3-Cushion
The Turkish foursome of Tasdemir, Coklu, Capak and Salman has won the 60th edition of the Europa Cup. Title holder FC Porto, also the host, was their victim in the semifinals. The Dutch team SIS Schoonmaak was no match for the Turks in the final: 4-2 and one unfinished match because the Turkish lead in points was decisive.
World Cup winners Tayfun Tasdemir and Murat Naci Coklu were seen as the strong half of the Turkish team, but third and fourth players Can Capak and Gokhan Salman took matters into their own hands and gave Tekstil an enormous lead. Salman was 22-14 up over Jorissen after 8 innings, and Capak completely dominated Raimond Burgman: 24-1 after 9 innings. At that time, the match between Glenn Hofman and Tayfun Tasdemir was evenly balanced but Murat Naci Coklu had built up a good lead over Jean van Erp.
Capak was the first to finish, because Burgman, the best player for SIS this week, could never make a comeback. It ended 40-13 in 15 innings, which meant that SIS needed more than a 4-4 draw to make up. The other three players needed to win. Jorissen did very well to make up for his early deficit against Salman, and he finished first at 40-32 in 22 innings. But at that very moment, Coklu slammed the door by making his final points against van Erp: 40-20 in 21. The match between Hofman and Tasdemir no longer mattered, and it was stopped at 38-29 in Hofman's favor.
Semifinals:
The final, it has to be said, was a bit one-sided and the Turkish win was never really in doubt. In the semifinals on the other hand, tension was extremely high and the wins were decided in the very last minute.
Van Erp convincingly beat Jacob Haack-Sörensen
SIS took on the strong Danes: Nelin, Haack-Sörensen, Knudsen and Carlsen, who had demonstrated excellent form in the tournament. Carlsen recorded a win in only 13 innings (versus Ürküt), and the team produced an impressive combined average of 2.169 against the disappointing foursome of La Baule who did not survive the group stage. Nelin beat Hofman in a quality match (40-37 in 24) and Carlsen got past Jorissen, 40-34 in 37. Van Erp kept Jacob Haack from scoring, he won 40-24 in 26, and Burgman made the difference against Knudsen, winning 40-25 in only 16 innings. The 4-4 result meant that points made had to bring the decision, and the Dutch were in the final.
Gokhan Salman made the break under enormous pressure
Spectators in the FC Porto stronghold, the Estadio Do Dragao, hoped for a second straight final and a title defense by their foursome: Dani Sánchez, Dick Jaspers, Rui Manuel Costa and Joao Ferreira. Their match against FBN Tekstil BSK was as close as the Dutch / Danish confrontation, or even closer. A big win by Jaspers against Coklu (40-21 in 14) was neutralized by Capak's victory over Costa: 40-33 in 24. Tasdemir made an early run of 16 to build up a big lead over Sánchez: 21-2 at halftime. But the Spaniard made a spectacular comeback, and he was the first player to have match point. As strong as the Spaniard had been in the second half of the match, he could not make the final point. Three misses sealed his faith and Tayfun made it 40-39 in 16. Ferreira now needed a win, because a draw would be good enough for Tekstil. He finished first, but Salman only needed one in the equalizer and he coolly made it to send his team into the final they would later win.
FC Porto announced during the award ceremony that it will again host this European event next year.
Final ranking of the 60th Europa Cup:
1) FBN Tekstil BSK - Turkey
2) SIS Schoonmaak - Netherlands
3) FC Porto - Portugal
4) BK Gröndal - Denmark
5) L& B Ledermode - Netherlands
6) AS Laxovienne - France
7) Mecidiyeköy - Turkey
8) CB Paiporta - Spain
Group results:
A)
1 - Gröndal 4 - 1,516
2 - Porto 4 - 1,415
3 - L & B 2 - 1,378
4 - Mecidiyeöy - 2 - 1,350
B)
1 - Tekstil 5 - 1,564
2 - SIS 5 - 1,485
3 - Laxovienne 1 - 1,201
4 - Paiporta 1 - 1,193