Carom
DAMPREMY - The second Belgian BTS tournament of this season was won by Eddy Leppens, who showed a great supremacy. On the final day he defeated in the semi-finals Peter Ceulemans 40-10 in 13 innings and in the final Kenny Miatton 40-11 in 19. ,,I just had a hick-up for a few weeks, but now I feel super again'', said Leppens, who played 2.068 average over the entire tournament.
The organizer of the Superprestige later in the year earns with his victory important points for the ranking. Eddy Merckx, the leader of the ranking, played an excellent first round, but had to cancel for the final round, because he plays the final of the Portuguese team championship with FC Leca this weekend.
The international calendar is quite often a small problem for the BTS events. Frédéric Caudron had to cancel the final of the last BTS tournament in Lier last year.
Therefore Miatton Kenny, who was defeated 40-31 by Merckx in the quarterfinals, returned in the tournament on the final day. He defeated surprisingly Roland Forthomme with penalty shoots (40-40 in 24, Miatton won 3-1), but had to bow for the superior Leppens in the final match.
The second tournament, after Eddy Merckx won the first, was completely dominated by Leppens, who also excelled in the preliminary stages. He started 40 in 17 against Tom Persyn and then defeated Frederic Caudron 40-28 in 18 beurten.
Eddy Leppens: ,,I suffered my bad period during the Dutch playoffs, but could quickly recharge the batteries. And I could show it here: I finished my last four matches in 17 18, 13 and 19 innings. There was only one bad match, against Bart van Hove, when I led with 30 in 13 innings, but unfortunately I needed 35 innings to finish.''
Remarkable matches were furthermore Eddy Merckx' win against Rudy de Laet, 40 in 11 innings (3,636), Eddy Leppens' start against Marc Dellaert in 14 innings (2.857), Peter Ceulemans, who defeated Jef Gijsels in the eighth finals 40 - 15 in 15 in 18 innings and Ronnie Daniels, Caudron and Spoormans who won matches in 20 innings.
Eddy Merckx, who won the Belgian championship and the BTS tournament in Geraardsbergen, tops the list ahead of Eddy Leppens, Roland Forthomme, Peter Ceulemans and Frédéric Caudron.
Les Amis du Cercle in Dampremy was the organizer of this second BTS event.
The third tournament is at Mr. 100 in Lier. Kurt Ceulemans, Francis Forton, Pascal Claus and Martin Spoormans have already qualified.
