Carom
BRANDENBURG - The European championship three-cushion is already missing two of its favorites after one session in the main tournament. Torbjörn Blomdahl, the number one in the world, was outplayed by Christian Rudolph. And even more surprising was the loss of Eddy Merckx, the world champioen, against the Portuguese Manuel Rui Costa.
The hero in the first round was a German (Rudolph), who suffered a neck hernia two years ago and is playing with a painfull shoulder now. He was world champion on time in the BWA years and last year became German champion.
There, in that title fight, he defeated Martin Horn, now at the European championships Torbjörn Blomdahl was the victim of a sudden resurgence in Rudolph's career. ,,I know I can beat all the top players in the world, but only if when I have a super good day,'' said Rudolph.
The other hero in the early hours was Manuel Rui Costa, the charming Portuguese, who after his victory beat with his fist on his heart showing how high the tension had been during the final innings.
The Portuguese closed the match with a small 3-run, with which he left Merckx on 40-33. Rui Costa could dominate the whole match, because Merckx had problems with the table and played without any confidence.
There were more surprises in the round, in which Filippos Kasidokostas, the reigning champion, started very well against Giorgio Mancini (40-26 in 20) and Dani Sánchez bested Dion Nelin in a promising match (40-27 of 24) with small runs of five (3) and seven.
Glenn Hofmann recorded a stunt by beating Tayfun Tademir 40-26 in 24 innings. The Turk played far below his normal level, Hofman did not show so much confidence in the qualifications, but now recovered with a wonderful game.
Roland Forthomme didn’t have any problem to overclass Nikos Polychronopoulos (40-20 in 24), Sameh Sidhom knocked out the number two of last year, Raimond Burgman in a final sprint 40-36 (25), including a run of 9 in the tenth inning.
Jérôme Barbeillon showed his form from the prelims and defeated Eddy Leppens in a very decent match, in which he started with 22 in 9 innings and closed 40-35 in 22.