German teams victorious in men’s and women’s European Minigolf Team Championships. Germany also wins Men’s Strokeplay and Women’s Matchplay titles. Sweden wins the women’s Strokeplay title and Italy win the Men’s Matchplay competition.

The European Minigolf Sport Federation’s European Minigolf Championships was hosted by the Clube de Minigolfe do Porto in Porto, Portugal between the 29th August and the 1st September. Held on the club’s two 18-hole Minigolf courses a total of 121 players from fifteen countries competed in the biannual tournament with a total of six European Titles contested.

Germany won the EMF Men’s European Championships with a team score of 1147. Switzerland was second and Austria was in third-place. The victorious German team consisted of Marcel Noack, Dennis Kapke, Achim Braungart-Zink, Walter Erlbruch, Alexander Geist, Harald Erlbruch and Martin Stöckle.

Twelve teams competed in the men’s team competition, with Sweden, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Russia and Great Britain also taking part. A total of 87 players competed in the men’s EMF European Championships.

In the EMF Women’s European Championships Germany was victorious with a team score of 589. Austria defeated the Netherlands in a sudden-death play-off for the silver medal. The winning German team players were Anne Bollrich, Nicole Gundert-Greiffendorf, Bianca Zodrow and Stefanie Kern.

Eight teams took part in the women’s team tournament, with Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Russia and Portugal also competing. 34 players contested the women’s EMF European Championships.

The Czech Republic, France and Hungary did not field full teams, but were also represented by players in the EMF European Championship tournaments.

The twelve-round European Men’s Strokeplay Championships was won by Germany’s Achim Braungart-Zink. Reto Sommer of Switzerland was the runner-up, with Germany’s Harald Erlbruch in third-place.

The twelve-round European Women’s Strokeplay Championships was won by Sweden’s Sara Karlsson. Natasja Klarenbeek of the Netherlands was the runner-up, with Anne Bollrich of Germany in third-place.

The European Men’s Matchplay Championship was won by Italy’s Paolo Porta. Porta defeated Austria’s Herbert Ziegler in the final. Ziegler had defeated Germany’s Achim Braungart-Zink in the first semi-final, with Porta beating Sweden’s Jonas Gustafsson in the second semi-final. In the bronze medal match Braungart-Zink defeated Gustafsson.

The European Women’s Matchplay Championship was won by Germany’s Anne Bollrich. In the final Bollrich was victorious over Austria’s Karin Heschl. In the semi-finals Heschl had defeated Sara Karlsson of Sweden, while Bollrich had beaten teammate Bianca Zodrow. In the bronze medal contest Zodrow beat Karlsson.

In the WMF World Minigolf Ranking List for 2012 Germany is at number one, with Sweden at two and Austria in third of 31 countries.

The German teams will defend the European title on home soil as the 2014 EMF European Minigolf Championships will take place in Neutraubling, Bavaria, Germany.

The World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) is the umbrella organisation of Minigolf sports association’s worldwide and continental associations in Asia, Europe and America. The WMF is a member of SportAccord, the General Association of International Sports Federations. The WMF organises biannual world championships for youth and elite players, as well as biannual Continental Championships in Europe, Asia and the USA. There are four minigolf systems recognised by the WMF; Concrete, Miniaturegolf, Feltgolf and Minigolf Open Standard (MOS). For more information please visit http://www.minigolfsport.com

Links:
• World Minigolf Sport Federation http://www.minigolfsport.com
• European Minigolf Sport Federation http://www.minigolf-europe.org
• Official website of the 2012 EMF European Championships http://www.minigolfporto2012.com
• Results of the EMF European Championships Team Competitions http://www.fp-minigolfe.com/results/119/result.htm
• Results of the EMF European Championships Strokeplay Competitions http://www.jfsantos.net/bangolf/ec2012/result.htm
• Results of the EMF European Championships Matchplay Competitions http://www.jfsantos.net/bangolf/ec2012_matchplay/result.htm
• Minigolfnews.com http://minigolfnews.com/

For further information please contact:
Dr Gerhard Zimmermann, WMF President, Email: president@minigolfsport.com
Evgeny Kaplun, WMF Media Manager, Email: mediamanager@minigolfsport.com
Richard Gottfried, WMF Media Committee Member, Email: marketing@minigolf.org.uk
Web: http://www.minigolfsport.com
Email: office@minigolfsport.com