3-Cushion
BAD WILDUNGEN - Martin Horn saved the best for the last at the German three cushion championship. The new champion of his country is heading for the World Cup in Guri this week with the title in his pocket and 30 important ranking points richer. After a slow start in the pre-rounds, Horn took the title with a victory in the final match over Ronny Lindemann: 40-23 in 23. Horn was the best in an uphill race in which he grew to his great form on the final days and dominated his last opponent in the final. The champion achieved exactly 2.000 on average in three matches for the knockout phase with 40 caroms in 19, 18 and 23. In the quarterfinals, Horn beat young Tom Löwe 40-10, in the semi-final an older young man, Lukas Stam, 40-27 before running to the title in the final 40-23 in 23.
The run-up was less good, because Horst lost his first game to his team-mate Norbert Roestel 30-28 in 30. He then needed two wins to qualify for the knock-out phase: Horn succeeded against Uwe van den Berg and Dustin Jäschke. Ronny Lindemann had no problems in the group phase. He won his three matches in 24, 19 and 12 innings with 1,636 on average. Lindemann reached the final by a clear 40-20 against Thomas Ahrens and in the semi-final against Cengiz Karaca, the most exciting match in the championship: after an equal score, Lindemann took the shoot-out with 3-1.
Cengiz Karaca and Lukas Stamm, the two Berliners, grabbed the bronze medals. Martin Horn played the best tournament average, 1,587, Ronny Lindemann signed for the best game with 2,500 on average. With his 30 ranking points, Horn is currently rising from 13 to 11 on the world ranking, but 80 ranking points are at stake in Korea of his victory in La Baule 2018.