Carom Series
BOCHUM - The two top favourites in the European Cup final for classic teams didn't seem to be unbeatable in the pre-rounds. DBL Bochum, the defending champion in its own house and Douarnenez Sport Billard both made a misstep in the second sessions, but nevertheless qualified for the semi-finals. In the final rounds, DBC Bochum will play on Sunday morning (10.00) against Spanish Vic and Douarnenez Sport meets French Oissel in the next session. Two French teams, Chartres and Ronchin, were eliminated for tournament win. The striking result after two days was that the six teams all won and lost one match.
In Group A, DBL Bochem won its first match 3-0 against Chartres, but then lost 2-1 vs Oissel. The two French teams met each other in the first round: Chartres won 2-1. That brought the Germans on top of this group followed by Oissel.
In Group B, Douarnenez started energetically with a 3-0 win over Ronchin. The Spaniards of Vic then defeated Douarnenez 2-1, but lost their last match against Roncin 2-1. Douarnenez grabbed the group win by match points for Vic.
The two young Dutch players Sam van Etten (DBC Bochum) and Raymund Swertz (Douarnenez Sport) were the best players in the two days of qualifying. They remained unbeaten in the balk-line 47/2, Van Etten with 250 points matches in 1 and 4 innings (100.00 average), Swertz in 5 and 2 innings (71.42). The only other player who remained unbeaten in the field of 18 players was the Frenchman Benoit Deziles Legros in 71/2 with matches over 200 points in 10 and 7 innings (23.52).
The Spaniard Esteve Mata (Vic) finished in the 47/2 with two match points and 63.28, the Frenchman Willy Gérimont (Chartres) with two points and 42.00. Pierre Soumagne was the best on average in the 71/2 with 34.66 after a victory over Jean-Francois Florent 200-56 in 5 and loss against Raul Cuenca 200-112 in 4. Benoit Deziles from Oissel took 23.52, Raul Cuenca from Vic 24.21.
The six one cushion players remained collectively well below ten average and shared the wins: all six with two match points out of two matches. Bernard Villiers (Ronchin) was the best on average with 7.52 ahead of Ludwig Havlik from Bochum with 6.04 and Joan Espinasa from Vic with 5.33.
The final positions in the groups:
Group A:
1 DBC Bochum 2-2 (4-2)
2 Billiard Club de Oissel 2-2 (3-3)
3 Billiard club Chartres 2-2 (2-4).
Group B:
1 Douarnenez Sport Billard 2-2 (4-2)
2 Club Billar Vic 2-2 (3-3)
3 BCCO Ronchin 2-2 (2-4).
The individual scores:
Balk-line 47/2
1 Sam van Etten 2-4-100.00
2 Raymund Swertz 2-4-71.42
3 Esteve Mata 2-2-63.28
4 Willy Gérimond 2-2-42.00
5 Pierre Martory 2-2-27.22
6 Brahim Djoubri 2-2-10.40
Raymund Swertz, second best on average and unbeaten
Balk-line 71/2:
1 Benoit Deziles Legros 2-4-23.52
2 Pierre Soumagne 2-2-34.66
3 Raul Cuenca 2-2-24.21
4 Thomas Nockemann 2-2-18.50
5 Jean Francois Florent 2-2-17.06
6 Xavier Grétillat 2-0-7.64.
Benoit Deziles Legros, unbeaten in 71/2
One cushion:
1 Bernard Villiers 2-2-7.25
2 Ludger Havlik 2-2-6.04
3 Joan Espinasa 2-2-5.33
4 Grégory Le Deventec 2-2-5.22
5 Johann Petit 2-2-4.72
6 Jacky Justice 2-2-4.29.