Austria’s Daniel HABESOHN is among the top European players invited this year to compete at the 2021 POMEGRANATE Europe Top 16 Cup in Thessaloniki on 18 and 19 September.
HABESOHN will be joined by: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Germany) Mattias FALCK (Sweden) Liam PITCHFORD (England) Patrick FRANZISKA (Germany) Simona GAUZY (France) Marcos FREITAS (Portugal) Robert GARDOS (Austria) Kristian KARLSSON (Sweden) Darko JORGIC (Slovenia) Jonathan GROTH (Denmark) Tomislav PUCAR (Croatia) Yang WANG (Slovakia) Emmanuel LEBESSON (France) Andrej GACINA (Croatia) Panagiotis GIONIS (Greece).
HABESOHN is the no.14 seed and this will be his third appearance; he played in the previous two editions in Montreux.
“I have two totally different memories about my last two appearances at the European Top 16. The first one I played fantastic and reached the Semifinal and on the second I played incredibly bad. So i would be happy with a performance somewhere inbetween ” stated HABESOHN.
Do you have special moments from the events?
“There were three special moments: when my brother was with me when my wife was with me and when I reached the semifinal.”
What is your goal this time?
“I want to reach the quarterfinal and with a good shape I think it is possible.”
Who is the main favorite?
“My opinion is that Dima (Ovtcharov) has showed an incredible performance by winning the bronze medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. I think he is the big favorite for this tournament.”
HABESOHN was also playing at the Olympics.
“My performance at the 2020 Olympic Games was good. I am satisfied with my games even though I lost last in Round of 32 in a close seven games encounter against Freitas. I think the Japanese handled the pandemic situation very good in the village. Without strict rules and hygienic guidelines there would not be a possibility to host the Olympics.”
Did you have a break after the Olympics?
“I did not really have a long break. I took just nine days off. Because of the close calendar this season and because of the Pandemic situation we did not go too far. I just stayed in the Czech Republic with my family.”
How will you prepare for the POMEGRANATE Europe Top 16 Cup?
“There is no special preparation for the Top 16. I have three German League matches one week before…so this will be part of the preparation. And the last days before the event i will focus on small things in practice and on my family ” explained HABESOHN.
