3-Cushion
PORTO - The European Cup three cushion for club teams has started in Porto for a marathon of 144 matches in the pre-rounds. The run-up must lead to the final rounds on Saturday and Sunday. FC Porto's billiard arena with eight match tables in two halls is the stage on which 96 players, together with four players from reigning champion FC Porto, will perform this week. The Danish team BK Gröndal had the best start with 1.758 of average as a team total on the opening day.
Dion Nelin, the number on in the team, played the best match of the day against Salvatore Papa: 40-17 in 17 innings. The Dane was at the table in a white t-shirt and sneakers, because his luggage didn't arrive in time. ,,I can play my next match in billiard clothes, luckily, because my baggage arrives this morning (Thursday),'' said Nelin at the breakfast in Porto this morning. The Danish team, which is seen as one of the contenders, had a smooth start meeting the Italians of La Biglia (8-0 win), but still faces two strong opponents in the group of four. Club Cartagena and La Baule played a draw against each other.
Six groups of four teams will play in the pre-rounds over three days: the six group winners and the best runner up of the six groups qualify for the final rounds, in which FC Porto is added as the titleholder to the final field of eight teams.
BK Gröndal (1.758), SIS Cleaning from the Netherlands (1.600), Club Billar Paiporta from Spain (1.485), Mecidiyeköy from Turkey (1.428), Laxou from France (1.379), L&B Ledermode from the Netherlands (1.376) and Varde BK from Denmark (1.336) were the best winners on the opening day. Gröndal's line-up was with Dion Nelin, Jacob Haack Sörensen, Brian Knudsen and Tonny Carlsen. Nelin was the best of 48 matches on the opening day with 40 in 17 innings, followed by Raimond Burgman and Thomas Andersen with 40 in 19, Jacob Haack Sörensen, Glenn Hoffman and Antonio Montes in 20 innings.
The most striking results were the draw of La Baule and Club Cartagena with a nice victory by David Martinez on Jérémy Bury (40-38 in 25). The Turks of Mecidiyeköy took an 8-0 victory over the Belgians from Op de Meir. SIS Cleaning also won with 8-0 against Lausanne.
Tekstil BSK (Tasdemir, Coklu, Capak, Salman) beat Bottroper 7-1, but had a moderate team score (1.185). The Dutch from L&B Ledermode, led by Eddy Merckx, lost to Paiporta 5-3. Javier Palazón defeated Merckx 40-23 in 24 innings.
Today (Thursday) the matches continue at 10.00 West European time. All matches can be seen live on kozoom.com.