THE PORTUGUESE TRIO of Jorge Tinoco, Manuel Pereira and Henrique Correia took the team gold medal today at the EPBF / Dynamic Billiards European Seniors Championships in Treviso, Italy in a thrilling encounter with Italy. With three matches played simultaneously in 8, 9 and 10 ball, the first team to win two took the crown and it was Portugal who prevailed after a drama-packed evening.

The Italians got to the scoreboard first in the 10 ball before wins in the 6 ball and 9 ball gave the Portuguese the coveted gold medal. 

For Tinoco it was his second gold medal of the week following his straight pool victory and it meant more than anything; “This is the main objective, that we come here to win the team event. I have no words as this is my first European Seniors and I have two gold medals, but this one is the most important for us. It’s for us and it’s for Portugal and it was our dream to win this.” 

With the tension mounting, at the mid-point of the three matches, the Portuguese were in the ascendancy, leading 3-2and 4-1 in the 8ball and 9 ball and trailing 2-4 in the 10 ball. However, there were plenty of twists and turns to come. 

In the 10 ball, Henrique Correia was 4-1 down to Gianluca Boni but got back to 4-3 to take the wind out of the Italian’s sails. A dry break from Boni was his downfall in the eighth game as Correia cleared to level it at 4-4. That was to be the Portuguese player’s last meaningful contribution to the match as shot-maker extraordinaire, Gianluca Boni, took the necessary three racks to seal the first point for Italy. 

In the remaining two matches, Portugal was on the hill. Straight pool gold medallist Jorge Tinoco sealed the levelling point for his country, beating Fabio Petroni with three racks to spare in the 8-ball match. 

That left it all down to the 9 ball and Portugal’s Manuel Pereira had reached seven racks first with a couple to spare in the race-to-eight match. The speedy Andrea Grosso, though managed to find something as he levelled the match at 7-7to leave the destination of the gold resting on a final rack. 

A dry effort from Grosso left the table to the excellent Pereira. However, he couldn't quite make position from the 2 ball to the 3 but his safety left it on for the Italian. He made it, but with no pot on the 4 ball, Grosso played a weak safety. It was nail-biting stuff with so much depending on the rack. 

The 4 was on for Pereira but he missed a difficult attempt and left a tough jump shot which Grosso slammed home. With the title within his grasp, inexplicably, the Italian scratched into the centre pocket, potting the orange 5 when anywhere else on the table would have done the job. 

With the remaining balls out in the open, but no formality under the circumstances, Pereira held himself together to win the gold for the Portuguese. Unsurprisingly, the moment got to him and he went absolutely wild with joy and relief. It was a fitting conclusion to an absolutely thrilling contest. 

A delighted Henrique Correia commented, “What can I say? I really tried. I came from 4-1 to 4-4 and then he made amazing shots so I could only congratulate Gianluca. But thank God, I have the two most amazing guys in the world next to me and they did the job this time. We always wanted to win this one as it’s all about our country.” 

Finally, match-winner Manuel Pereira said, “My fifth title in eight finals in ten years which is incredible but this gold was our main objective so we are so delighted to succeed!” 

Scores:

Jorge Tinoco 7-4 Fabio Petroni (8 Ball) 

Manuel Pereira 8-7 Andrea Grosso (9 Ball) 

Henrique Correia 4-7 Gianluca Boni (10 Ball) 

Medals - Men’s Team

Gold: Portugal  (Jorge Tinoco, Manuel Pereira, Henrique Correia)

Silver: Italy (Fabio Petroni, Riccardo Sini, Gianluca Boni, Andrea Grosso, Angelo Salzano)

Bronze: Switzerland (Rene Brand, Sascha Specchia, Murat Ayas, Aldo Rutschi) & Poland (Tomasz Bak, Bartosz Czapski, Dawid Jedrzejczak, Krzysztof Gardjas)

Play continues on Saturday in the men’s and ladies’ 8 ball and 9 ball divisions. 

Matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com 

Results, live scoring and draw are available at www.epbf.com