3-Cushion
LA BAULE - At the end of a flawless demonstration, La Baule was the great winner in the meeting with CetSi Morangis. The match in group A of the French team competition meant that the reigning champion is qualified for the playoffs. The team La Baule with Frédéric Caudron, Jérémy Bury, Jean Paul de Bruijn and Mikaël Devogelaere is among the best four. CetSi Morangis has to enforce the qualification in the last match against Colmar.
The top match in the meeting in La Baule between Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Merckx ended in a victory for the world champion. Caudron went to the break with a 25-9 lead in 11 innings. Merckx then came back into the match and was only two points down (29-27 in 17), but in the final part Caudron dominated again irresistibly and won 50-38 in 25 innings.
That was the finishing touch, that
eventually lead to a comfortable 8-0 for the champion. The most tension match was between Jérémy Bury and Eddy Leppens. The Frenchman took victory with the minimal margin: 50-49 in 40 innings.
At the break, La Baule already led 4-0 by victories of Jean Paul de Bruijn and Mikaël Devogelaere. The Dutchman went along with Jean-Christophe Roux to 33-32 in 18, De Bruijn, on his best in the last part, decided the game in his favour in the 38th inning. Mikaël Devogelaere set his attack against Jean Reverchon at 22-21 with two runs of 7. Then he paved his way to victory with 1.667 of average: 50-31.
La Baule scored a team average of 1.623 against 1.268 for Cetsi Morangis. The Parisians still play against Colmar, the winner of that qualifies as number two in this group.