3-Cushion
LA BAULE - The strong team of La Baule has managed to extend the French title in the main division for teams. That happened in the city of the champions, where La Baule beat the team Cetsi Morangis in the final. The battle for the gold team medal was played on a very high level. Frédéric Caudron, Jérémy Bury, Jean-Paul de Bruijn and Michael Devogelaere took the final with 1.683 as a team average, the Parisians with Eddy Merckx, Birol Uymaz, Jean-Chrostophe Roux and Jean Reverchon were the losers with 1.612. Birol Uymaz was the substitute for Eddy Leppens, who played in the Dutch league final.
The tone was already set in the first matches of the final. Jean Paul de Bruijn and Jean-Christophe Roux played a great match. The Dutchman dominated, the Frenchman tried to level, until De Bruijn took advantage at 37-29 and won the match 50-39 in 20 innings: De Bruijn, 2.500, Roux, 1.950. At the same time, Mikaël Devogelaere had a much better start than his opponent Jean Reverchon with a 34-12 lead after 17 innings. The final stage was more difficult for the home player, who nevertheless won 50-34 in 37. Therefore, La Baule had a 4-0 lead on the scoreboard.
The second half was for the leading players with the matches Caudron-Merckx and Uymaz-Bury. Because of the 4-0, Morangis had to win both matches and La Baule was the winner when it scored 72 points over two matches. The duel between the world's numbers 1 and 2 was launched by an early run of 10 by Caudron and an break score of 31-20 in eight innings. Bury and Uymaz were in balance until 13-12. Merckx then ran out to 47-41 after the break, Uymaz led 43-20 against Bury. The tension rose, because Morangis felt chances to change the game. The world champion, Frédéric Caudron, made an end to the Morangis illusions by being the first to reach the finish in the match against Merckx. Merckx equalled with two, when the match was finished in La Baule's profit. The other match is halted in the 27th inning with Birol Uymaz leading over Bury 43-25 (1.593 for the Turk, 0.926 for Bury).
In the semi-finals, La Baule was the winner against Laxou, partly due to victories by Caudron against Horn (50-38 in 20), De Bruijn against Soumagne (50-42 in 28) and Devogelaere against Kremer (50-29 in 47). Only Philipoom beat Bury 50-26 in 34. CetSi Morangis reached the final by a victory over Andernos. Eddy Merckx defeated Nikos Polychronopoulos 50-18 in 15, the best performance in the final round. Roux played a draw against Barbeillon in 46, Reverchon defeated Connesson 50-26 in 38, the match between Uymaz and Forthomme was stopped at 30-24 in 22 in favour of the Turk.
The individual results:
The numbers one, Eddy Merckx 2.914, Frédéric Caudron 2.500, Nikos Polychronopoulos 1.634, Martin Horn 1.456.
The numbers 2: Jef Philipoom 1.587, Birol Uymaz 1.489, Roland Forthomme 1.440), Jérémy Bury 0.865.
The numbers 3: Jean-Paul de Bruijn 2.083, Pierre Soumagne 1.412, Jean-Christophe Roux 1.348, Jérôme Barbeillon 1.259.
The numbers 4: Jean Reverchon 1,205), Mikaël Devogelaere 1,190), Francis Connesson 1,000, Eric Kremer-Leclaire 0.705.
Over both matches, Morangis played 1.544, La Baule 1.506.