Carom
BLANKENBERGE - Two top favorites and two outsiders for the title launch the battle in the Belgian championship three-cushion tonight (20.30). Eddy Merckx and Eddy Leppens are last year's finalists in Blankenberge. Jef Philipoom and Peter Ceulemans are more or less surprising players in the semi final. The Blankenberge Casino is slowly preparing for the show down in all disciplines.
Frédéric Caudron lost his chance to win the gold medal in three cushion and may focus only on the title in one cushion from now. The multiple champion was defeated by a former world champion, Jef Philipoom, who beat him in the early session of the penultimate match day.
Jef Philipoom signed up for the sensation of the tournament so far: Frédéric Caudron, the player who dominates the three cushion discipline in his country together with Eddy Merckx, had a promising start, but was passed by two successive runs of Jef Philipoom (7 and 9) to 26-7. The tension rose as the match appoached the end. Caudron came back from 37-33 down to 37-37, but Philipoom played the executor in the 26th inning and triumphed 40-37.
,,The balls were a bit more friendly for me than for Caudron'', Philipoom said later in typical billiard words. The mustachioed billiard player from Pulderbos, who works in a casino and therefore must feel at home in this coastal location, could certainly be proud to join the stars in this title race with some professional top guns.
Peter Ceulemans, the other semi-finalist, also with a full job, had a relatively easy match against Peter De Backer. Actually, he was never in danger after 17-9 in eight innings. Ceulemans finished at 40-21 in 22.
,,My only tough match so far was against my uncle Kurt'', said Peter about his tournament until now. ,,I was far behind, but escaped with two high runs at the end.'' For his last three matches, Ceulemans only needed innings. He is a dangerous outsider for Eddy Merckx.
The reigning champion dealt in the quarterfinals with one of his predecessors: Roland Forthomme. The match was already decided in the eighth inning, when Merckx ran out to 22-9 with a run of seven. The always combative Forthomme could not close the gap and was far behind at the finish: 40-25 in 22.
The most spectacle in this round came from the cue of Eddy Leppens, who doesn't look tired at all after his marathon of matches at this championship. The breakaway in his match against Steven van Acker (15 in the fifteenth inning) was devastating and put his opponent on a backlog of 33-10. The final victory was no longer in danger: 40-19 in 17.
Therefore Leppens, who is still in de race for three golds, the best winner in the quarter-finals.
The semifinals tonight at 20:30:
Eddy Merckx-Peter Ceulemans
Eddy Leppens-Jef Philipoom.