147academy player Mark Tuite from Ireland won the 2014 European Masters Championship in Sofia Bulgaria last week. In the final he defeated Belgium’s Alain Vandersteen in a trilling final frame decider that had everyone biting their nails for over 4 hours of exciting hard match-play snooker. It was a very proud day for my 147academy as I have trained both players in my academy over the last few seasons. Each one of them had superb wins in reaching this European final but in our sport there is always a winner and loser but I am so proud of them both as they gave it everything on the table.
The first four frames of the day were shared before the interval but Vandersteen stole the 5th frame 65-62 on the black ball to go 3-2 ahead despite a 53 break by Tuite and needing a snooker on the pink and black. The Belgian then followed that up by knocking in a great 99 break to take a 4-2 lead and looked in control of the match before Tuite took the 7th frame 53-21 to keep him in the running.
Turning point in match
Alain then made a huge error to leave Tuite back into the match when Alain made the error of rolling up behind a free ball to snooker Tuite. This being a foul Alain left himself snookered on the last red and Tuite eventually went on to win the frame and get right back into this match. Mark then took the lead 5-4 thanks to a solid 50 break only for Vandersteen to force the decider thanks to a superb 42 break of his own to show his class under pressure. The final frame was a nervy affair and both players had their chances but it was Tuite who prevailed and he was crowned the 2014 European Masters Champion.
Mark had played great snooker and produced some memorable performances especially from the knockout stages on where he defeated Wayne Brown from England, Rune Kampe from Denmark and especially Darren Morgan from Wales who was the defending Champion on his way to the final. Well done to Mark on winning the title and to Alain on reaching the final. The Belgium cueist has had a great 12 months in reaching the 2013 IBSF Team Masters final, 2014 EBSA Team Masters final and now the EBSA Masters singles final and I believe the best is still to come for the talented Belgium.
Mark was presented with the trophy at the closing ceremony and I am so proud of the way Mark has listened and practiced over the past few seasons. He was amazing in Bulgaria and the win meant the Irish celebrated his famous victory into the early hours.
