Has Europe Pulled Ahead????
- Thread starter mnorwood
- Start date
Europe is definitely on a par with the Philippines or Taiwan in men's pool, though there may be more depth in the Asian powerhouses. I do not, however, agree with the assertion that the UK is at the top of the European ladder.
Germany still has Ralf Souquet, Thorsten Hohmann, Oliver Ortmann, Andreas Roschkowsky and Thomas Engert. At the 2009 European Championships, Germany won 1 gold, 0 silver and 2 bronze medals, while the UK won 0 gold, 0 silver and 1 bronze. For me, until the UK flexes a little more muscle than this in the European Championships, it cannot be viewed as superior to Germany.
Still, the progress of the UK players is most impressive, and they will be a force to be reckoned with for a long, long time. In fact, in this month's Billiard's Digest, in a fine article by Mike Geffner, it was noted that Yorkshire alone has brought us Darren Appleton, Daryl Peach and Karl Boyes.
Germany still has Ralf Souquet, Thorsten Hohmann, Oliver Ortmann, Andreas Roschkowsky and Thomas Engert. At the 2009 European Championships, Germany won 1 gold, 0 silver and 2 bronze medals, while the UK won 0 gold, 0 silver and 1 bronze. For me, until the UK flexes a little more muscle than this in the European Championships, it cannot be viewed as superior to Germany.
Still, the progress of the UK players is most impressive, and they will be a force to be reckoned with for a long, long time. In fact, in this month's Billiard's Digest, in a fine article by Mike Geffner, it was noted that Yorkshire alone has brought us Darren Appleton, Daryl Peach and Karl Boyes.
you forget Mika, Nils, Sandor, and these guys...
I assume that altogether we have a borad spectrum of possible winners insde Europe, however the UK guys (some former maintour snooker pros) are leaving impressions...
In Germany we of course have Souquet, Hohmann, Engert and Ortmann (though the last seems to be getting old a bit
), but Andreas Roschowsky and our youngsters like Dominic Jents, Nico Otterman and some others are already leaving their marks on the Eurotour from time to time.
And our neighbours from Austria have a couple of great young talents on international level, like Mario He, who even won the event once...
I still do not think that Europe is superior lately, but at least we caught up to the top again... I hope that these guys also get the chance to participate on high stake events in the US soon, so they learn to handle the international pressure (though it already works for Europe well enough)
I assume that altogether we have a borad spectrum of possible winners insde Europe, however the UK guys (some former maintour snooker pros) are leaving impressions...
In Germany we of course have Souquet, Hohmann, Engert and Ortmann (though the last seems to be getting old a bit
), but Andreas Roschowsky and our youngsters like Dominic Jents, Nico Otterman and some others are already leaving their marks on the Eurotour from time to time. And our neighbours from Austria have a couple of great young talents on international level, like Mario He, who even won the event once...
I still do not think that Europe is superior lately, but at least we caught up to the top again... I hope that these guys also get the chance to participate on high stake events in the US soon, so they learn to handle the international pressure (though it already works for Europe well enough)
It is not the same in all European countries. Some have better pool backgrounds / culture while others have almost none or lacking a good federation / promoting body. In Asia (Taiwan or Philippines) pool is big, in Europe it is kind of a minority (and still considered a little shady in Spain for example).
Most great players are coming from Germany, Sweden, Finland, Holland or the UK... Although there are quite a few good players from other countries. The case in Spain is that there are quite a few "pseudo-federations" competing against each other and the official one basically dedicates itself to 3 cushion. There are usually no real poolhalls in most cities, just bars with 4 or 6 tables at most and there is basically no pro pool at all. I am amazed
there are really good Spanish players such as David Alcaide (owns a poolhall), Paris Comas or Marc Vidal.
I think Europe as a pool playing "entity" is very heterogeneous in nature. And, for the most part, we still think of individual countries rather than one big European community around here. Some countries are excellent with several pro players, others have basically none.
Most great players are coming from Germany, Sweden, Finland, Holland or the UK... Although there are quite a few good players from other countries. The case in Spain is that there are quite a few "pseudo-federations" competing against each other and the official one basically dedicates itself to 3 cushion. There are usually no real poolhalls in most cities, just bars with 4 or 6 tables at most and there is basically no pro pool at all. I am amazed
there are really good Spanish players such as David Alcaide (owns a poolhall), Paris Comas or Marc Vidal.I think Europe as a pool playing "entity" is very heterogeneous in nature. And, for the most part, we still think of individual countries rather than one big European community around here. Some countries are excellent with several pro players, others have basically none.
Thanks Avathar !
first of all i want to thank Avathar to let some guys out there know that in the small country of Austria are some realy good players. :thumbup:
After checking some posts and stats from this thread i am a little bit angry, because i think you all only speak about the men stats
I thought Billiard is played from men and women
So if you all put your stats from the European Championships out, then take all stats, not only the men stats, o.k. :thumbup:
And in that case it would more look like that (4 best countrys) :
Austria - 3 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze :bow-down::bow-down::bow-down:
Germany - 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze
Netherl. - 1 Gold, 1 Silver
Switzerl. - 1 Gold, 2 Bronze
best regards,
Erich
first of all i want to thank Avathar to let some guys out there know that in the small country of Austria are some realy good players. :thumbup:
After checking some posts and stats from this thread i am a little bit angry, because i think you all only speak about the men stats
I thought Billiard is played from men and women
So if you all put your stats from the European Championships out, then take all stats, not only the men stats, o.k. :thumbup:
And in that case it would more look like that (4 best countrys) :
Austria - 3 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze :bow-down::bow-down::bow-down:
Germany - 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze
Netherl. - 1 Gold, 1 Silver
Switzerl. - 1 Gold, 2 Bronze
best regards,
Erich
first of all i want to thank Avathar to let some guys out there know that in the small country of Austria are some realy good players. :thumbup:
After checking some posts and stats from this thread i am a little bit angry, because i think you all only speak about the men stats
I thought Billiard is played from men and women
So if you all put your stats from the European Championships out, then take all stats, not only the men stats, o.k. :thumbup:
And in that case it would more look like that (4 best countrys) :
Austria - 3 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze :bow-down::bow-down::bow-down:
Germany - 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze
Netherl. - 1 Gold, 1 Silver
Switzerl. - 1 Gold, 2 Bronze
best regards,
Erich
Unfortunately, when UK ladies like Allison Fisher, Kelly Fisher, Kim Shaw, Sarah Ellerby are not participants, using the European championships is not a resonable way of measuring the relative strength by country in women's pool.
If both men's and women's pool are considered, the UK clearly has the best pool players in Europe.