue-sports
As well as the prize money, there are Tour ranking points on offer, so there is everything to play for. All Euro Tour tournaments are 9-ball and players compete in a double-elimination format, playing down to the last 32 competitors, and then single elimination until the finish. All matches are races to 9 racks with alternate break.