Carom
BRANDENBURG AN DER HAVEL - There was a big smile as usual after a win when he left the room. Martin Spoormans didn't have the best start at the European championship, where he and 47 other players are performing for the preliminaries today to be admitted to the main tournament. The Belgian, who will soon turn 65, lost his first match against Adnan Yüksel and seemed to be out after 30-16 in fifteen innings. The recovering was sensational with the best match in the tournament so far.
The second match gave his European championship the glitter that he deserved. He defeated the French champion Jean-Christophe Roux by a big margin. He used some psychological warfare, Spoormans confessed after the match. ,,I said to him during the warm up: the billiard table doesn't seem so good for you.''
Maybe his opponent was confused, maybe Spoormans was on his best. He started with nine, made a run of ten in the second part and left the Frenchman far behind at the end:30-15 in 10 innings.
That brought the gray curly Belgian on two match points and 1.840 average. Adnan Yüksel, who will meet Roux in the last group match, has 2.000. That means Spoormans is still living with mixed feelings of hope and fear and certainly is not eliminated.
The last stage, tonight, has to decide about sixteen places for the main tournament, for which sixteen players have already been seeded. With Spoormans and Yüksel also Semih Sayginer made a strong impression in his first appearance: he beat Ronny Lindemann (30 in 12 innings). In the same group, Michael Nilsson bested Lindemann in 21 innings. The match Sayginer-Nilsson decides who will qualify.
The most notable groups:
Jean van Erp defeated Andreas Kronlachner in a moderate match, but in the second session the Austrian bested Javier Palazón 30-10 in 21.
Dustin Jäschke had a flying start, beating Gérard Goedert in 16 innings. Nikos Polychronopoulos needed 22 innings for the win. Jäschke-Poly is decisive.
Raimond Burgman was facing a run of twelve against Thomas Andersen (who lost to Jean Reverchon). The Dutchman soon recovered, made a run of eight and won with a one carom difference.
Martin Horn and Sergio Jimenez compete for the group win after victories against Salvatore Papa. The Spaniard had a furious start (21-1) and sent the German out of the tournament (30-16 in 18).
Arnim Kahofer and Tolgahan Kiraz (after wins vs Thomas Kerl) meet in Group J for the group win.