The GB Team consisting of Roy Kimberley, Aslam Abubaker (9-ball only), Craig Welsh, Danny Luton, Daniel Lee and Captain Tony Southern, arrived in the Algarve, Portugal, with hopes high of winning medals at these prestigious championships.
The GB team came home with 4 medals, a silver and bronze for Southern, silver for Luton, and a bronze for Kimberley, but the rest of the team were left disappointed despite some sterling performances.
Fred Dinsmore from Ireland who also plays on the BWPPA tour, ended the event with a medal of each colour including a gold in the 8-ball, but was just beaten by Jouni Tahti (Finland) as the top overall player as Tahti took home both the 9-ball and 10-ball gold medals.
High quality matches and dramatic decisions characterize the wheelchair competition, with many outstanding players across the three disciplines.
10-ball
In the 10-ball division, there was the first of many battles, with some great match ups, and the first match between Daniel Lee and Kurt Deklerck (Belgium) who were incredibly drawn against each other in the 1st round of all 3 disciplines at odds of over 1000-1, with Deklerck winning on each occasion in some incredibly close fought matches.
Kimberley was the only GB player to make the semi-finals, where he faced the greatest wheelchair player of all time Jouni Tahti (Finland) and despite a great effort, Kimberley lost 6-4.
In the other semi-final Dinsmore faced Deklerck, and it went to the final rack, and a great finish put Deklerck through to the final.
In the final, Deklerck was ahead throughout the match, and should have closed the match out when 6-4 up, however Tahti showed his class to take the gold medal, with a 7-6 win.
8-Ball
In the 8-ball division, there was an all GB semi-final as Luton beat Southern 6-4 to make the final.
In the other semi-final Dinsmore again faced Deklerck, and it went to the final rack again, but the tables were turned as Dinsmore went through to the final 5-4.
In the final, Dinsmore’s expansive potting game was too much for Luton, who despite a gritty effort lost 5-2.
9-Ball
Onto the final discipline, 9 ball, and there was time to celebrate again as 4 GB players came trough as winners into the quarter-finals (Southern, Kimberley, Luton and Abubaker)
Abubaker lost a close match with DeKlerck 7-5, and Kimberley lost by the same score to Tahti when poised for victory.
Luton lost 7-3 to Dinsmore, whilst Southern was the only GB player to reach the semi-finals with a 7-2 win over Majej Brajkovic (Slovenia).
In the semi-finals Southern won a dramatic hill-hill match with Deklerck 7-6, and faced Tahti in the final who had a 7-5 win over Dinsmore.
In the final a visibly tired Southern went 3-0 down before clawing back to 4-4, however the better staying power of Tahti prevailed as he took his 2nd gold of the event with a 7-4.
The Dynamic European Championships have drawn a huge amount of media attention throughout the entire 10 days. Many media representatives from TV, radio, print and Internet media have covered the European Championships. The highlight was the live coverage on the web from www.kozoom.com.
In 2015 the event is scheduled to be held in Austria
The GB Team would also like to thank our patron Darren Appleton for all his fundraising efforts as he and the contributors raised over £1200, which went towards to teams costs for this event
