Alnar beats rivals, takes second place in Europe
TURKISH Cypriot Mustafa Alnar took a silver medal in a European billiards tournament that was viewed by a global TV audience. A member of Team North Cyprus, Mr Alnar competed in the eightday Dynamic Billiards European Championships which ended in Veldhoven, Holland on Monday — a competition in which he finished second in the U19 category last year and narrowly missed victory this time around. Playing in the 9 Top discipline, he faced Swiss tournament favourite Christofer Lentz — a double gold medallist last year – in a grand final that was broadcast live worldwide.
The first leg of the final ended 2-2 last Tuesday — but Mr Alnar made a mistake in the second and went behind 42. In the third, he conceded a foul by potting the white ball, so dropping further behind to 6-2. Mr Lentz was said to be “cruising” through the remainder of the game and made no mistakes to finish 8-2 and claim the championship.
Mr Alnar, who won five of his six 9 Top matches, had to settle for being Europe’s No 2 in the category. Earlier in the tournament, he defeated Turkey’s Nasuh Vardar 8-2; Spain’s Jonas Sauto 8-5; Portugal’s Ricardo Mota 8-4 and Sweden’s Ragnar Gronsten 84, going on to beat Austria’s Manuel Butschek 8-1 in the semi-finals.
Mr Alnar had previously come third in the World Youth Billiards Championships of 2017.
The live broadcast of this year’s final heard European Pocket Billiards Federation (EPBF) youth sports director Tommi Laminaho and his predecessor, Tomas Brismanis, pay tribute to the determination of North Cyprus players and of the country’s billiards federation, saying its “investment” in players would have a “positive impact for the future”.