Ice Cap In Europe
Kristjan Helgason from Iceland has been seeded Number One for the Knock Out stages of the 2010 European Championships in Bucharest
Seven of the eight men's group winners won all seven of their matches, with only Andrew Pagett of Wales dropping a match.
Former professional Kristjan Helgason lost only four frames during the group stages to edge Kurt Maflin and Jamie Jones into second place, as they dropped five frames.
A record nineteen countries have got players through to the knock out stages, another sign of the upsurge in the standard of snooker right across Europe.
For the first time Czechoslovakia and Ukraine qualified for the Last 32, while the European strongholds such as Germany, Finland, Belgium, Holland, Poland, Malta, Cyprus, as well as the UK countries, are all well represented.
Defending champion David Hogan from Ireland will face the European play off finalist of 2007, Roy Fernandez of Israel, while last year's runner up, Mario Fernandez, also of Ireland, takes on another Israeli, David Vitzman.
Hogan shares the high break at present with England's Kuldesh Johal. they have both knocked in a magnificent 141 total clearance. There have been 24 centuries so far in the Men's event.
In the Masters event there was a three way tie for Number One spot after the groups with the two Welshmen Darren Morgan and Philip Williams tied with Denmark's Allan Norvak. The names were drawn out of a hat and Norvak took the Number One spot, leaving the Welshmen seeded to meet in the semi finals.
Ireland's Brendan Thomas has posted the best break in the Masters Groups with 111, and Llanelli's Philip Williams has run in 106.
The Ladies also had three players tied at the top, for the first time ever. Defending champion Wendy Jans from Belgium had an identical record to Anna Mazhirina from Russia and newcomer Diana Stateczny of Germany. Stateczny recently partnered Ann-Katrin Hirsch to victory in the European Team Championship in Malta.
Wendy Jans currently holds the high break in the ladies event with 56.
