European Round-Up – November and December 2023

It has been a very busy time on the amateur snooker scene across Europe as several national championships have been decided. Here we review who has won what…

Hungary

Zsolt Fenyvesi won a record-breaking tenth Hungarian National Snooker Championship earlier this month at the Tájfun Biliárdszalon és Étterem in Budapest.

The 34-year-old began with 4-0 victories against Bence Fábián and Attila Lencse before dethroning defending champion Attila Horváth 4-3 in the quarter-finals. In the last four, Fenyvesi denied last year’s runner-up Erik Nagy, 4-3. 

Coming through the other side of the draw was Soma Berghold. A semi-finalist 12 months ago, 28-year-old Berghold reached his maiden final after eliminating Peter Varga 4-1. 

However, Fenyvesi was too strong in the final, registering runs of 62 and 60 in the opening two frames and going on to record a 7-0 victory. 

Fenyvesi – whose first national title came in 2010 – becomes the most decorated player in the tournament’s history, overtaking Zoltan Kojsza’s nine-title tally between 1993 to 2005.  

Nagy defeated Varga 4-2 in the third-place playoff. 

Czech Republic 

Aleš Herout secured his sixth Czech Republic National Snooker Championship title after defeating Daniel Mily 5-1 in the final at the DON zabavni centrum in Trebic.

Herout began his title defence by winning all three of his group games 2-0 to qualify for the knockout rounds. He then saw off Rostyslav Bovonenko 3-0 and Osip Zusmanovic 4-0 in the quarter and semi-finals, respectively. 

The winner in 2014, Mily denied Michal Ciz 4-2 in the last four to reach another final, although in a repeat of the title match and scoreline from 2022, Herout top scored with a break of 50 as he was crowned champion for a fourth time in-a-row. 

Ciz claimed third place having defeated Zusmanovic 3-1 in the playoff.

The Netherlands 

Leon Alewijnse ousted Jasha Kiers in a thrilling final to emerge from a field of 120 players and win his maiden Dutch National Snooker Championship.

Held across two weekends, competitors initially featured at regional qualifying heats across the country, aiming to make it through to the last 32 Finals Weekend held at Westend Snooker in Zaandam. 

Alewijnse – a 48-year-old from Papendrecht – was a qualifier from the event held at the Poolcentrum in Veghel. He won three of his four group games and then defeated Corne Kuijpers 3-0 in the last 64 to qualify. 

In Zaandam, Alewijnse eliminated Amar Chedoe 4-2, Ed Geels 4-3 and Jur Jous 4-2 before pipping former professional and reigning four-time champion Mario Wehrmann 4-3 on the final pink ball in the last four to reach the national final for the first time. His previous best was a quarter-final appearance in 2018. 

Like Alewijnse, Kiers also made it to his first final. A semi-finalist in 2022, Kiers went through qualifying undefeated before registering two whitewash wins at the main venue, defeating five-time champion Rene van Rijsbergen 4-2 in the quarter-finals, and then 2019 winner Joris Maas 4-3 in the last four.

After the opening four frames of the final were shared, Kiers won frames five and six to lead 4-2 and go within one of the title, although Alewijnse responded to force a deciding frame.

Kiers established an early lead in the ninth frame but once again Alewijnse was resilient, coming back and winning on the final pink ball in a dramatic climax.

Switzerland

Risto Väyrynen defeated Jonathan Fulcher in an epic six-hour final to successfully defend the Swiss National Snooker Championship.

Eight competitors from the country’s 16-player ‘League A’ – the top domestic division in Switzerland – qualified for the Championship, with the Finals Weekend held at the Basel Snooker Club. 

Väyrynen – originally from Finland but now living in Geneva – had to play his opening match using someone else’s cue as his had gone missing following a flight from Finland. Despite this handicap, he defeated teenager Jenson Schmid, 4-0. 

The next day – now reunited with his cue – Väyrynen recovered from the loss of the opening frame to deny Daniel Meyer 4-1 in the last four. 

On the other side of the draw, multiple-time winner Fulcher reached another national final having seen off Pascal Arnold 4-0 in the last eight and top scoring with a 58 break in a 4-2 victory against Alain Vergère in the semi-finals. 

In a rerun of the previous year’s final, Väyrynen came back from one down with two to play, making breaks of 30 and 36 to deliver a deciding frame before crafting efforts of 37 and 30 in frame seven as he claimed a 4-3 victory and a second Swiss title.

Also on the Swiss scene, 14-year-old Schmid retained the national junior championship after a 3-1 triumph over Aizaz Mumtaz in the final, and Vergère defeated Urs Freitag 2-0 in the title match to win the 6-reds title.

Schmid was presented his trophy by World Snooker Tour professional Alexander Ursenbacher.

The image above is courtesy of Erich Salzmann, Swiss Snooker

Slovakia 

Martin Oriňák completed a hat-trick as he defeated Michal Frank in the final to win his third consecutive Slovakian National Snooker Championship. 

Held at the Freeball Snooker Club in Presov, Oriňák began his campaign with a 4-0 win against Frantisek Dolgos before constructing two half-century breaks in a 4-0 success over Pavol Kreman in the last four. 

Frank – who had made the final four of the last two editions of the event – defeated Adrian Rubint 4-0 in the semi-finals to reach the title contest for the first time. 

In the best-of-nine frames final, Frank deposited the opening frame, but Oriňák took the next three. Frank replied with frames five and six to level, but the reigning champion was not to be stopped in his quest for a three-peat as he ran out a 5-3 victor.  

Thank you to everyone who helped contribute to this latest round-up edition.