3-Cushion
HERTEN - The only 23-year-old Dustin Jäschke is the surprising winner of the third German three cushion Masters. In the final match the new coming young man triumphed against Thorsten Frings 50-34 in 34 innings. Before the decisive match, Jäschke defeated Stefan Galla, one of the favourites, in the semi-finals 50-39 in forty innings. Martin Horn stumbled in the semi-finals over Thorsten Frings, in a match which was dominated by the outsider, who took an early lead (25-14 in 11), then felt Horn's hot breath on the back of his neck, (40-37, after a run of seven by the defending champion), but eventually finished it off in the final part to 50-38 in 23 innings.
Dustin Jäschke, who was known before from a third place at the Junior European championships 2011 in Athens behind Glenn Hoffman and David Martinez, described his great feeling after the victory in the Masters: ,,I never expected this and will need a few days to really believe it'', said the car salesman (Hyundai), who lives in the small town of Dinslaken Nordrhein-Westfalen and plays in the league for Bottrop (Germany), De Veemarkt (Netherlands) and De Ploeg (Belgium).
Jäschke started his career officially when he was ten, playing with his father, who was a player for 45 years on a lower level. ,,I really started when I was three, when I took a chair to play'', he tells with a smile. ,,I took lessons before, for five years, from Hans-Jürgen Kühl and now I'm going to practice with Martin Horn.''
The final match of the tournament, flawlessly organized again by Jens Eggers, was turned upside down after the break. Frings was leading 22-9, but after the stop Jäschke put up a scathing attack, levelled the match to 28-26 and then established his class. ,,The feeling and focus were suddenly there after the break'', he stated after the match. ,,I almost lived in a dream to the victory.''
The new German Master already had a strong warm up at the European championships in Brandenburg. In the individual tournament he defeated Goedert from Luxemburg with 30 in sixteen innings, but he lost narrowly to Nikos Polychronopoulos (30-27). In the nation tournament he was outplayed with Ronny Lindemann by the later winner Netherlands A. Dustin Jäschke lost to Raimond Burgman 30-25 in 19.
The final of the German Masters was missing to big favourites, Martin Horn and Stefan Galla. Horn won the two previous editions, had a few highlights again, including his match against Johann Schirmbrand (50-21 in 16) and runs of thirteen and sixteen, but lost the control at a decisive moment against Frings.
Stefan Galla had not been in danger until he faced Dustin Jäschke in the semi-finals. The later winner was leading 26-17 after fourteen innings, built it up to 39-27 in 26 and won 50-39 in 40 innings.
The top ten:
1 Dustin Jäschke 1.260
2 Thorsten Frings 1.280
3 Martin Horn 1.781
3 Stefan Galla 1.306
5 Markus Schönhoff 1.248
6 Marcel Decker 1.000
7 Johann Schirmbrand 1.308
8 Ronny Lindemann 1.119
9 Andreas Niehaus 1.045
10 Christos Christodoulidis 1.042.