Carom
BLANKENBERGE - There were only two days between the German league in three cushion and the start of the Belgian championship in this discipline. Dick Jaspers shone in the bundesliga with a top match, 40 in 10 innings. Jef Philipoom was almost invisible, lost his two matches in Germany with an average well below his level. Therefore he wasn't really seen as one of the favourite star players at the Belgian championship.
What two days of rest and focus can not do with a man... On Monday evening, Philipoom could have done even better than Jaspers in his last appearance in the group stage. 'The Pulderbos Beast' as he sometimes is called jokingly, started his match against Sven van Orshaegen with runs of 9 and 10, was about to finish after seven and eight innings (40), but switched, against his nature to a lower speed for his last caroms. And so it took some more innings to close his last match, although it was the absolute highlight of the second day at the Belgian championships. Philipoom won 40-6 in eleven innings!
Jef Philipoom showed his teeth in front of the stands in the Casino, as if he was in his best days. He was more or less exasperated after the loss against Leppens in the match before (40-32 in 26) and finished brilliantly as the number two in his group, in which Leppens remained unbeaten with six match points and 1.558. Philipoom always feared in major tournaments, increased his average with his last game to a wonderful 1.623. Leppens showed his big class in the final session with a 16 run against Mathy Monnissen.
Frédéric Mottet won the other group ahead of Steven van Acker. Both players lost one match. Mottet against Marc Celen 40-26 in 29 innings, Van Acker against Mottet (40-20 in 24).
In the classic games, the first matches were played. The most notable performances:
Andy Bond wins in free game against Johan Devos 400-0 in one inning
Patrick Niessen wins in 47/2 against Maarten Janssen 300-132 in four
Johan Devos wins in free game against Patrick Niessen 400-200 in four
Patrick Niessen wins in 71/2 against Peter Debaes 250-92 in 6
Maarten Janssen wins in 47/1 vs Francis Forton 200-53 in seven.
The final ranking in the groups on Monday:
Group 3:
1 Eddy Leppens 6-1.558-16
2 Jef Philipoom 4-1.623-11
3 Mathy Monnissen 2-0.847-8
4 Sven van Orshaegen 0-0.729-5
Group 4:
1 Frédéric Mottet 4-1.394-8
2 Steven van Acker 4-1.162-7
3 Andy de Bond 2-1.022-7
4 Marc Celen 2-0.923-8.
Today, Tuesday, are the groups with among others Kurt and Peter Ceulemans, Marco Janssen, Ronny Brants and Frank de Groof.
All matches live on Kozoom.
Eddy Leppens closed the day with a run of 16