Albania 9-Ball
Szymon Kural (POL) came top in the 101st tournament of the Dynamic Billard Best of the East series. The billiards player from Krakow defeated Petr Urban from the Czech Republic in the final. Bronze medals went to: Labinot Markaj (KOS) and Mariusz Skoneczny (POL).
The tournament, which was organised at the Kombinat Hotel, hosted players from: Czech Republic, Poland, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Romania and Albania. The well-equipped room, prepared by the Albanian host Edmond Loku, featured 8 Dynamic II tables, which were purchased specifically for this tournament. Company “Tibo” covered the event online, while the press team reported on it in the media. The following day, the popular ABC television broadcast coverage of the event. What is noteworthy, the Albanian Olympic Committee provided its TV platform for the coverage of our tournament.
The special guest of the tournament was Mr Fidel Ylli, President of the Albanian Olympic Committee, who, together with the President of the EEBC, awarded the winners. In addition to a cup and prize money, the best billiards player of the event received a special prize – a Carbon Cynergy cue worth approximately €700, sponsored by Cuetec.
On the first day, the games were played in groups. 16 best players advanced to the play-off round, including: 3 Poles, 3 Czechs, 1 Macedonian, 1 Kosovar, 7 Albanians and 1 Romanian.
The draw for the play-off round was not a lucky one for the Czechs. Their two strongest players ended up playing against each other. This time P.Urban was better than D. Zalman.
The scores in the games for medals were as follows:
S.Kural (POL)- E. Dyli (ALB) 7:1
- Skoneczny (POL) – B. Cufe (ALB) 7:4
- Jastrząb (POL) – P. Urban (CZE) 5:7
- Markay (KOS) – A. Klajdi (ALB) 7:4
Two players from Poland, ranking leader Szymon Kural and European Championship medallist Mariusz Skoneczny, played in the first semi-final. Their earlier games showed that they were in great shape and it was difficult to point out a favourite. Szymon won 7:4.
In the second semi-final, Labinot Markaj from Kosovo competed against Petr Urban from the Czech Republic. Initially, the Czech from Pardubice was clearly in the lead, but Markay, being a tough player, managed to end the game in a draw of 5:5. After the next break, the white ball landed very close to the next ball to be played and a positional game followed. After a foul, Urban played a very difficult shot and after a break shot he pocketed all balls, scoring the winning point (7:5).
In the final game, Urban took a few points lead and it looked like he would pull off the long-awaited victory after years of competing in Dynamic Best. But Kural made up for the loss and pushed forward. From 1:3, he built up a 6:3 lead. He was also better in the last rack, winning 7:3.
The tournament in Tirana closed the 21st season of the Dynamic Billard Best of the East series of tournaments. Unfortunately, it attracted the least number of players, with only 32 people competing. Quite a few players from Kosovo, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Romania, Greece and Slovakia did not make it to Albania. The reason for such a poor attendance is not clear, but might be partly explained by high airfares, large distance between the countries and reduced sponsorship by clubs due to increased overhead costs (energy, heating and fuel prices).
General sponsors of the event were the companies: Dynamic Billard Organization from Germany, Iwan Simonis S.A. and Saluc S.A. (Aramith) from Belgium. We would like to kindly thank the sponsors for their support. We also thank the Albanian Billiard Federation for great organisation of the tournament.