3-Cushion
SCHILTIGHEIM - The intended thriller between Torbjörn Blomdahl and Daniel Sánchez, two great champions in the Agipi Masters Agipi, this evening was the apotheosis of the three sessions in the first qualification round. The battle of the two tenors, in a group in which Dion Nelin already had qualified, missed the tension of of topmatch. Torbjörn Blomdahl triumphed in a contest which required only 14 innings en ended with a big adventage for the winner in the group (50-29). The 48-year-old Swede made the success for the Vikings complete: Blomdahl, Nelin and Nilsson grapped the qualification, together with Tayfun Tasdemir and Glenn Hofmann and Pierre Soumagne in the youth group.
The undisputed star of the preliminary round however was Torbjörn Blomdahl, who started his performance with a loss against Nelin, but then rose to great heights. He needed a miracle to escape in the match against Ruben Legazpi on Friday night and stayed alive in a spectacular rush at the end with runs of fifteen and eight in the last two innings. And against Daniel Sánchez, the reigning world champion, Blomdahl shined again in a marvellous start with 22 points in four innings.
"I would not say I'm back’’, he said after his win, which was accompanied by a thunderous applause, ,,although I dropped a few places on the world ranking. ,,But it gives me a nice feeling to know that I can still reach to this high level, because it’s a long time ago that I finished a match of 50 points in 14 innings.’’
Two other Vikings, Michael Nilsson and Dion Nelin, were already sure of qualification on the last day. The imperturbable cool Nelin, who defeated Blomdahl as well as Sánchez, lost his last match against Legazpi. Michael Nilsson remained unbeaten, it was an incredibly strong performance of the Swedish giant. Jef Philipoom and Sameh Sidhom played a very disappointing tournament. The Belgians even without winning one match. Pierre Soumagne surprised in the youth group with two wins and may return next year to duel with the great champions of the three-cushion. Torbjörn Blomdahl, who else, ended with the highest average of all players. He took over 2.142 in three matches. Michael Nilsson, who made runs of eleven and twelve, ended with 1.724, Tayfun Tasdemir with 1.689 and Ruben Legazpi with 1.590 even surpassed his master Dani Sánchez, who played 1.533.
Glenn Hofman, with three wins, was also the best of the young players in average with 1.428 and a run of ten. The highest run in the preliminary round was made by Torbjörn Blomdahl: fifteen points in his match against Legazpi.