3-Cushion
LA BAULE - The French star team of La Baule has won the national team championship in its own billiard arena on the French coast for the third time in a row. Team boss Joël Switala could celebrate the title with his blue brigade after the final day with four teams. La Baule triumphed in the final against Andernos, the team of St. Quentin became third ahead of Colmar. The winning team consisted of Frédéric Caudron, Tayfun Tasdemir, Jérémy Bury and Mikael Devogelaere. The championship was already decided before the last match between Tayfun Tasdemir and Roland Forthomme had finished.
The hat-trick was achieved in a final in which the reigning champion was superior again. In the semi-final against Colmar, only the leading player Frédéric Caudron was defeated by Murat Naci Coklu in the last innings, when the decision on team win already had been made. Coklu won 40-39 in 16 innings. The best winner in that semi-final was Tasdemir, besting Dion Nelin 40-31 in 13 innings. Jérémy Bury and Mikael Devogelaere took care of the 4-0 before the break by victories over Boutet and Riotto in 26 and 32 innings.
Andernos was not threatened by St. Quentin, that missed his two Spaniards Martinez and Zapata, in the other semi-final. The young French team, led by Gwendal Maréchal, was beaten 8-0 by Andernos with Nikos Polychronopoulos as the best winner against Maréchal (40-17 in 20) and Roland Forthomme with an even bigger margin over Kévin Perrotin (40-14 in 21) ). Before the break, Connesson and Barbeillon won the matches against Duriez and Rouaud in 43 and 36 innings.
St. Quentin won the match for the third place against Colmar with a surprisingly big score, 8-0. Most striking was Maréchal's win over Coklu: 40-26 in 19. Perrotin beat Nelin 40-28 in 33, before the break the wins were for Rouaud and Duriez in 37 and 32 innings.
La Baule started the final energetically. Jérémy Bury left Jérôme Barbeillon behind 40-30 in 23 innings, Mikael Devogelaere defeated Francis Connesson 40-26 in 37. After the ouverture, it was a walk in the park for the leaders of La Baule to secure the title. Caudron eventually did it with a win over Polychronopoulos: 40-27 in 18. Forthomme led against Tasdemir at that moment 29-16 in 16, but that match was stopped after the decision had been made.