'Dutch four' on top in balk-line 71/2

BRANDENBURG - The battle for gold in the balk-line 71/2 at the European championship will turn ino a fight of four Dutchmen against one Belgian, one Spaniard, one German and one Czech. Two of these Dutchmen were the stars of the qualification rounds. Raymund Swertz played his two 150-point matches in one inning and finished with the maximum average of 150.00. Sam van Etten won his first match in three innings and his second in one inning. The other finalists are Dave Chrisiani, Michel van Silfhout, Esteve Mata, Sven Daska, Marek Faus and Eddy Leppens.

This morning, Saturday, at 9:00am the quarterfinals will be played:
Swertz-Leppens
Van Etten-Faus
Christiani-Daske
Van Silfhout-Mata.

Raymund Swertz treated his two opponents to a demonstration of high class: against Willy Gérimont 150-3 in 1, against Thomas Nockemann 150-1 in 1 inning. "I feel a bit sick, but I was not disturbed by that in my matches'', the Dutchman commented. ''The nice thing about the second matches was that Sam van Etten and I went out almost in the same time just under 30 minutes. I was twenty seconds before Sam at the finish."

Sam van Etten needed 3 innings for his first win over Adam Kozak (150-3), in his second match against Jean-Francois Florent he also stormed to the finish in one inning. The Frenchman made 111 points from the spots.

Sven Daske secured his place in the top eight with a victory over Raul Cuenca, the title holder from Spain, who is therefore eliminated: 150-79 in 6. Marek Faus and the Greek Kostas Antonopoulos played a draw in the decisive match (150-150 in 11). The Czech was placed on average. Esteve Mata beat Arnim Kahofer 150-105 in 5, Dave Christiani defeated Danish Anders Henriksen 150-131 in 5 and Michel van Silfhout was the fourth Dutchman in the best eight by a win over Janis Ziogas (150-70 in 8 ). Eddy Leppens excaped in the last part. The Belgian lost his first match against Xavier Gretillat 150-140 in 3, then defeated Nikolaos Gérassimopoulos 150-68 in 4 and because the Greek won in the last match against Gretillat (150-79 in 4), Leppens was still placed .

The best eight for the knock-out:
1 Swertz 4-150.00-150
2 Van Etten 4-75.00-150
3 Christiani 4-30.00-84
4 Van Silfhout 4-27.27-112
5 Mata 4-27.27-113
6 Daske 4-17.64-134
7 Faus 3-18.75-64
8 Leppens 2-41.42-79.

                                                Sam van Etten's 1 inning match: long tall Dutchman with the petite Belgian referee