Artistic
MARSEILLE - The sixteen finalists at the Euro Grand Prix artistic in Marseille are known: the draw has coupled sixteen opponents for the knockout phase. Today, Friday, from 16.00, the first four matches in the eighth finals will be played, tomorrow (Saturday) at 10.00 is the second part. The SABM l'Academie de Billard in the port of Marseille, with its four match tables and eight English pool billiards, witnessed the preliminaries in the past two days. The eight seeded players and eight qualifiers showed up for the draw.
The Frenchman Kevin Tran finished on top in the qualifications with 310 points, ahead of Xavier Fonellosa with 301 and Olivier Panis with 292. Erik Vijverberg just fell out of the main draw as the number nine with 259 points.
The most notable match in the first knockout round is the encounter between Jean Reverchon, the number one in the world and the Dutchman Sander Jonen, with a combined five world titles and three European titles to their names. Reverchon took three world titles, Jonen two. The Frenchman was twice the best in Europe, the Dutchman one time. The mutual score between the two is 8-3 in favour of Jonen.
Father and son Juan Carlos and Hector Cuadrado both show up in the final round of the Grand Prix as the numbers four and five in the rankings. The young Dutchman Jop de Jong, who played his first international tournament, was sixth.
The top eight in the preliminaries:
1 Kevin Tran, 310 points
2 Xavier Fonellosa 301
3 Olivier Panis 292
4 Hector Cuadrado 291
5 Juan Carlos Cuadrado 288
6 Jop de Jong 285
7 Manfred Hekerle 269
8 Sander Jonen 267.
The draw:
Friday 16.00:
Gümüs-Panis
Toure-Tran
Bax-Hekerle
Hammen-Juan Carlos Cuadrado
Saturday 10.00 uur:
Cin-De Jong
Daelman-Fonellosa
Vervliet-Hector Cuadrado
Jonen-Reverchon.