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Bizarre finish in Germany: Witten champion

03/26/2018

Published by frits bakker

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© Jenny Assmann
The Witten champion team after a thrilling last weekend

HERTEN - On the final day of the German team competition, Bergisch Gladbacher was knocked down as the leader and BCC Witten took the title. Four teams finished with the same points (22), the championship was won by Witten with the better game points. The team was crowned champion in Germany for the third time in his history. Bergisch Gladbacher, BC München and BC Magdeburg were defeated in the final sprint. The two title favourites, Bergisch and Witten, both lost 6-2 on the last Sunday. For Ronny Lindemann, who plays for Witten from 2000, it was his third title after the championships in 2013 and 2014 with among others Eddy Leppens, Jacob Haack Sörensen and Markus Dömer. Lindemann: ,,BCC Witten is a big club with eighty members, the main sponsors are Stadtwerke Witten and Ostermann."

The last double weekend turned out into a thriller for the teams on top. Bergisch Gladbacher suffered a defeat on Saturday in the away match against BC Magdeburg. Peter Ceulemans was beaten by Dick Jaspers (40-15 in 15) and Pierre Soumagne failed against Dion Nelin: 40-29 in 21. The match between Markus Schönhof and Dustin Jäschke brought the full win to Magdeburg. Jäschke spoiled a big, 15-points lead under pressure, missed the match ball at the end and lost 40-39 in 29 innings.

On that first day of the double weekend, BCC Witten, with Eddy Leppens, bested Bottrop with the maximum score (8-0). Therefore the two leaders had the same match points with only one match to go. Eddy Leppens defeated Jean van Erp after a strong chase (40-35 in 27), Jacob Haack-Sörensen showed his class with a victory over Christian Rudolph: 40-29 in 16 and Ronny Lindemann won the match vs Anno de Kleine 40 -31 in 30. BC Elversberg lost his last chances in Berlin by a 6-2 loss. Martin Horn won at center court the match against Javier Palazón 40-28 in 23.

On Sunday, BCC Witten started as the biggest contender thanks to the lead in match points. Witten played an away match against GT Buer, Bergisch an away match against BC International in Berlin. At the end, Witten took the title. The champion team, now with Jacob Haack Sörensen as the leading player, needed the same score as Bergisch Gladbacher at least to win the title. And that happened after an unimaginable apotheosis at both locations. Witten lost 6-2, Bergisch even 8-0.

Before the break in Herten, BCC Witten was behind 4-0 against GT Buer, but to make it even more exciting, Bergisch Gladbacher in Berlin also faced a 4-0 deficit. The leading players then had to force the decision in the second part. For BCC Witten, Ronny Lindemann won his match against Markus Galla in 24 innings, while Haack-Sörensen lost to Stefan Galla in 19 innings. That resulted in a 6-2 loss for BCC Witten. In Berlin, after a thrilling finish, the home team was the better in all matches: 8-0. Martin Horn defeated Peter Ceuelmans 40-35 in 30 and Cengiz Karaca beat Pierre Soumagne 40-33 in 29. The match thus resulted in an 8-0 victory for BC International. BCC Witten, after that news, could start the celebration of the championship.

BC Munich ended with a win over Erlangen also with 22 points, but is third in the final ranking due to the game points. In the match between BC Magdeburg and BC Elversberg, there was a striking match between Dick Jaspers and Javier Palazón. The Dutch missed the match ball in the 24th inning (39-31), then Palazón finished with nine.

The results of the last rounds:
BC Magdeburg - Bergisch-Gladbacher BC 6-2
Bottroper BA - BCC Witten 0-8
GT Buer - RW Krefeld 6-2
BC International - BC Elversberg 6-2

Sunday:
BC Munich - ATSV Erlangen 5-3
BC Magdeburg - BC Elversberg 6-2
Bottroper BA - RW Krefeld 6-2
GT Buer - BCC Witten 6-2
BC International - Bergisch-Gladbacher BC 8-0.

 

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