3-Cushion
SAINT BREVINS-LES-PINS - The first topduel in the European championship between Frédéric Caudron and Dick Jaspers, ended in a victory for the Belgian. The Belgians beat the Netherlands in the group 2-0: in the other match Peter de Backer showed himself much too strong for Raimond Burgman.
Caudron and Jaspers played the crucial match, in which Caudron was leading from the start. The Belgian finished with a comforable advantage (30-18 in eleven innings, run of 9) and averaged 2.727. Peter de Backer jumped to the win against Raimond Burgman and left his Dutch opponent far behind: 30-13, averaging 1.500 against 0.650 for Burgman.
In the groups, France won his first meeting against the Czech Republic with the maximum score. Jérémy Bury had a strong start against Ivo Gazdos: the Frenchman won 30-17 in 15. Jérôme Barbeillon defeated Martin Bohac, who was one of the strongest players in the preliminaries: 30-24 in 24.
Christian Rudolph was an outstanding leader for Germany in the match against Egypt. Thanks to his win against Sameh Sidhon, the Germans took the lead. Markus Dömer built it up to 2-0 with a win against Ihab El Messery.
The Austrians are the leader in group H due to a 2-0 victory against Portugal. The match between Andreas Efler and Manuel Rui Costa was decided in the final sprint. Efler won 30-28.