Mezz Cues Baltic Pool League 2018 (MCBPL) has kicked off with a staggering total of 134 athletes in Kaunas, Lithuania. This is the record number of participants ever taking part in the event. The first venue was the Entry Billiard Club, known as the first-ever venue for one of the most popular leagues in Eastern Europe. Due to the rising number of athletes in all disciplines this year the event format is changed and the MCBPL is held now in three different divisions – men, women and old boys. After two days of tight matches the men's event was won by Pijus Labutis (Lithuania), women's event by Kateryna Polovinchuk (Ukraine) and old boys event by Guntars Grinums (Latvia).

Young Lithuanian at it again

As on numerous occasions in the previous years, the young Lithuanian Labutis was on the top again. In his semi-final, he got quite a heavy load of headache from Sergey Lutsker (Russia) but finally managed to win 7:5. In the final, the headache was obviously gone as the young gun crashed Tuomas Riipinen (Finland) by a final score 7:1. It would have been sweet revenge for the Finn for the last years Grand Final defeat in the final. The second third place winner was Joonas Saska (Estonia) who did his best to beat Riipinen, but this time he fell short as Riipinen won 7:4.

Polovinchuk claimed her second stage win

After winning her first MCBPL stage back in October 2016 Polovinchuk repeated her success by winning this year's inaugural stage in women’s division. She played great in her semi-final as she won over Dina Fatyhova (Russia) 6:2, but that was not all. She played brilliantly in the final as she left no chances for Tana Lace (Latvia) by a well deserved 6:0 win. Polina Chernik (Belarus) came close to clinch the second final spot instead of Lace when she lost to Lace in the hill-hill match.

After the great success of Margaret Fefilova who now is running high in the world stage, it is interesting to see whether Polovinchuk is able to keep her winning streak and be the dominant power of the women division or is there anyone to challenge her.

The historical Oldboys stage

Because of the popularity of the BPL, it was time to separate the women’s and old boy's divisions and therefore it was the first ever stage held only for the old boy's. The historical first stage win went to Latvia as Guntars Grinums won 6:3 over his fellow countryman Aleksandrs Kućmins. On his way to the final Grinums had to play against Zilvinas Cemnolonskis (Lithuania) who he won 6:4. The second semi-final did not provide that much entertainment as Kućmins got a comfortable 6:2 win over Aleksandr Śukin (Russia).

Organisers looking hopefully in the future

The organisers of the MCBPL were very content for another successful start to this event. „This year we are happy to welcome to our sponsors family Iwan Simonis and Aramith, both known as the top manufacturers of billiards cloth and balls in the industry. Adding these two brands to the many top industry brands on our sponsor's list is a clear indication and praise of our work, we are moving in the right direction. Therefore we want to praise the owners of the pool halls and all our sponsors, especially Mezz Cues as the main sponsor, for the continuing support providing us and the athletes even better-playing conditions than the past years. We are very happy for our cooperation and are looking forward to many successful years together,“ said the organisers Tomas Brikmanis and Juri Talu.

The perfect way to begin another season

The Lithuanian event, with 135 participants from Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Ukraine is a superb start for the new season. The organisers thank all the athletes, volunteers, fans and all other people and companies that were part of another enjoyable event. Big gratitude goes out to all the sponsors – Mezz Cues, Aramith, Iwan Simonis, Kamui, Aveiras, Turtle Rack Sheet, Entry, Bams Pool House, Hill-Hill billiards Club.

For further information please visit our web page www.balticpoolleague.eu
and Facebook www.facebook.com/balticpoolleague.