3-Cushion
ELVERSBERG - The battle for the German 3-cushion team title has turned into a three horse race after only five rounds. Bergisch Gladbacher, BC München and BC Magdeburg have broken away from the field. Bergisch Gladbacher has the maximum score after Sunday's win over Magdeburg (8-0). Torbjörn Blomdahl, lead player for Bergisch, had mixed feelings about his weekend. On Saturday, when his team narrowly beat BCC Witten 5-3, the Swede lost on a single carom to Eddy Leppens (40-39 in 20), on Sunday he beat Dick Jaspers in the top match against Magdeburg with a 40-26 in 18 innings score. Eddy Leppens had a similar experience, when on Sunday he lost 40-39 to Caudron, having had a 31-16 lead.
Dick Jaspers shone on Saturday when he beat Caudron 40-23 in 15. The second board match between Dion Nelin and Peter Ceulemans was also noteworthy. The Belgian had a 27-22 lead after his run of 12, but the Dane instantly replied with a run of 9. Final score: 40-34 in 19.
Bergisch Gladbacher took the lead in the Bundesliga, when they faced undefeated Magdeburg and mercilessly whipped the northeners 8-0. Torbjörn Blomdahl-Dick Jaspers (40-26 in 18), Martin Horn-Dion Nelin (40-26 in 26), Nick Polychronopoulos-Markus Schönhoff (40-31 in 28) and Jens Eggers-Christian Zöllner (40-26 in 31) all ended with the Bergisch player as the winner.
BC Elversberg got beaten 2-6 by Magdeburg on Saturday, but made a comeback on Sunday. Jaspers had beaten Caudron and Nelin got the better of Ceulemans, Christian Zöllner was the third winner for Magdeburg when he beat Volker Marx. Klaus Bösel saved the honor against Markus Schönhof.
BC München, with a day off on Sunday, is one point back in second place. Marco Zanetti's team beat Ravensburger on Saturday by 8 points to 0. Johann Schirmbrand was München's best player when he got past Murat Gökmen (40-13 in 22, run of 13). The reigning champion played without Tasdemir and Coklu.
Martin Horn (Bergischer) and Savas Bulut (Witten) played a draw on Saturday (40-40 in 30). It was enough to secure the 5-3 team win, because Nick Polychronopoulos (against Ronny Lindemann, 40-18 in 23 innings) and Jens Eggers (against Volker Baten, 40-37 in 38) made no mistake.
GT Buer brought back an excellent win from Sterkrade, with a club record team average of 1.403.
Krefeld-Bottroper ended 6-2, with a win for Thorsten Frings against Christian Rudolph (40-29 in 23), Gerwin Valentijn against Anno de Kleine (40-17 in 20) and Barry van Beers against Dustin Jäschke (40-18 in 23).
Nikos Polychronopoulos: a winner for Bergisch.