3-Cushion
SLUISKIL - Torbjörn Blomdahl traveled from Schiltigheim to Sluiskil on Saturday night with an euphoric feeling. Thanks to resounding victories against Ruben Legazpi and Daniel Sánchez, the Swede was no more expected, but brilliantly qualified for the next round of the Agipi Masters. Today he had to play with the title holder in the Dutch league, the team of Van Donge and De Roo, against Delta/Fast in Sluiskil. Blomdahls opponent was not Jean Paul de Bruijn, who had to play at in Rosmalen to qualify for the Grand Dutch (the pentathlon). The experienced and tactically strong Belgian Peter de Backer moved one position and was opposed to Blomdahl.
The virtually unbeatable Swede in Schiltigheim this time could not grow to great heights in Sluiskil. ,,It was totally different today, I was not half the player that I was the day before'', Blomdahl said. De Backer played a very smart match. ,,You cannot only attack against players like Blomdahl'', he declared. ,,I had to play a tactical match, with my concentration on the defense, trying to score when it was possible.''
The Belgian triumphed 50-40 in 36 innings. It was the only win for his team against the leader, because Dick Jaspers defeated Eddy Leppens 50-32 in 22 innings, Jean van Erp grapped the match against Glenn Hofman with two runs of eight at the end (50-30) and Ruud van Nieuwenburg beated the substitute Berry Dallinga 50-36.
The Crystal Kelly team stayed on the lead, with an adventage of one point to Van Donge en De Roo. Frédéric Caudron was the only loser in the team. Jef Philipoom, not in his best shape in the qualifying rounds for the Agipi Masters, recovered and defeated Caudron 50-35 in 30 innings. Frans van Kuyk, Raimond Burgman and Raymond Ceulemans repaired the damage for Crystal Kelly and left Utrecht with a team victory.
Marco Zanetti travelled to the Netherlands for the important match in the lower regions of the competition between De Vrachtkar and Verbrugge Terminals. The Italian lost the only (against Martin Spoormans, 50-48) for his team. John Loncelle sparkled after a brilliant start with a 50-18 in 21 innings against Ronny Daniëls.
Michael Nilsson continued with a flawless match after his wonderful performance in the Agipi round. The Swede now beat Eddy Merckx 50-34 in 28 innings. His team, A1 Billiards, had to leave the 6-2 victory to TOVV.nl/MCR.
Snellen Recycling fulfilled his reputation and the rush to the third place on the ranking with a 6-2 victory in the subtopper against Emar Logistics. Peter Ceulemans had a bad start against Frank Martens, but still won 50-37. Roland Forthomme also had a slow started, but finished with flair against Francis Forton: 31 points in the last thirteen innings.