News

Hans Nirnberger is through to the knockout stage of the 2023 European Senior individual Championships in Albena (Bulgaria) despite losing in the final group match. The Austrian lost 3:0 to Lee Stephens (England) but progressed after the other result in the group fell his way.

Then Nirnberger needed Juha Haapakoski (Finland) to beat Gennaro Carole (Italy) by 3:2 and that’s exactly how the match finished. Carlone was 2:1 up which meant that Haaposki is eliminated. But the Finn still won the fourth frame on the pink and was leading by 49 in the decider with three reds remaining when the opponent made a mess while escaping from a snooker leaving and easy pot for the match.

Thus, in the final standings Nirnberger, Haapakoski and Carlone all finished with a 1-2 record but a 5:7 frame difference for the Austrian, compared to 5:8 for the other two, gave him the second spot in the group.