Eddy Merckx' 15-run highlight in Lommel

LOMMEL - The first group win at the Kimchi Superprestige went to Roland Forthomme and Eddy Merckx. Two of four groups have been played in the tournament with sixteen seeded players from the Belgian ranking. Today (Wednesday) and tomorrow the pre-rounds are concluded with three sessions each in the evening starting at 6.00 pm. Frédéric Caudron will show up today, Eddy Leppens tomorrow in the Adelberg arena in Lommel. The averages are modest for the time being. Wesley de Jaeger, who was eliminated by Eddy Merckx and Peter Ceulemans, has the best average with 1.409 of eight players in the first flights.

The highlight over two days was Eddy Merckx 15-run in his match against Wesley de Jaeger. When he launched his match, Merckx came back from being far behind and eventually took the win: 40-28 in 21 innings. None of the four seeded players remained unbeaten. Roland Forthomme and Francis Forton finished in Group A with 4 match points, Eddy Merckx and Peter Ceulemans ended Group B with two victories and one loss.

Roland Forthomme had secured for a place in the quarters after two sessions and lost his last match against Patrick Kesteloot 40-33 in 25. Francis Forton and Ronny Daniels competed for the second place behind Forthomme in the final round. Forton controlled his nerves and won 40-37 in 34.

Peter Ceulemans, who lost his first match against Jef Philipoom (40-30 in 28), took his last chance with both hands: after his victory over De Jaeger (40-25 in 22), Ceulemans defeated Merckx in the last match 40-31 in 31. De Jaeger took his only win against Jef Philipoom in the last round: 40-34 in 23.

The group rankings:

Group A:
1 Roland Forthomme 4-1.3951-10
2 Francis Forton 4-1.156-9
3 Ronny Daniels 2-1.313-7
4 Patrick Kesteloot 2-1.104-7

Group B:
1 Eddy Merckx 4-1.405-15
2 Peter Ceulemans 4-1.316-8
3 Wesley de Jaeger 2-1.409-10
4 Jef Philipoom 2-1.3077-9.

Today, Wednesday, the group with Frédéric Caudron, Kurt Ceulemans, Ronny Brants and Kenny Miatton comes to action.

Peter Ceulemans was strong in the final round: victory over Merckx