European Pool Championships

The European Pool Championships for men and women will start in about one week. This year it will be held in Austria, and the players will battle it out in three diciplines, 14-1, 8-ball and 9-ball.

At the official homepage, http://www.epconline.eu/, you can check the registered nations, players, player profiles, hall of fame, photogallery and during the tournaments you will get rack-by-rack update from all matches, all rounds. On top of that some of the matches will be broadcasted live on their stream.

Obviously, I am rooting for the Norwegians. I am especially hoping that Line Kjorsvik will do well, and become the first woman to win all 3 events in one year. It would also be nice if Vegar Kristiansen can improve his bronzemedal in 14-1 from last year. I am curious of how Ronny Oldervik will perform, and have a feeling he will do very well in the 8-ball. Would be cool if one of the 5 men players from Norway could get atleast 1 medal this year also.

Norway is still ranked 4th in Europe on the Hall of Fame of medals won on the European Championships, just passed by Germany, Sweden and Austria, even though it is a long time since the men were regulars top 3 finishers at the EC. It's time to perform better than the last 10 years if Norway is going to keep that ranking!

I am a fan of good pool, and I normally root for Ralf Souquet, Niels Feijen, Darren Appleton etc., during big tournaments, but at the EC I am having other "favourites" that I hope will do good.

Here's some of the players I want to do well:

Artem Koshovyy from Ukraine. A young boy with amazing talent. Shoots great with both hands, and has at young age got great finishes in many international tournaments. Feared by a lot of the top-players.

Jasmin Ouschan is another player I always root for, and as long as she won't be playing against Line Kjorsvik I will normally root for her. Albin Ouschan Jr., her brother, is another great talent worth watching if you get the chance. Don't be surprised if he gets a medal in one of the three mens events!

Thomas Luttich from Germany is another great young player, and I just love to watching him play pool. The way he walks around the table, and the confidence he has when playing is just awesome. Watch out for this man. If I am not mistaken he became German 9-ball Champion last year. As a side-note Thorsten Hohmann won the World Championship before he finally managed to win a German Championship...

Chinahov Ruslan isn't even old enough to watch movies like "Seven" or "Pulp Fiction", but he is playing phenomenal pool. Has two great finishes on the Eurotour, and I believe he will also play in the upcoming World Pool Masters. He is however not my favourite Russian player.

Russian Konstantin Stepanov, in his mid-twenties I believe, has one of the most fantastic styles and his stroke is nothing else than pure beauty. About 2 years ago he was ranked #1 in Europe for almost a year, performing well on the Eurotour and the European Championships. I remember I watched him beat Efren Reyes in the knock-out stage at the World 9-ball Championship in Manila, 2007, and even though I was sad since I rooted for Efren to win, I enjoyed the show Konstantin put up.

Looking forward to the Championships! Let the games begin :)