Bahcelievler and Agipi show their power

ISTANBUL - Early signs can be deceptive, but for now it seems the Europa Cup for teams could well get its dream final between title holder Bahcelievler from Turkey and many time champions Agipi from France. The final Sunday is when all the decisions will fall. Both favorites showed remarkable dominance today, in the flight matches. The Turkish title holder looked practically invincible in the matches against Coral Colon and BC Deurne. The Belgians were defeated 8-0, the Spanish did only slightly better: 6-2.

In the other flight, Agipi performed on the same level, starting with an 8-0 win over FC Porto. The job was finished against Coral Colon (6-2), thanks mostly to an astounding Frédéric Caudron, who used just 12 innings (3.333) to beat Rubén Legazpi 40-10, with a run of 13. Marco Zanetti added to Agipi's advantage with a win over Peter Ceulemans (40-32 in 24). Bury could not repeat his good performance of the first round, he lost disappointingly to Jaime Sanchez: 40-33 (35). Jean-Christoph Roux put the 6-2 on the scoreboard in a lackluster match against Guirao: 40-32 in 49.

For BC Deurne, Dick Jaspers stayed close to Tayfun Tasdemir (40-38 in 28), but his teammates Eddy Merckx, Jean Paul de Bruijn and Davy van Havere were outclassed. Especially Merckx's pummeling was noteworthy. Lütfi Cenet conceded only 14 points to the twofold world champion: 40-14 in 18 innings). Murat Naci Coklu beat Jean Paul de Bruijn 40-29 (28) and Adnan Yüksel had no problems with Davy van Havere: 40-27 in 33.

The home crowd were treated to another flawless performance in the second match, when Bahcelievler won on three of the four tables against Coral Colon. Only Sergio Jimenez managed a win, against Lütfi Cenet (40-38 in 32). Carlos Crespo went neck and neck with Murat Naci Coklu, but lost in the home stretch by 40-37 in 27. Tayfun Tasdemir had started his team off with a fine victory over Polychronopoulos (40-24 in 21), and Adnan Yüksel was not severely tested against Jose Maria Mas (40-33 in 32).

Agipi, in the first match against FC Porto, had to dig deep, but rose to the occasion. The French, supported by the already legendary team chief Claude Fath, took a 4-0 lead before the break, with winners Jérémy Bury (40-10 in 22) and Jean-Christoph Roux (40-17 in 25) showing great form.

The two closing matches stayed close until the end: Frédéric Caudron crossed the line against Torbjörn Blomdahl after 23 innings: 40-34, Marco Zanetti edged Daniel Sanchez by just two points: 40-38.

The best match of the day was by Frédéric Caudron in 12 innings, ahead of Lütfi Cenet in 18 innings, Tayfun Tasdemir in 21, Marco Zanetti and Jérémy Bury in 22.

The semi's tomorrow (local time 9.00 and 11.00) are:

Bahcelievler-FC Porto
Agipi-BC Deurne.

The final is scheduled for 14.30 Turkish time.