3-Cushion
RAVENSBURG - The German league three cushion in the bundesliga has made a spectacular start. The team of Ravensburger BC, that was not considered as one of the title favorites, tops the league after a double weekend and two 8-0 victories with its Turkish top guns, Tayfun Tasdemir and Murat Naci Coklu.
Frédéric Caudron was the best player over two playing rounds with Elversberg.
The most sensational was Ravenburger's 8-0 victory over the reigning champion BCC Witten with wins of Tayfun Tasdemir against Eddy Leppens (40-24 in 16) and Murat Naci Coklu against Ronny Lindemann (40-38 in 28). The Turkish duo, that played togeter with Klaus Bosel and Murat Gokmen, defeated Velbert on Saturday with the same 8-0 score.
Ravensburger, with it's club owner Gurhan Kabak, wants to increase the budget for the near future and make a serious shot at the title. Tayfun Tasdemir basically will play four games, but it could be more. Murat Naci Coklu has been contracted for eight matches, the other foreigners on the list are Dani Sánchez and Birol Uymaz.
The first leader of the season has emerged as a real champion candidate. The competition was launched with significant scores. Not only defeated Ravensburger the champion BCC Witten, but also Bergisch Gladbach lost one match point against GT Buer. Martin Horn and Christian Rudolph defeated the Galla brothers: Horn bested Stefan 40-32 in 22, Rudolph beat Markus 40-30 in 42. But the other two Bergisch players lost their matches: Thomas Horcher vs Stefan Hetzel (40-19 in 22), Jens Probhart against Uwe Kerls (32-40 in 44).
Ravensburger won its first race on Saturday in Velbert by victories of Tasdemir vs Torsten Anders (40-27 in 25), Coklu against Volker Simanovski (40-18 in 28) and Klaus Bosel and Murat Gokmen in 35 and 41 innings.
BC Elversberg also started off with two wins: first against Bottrop 6-2 and on Sunday with the same score against GT Buer. Caudron had a strong showing against Christian Rudolph, whom he left far behind 40-19 in sixteen innings. In the second meeting, Caudron dealed with Stefan Galla 40-28 in 22 innings. Jef Philipoom also won both his matches for Elversberg, on Saturday vs Congiz Karaca in 29 innings, on Sunday against Markus Galla in 28 innings.
Bergisch Gladbach clinched victory on the second day when the team faced Bottrop (6-2). Martin Horn and Christian Rudolph, two teammates in the German national team, shared the points, 40-40 after 21 innings. Dave Christiani won his second match this weekend vs Karaca 40-13 in 20.
Sterkrade and Krefeld played a draw. Thorsten Frings defeated Jean van Erp 40-25 in 23, Dirk Weeremans bested his countryman Thomas Broux 40-36 in 27. Roger Liere and Ramazan Durdu balanced the match for Sterkrade.
The results of the double weekend:
Saturday:
Elversberg-Bottrop 6-2
Bergisch Gladbach-GT Buer 4-4
München-Witten 0-8
Ravensburg-Velbert 8-0
Sterkrade-Krefeld 4-4.
Sunday:
Elversberg-GT Buer 6-2
Bergisch Gladbach-Bottop 6-2
München-Velbert 8-0
Ravensburg-Witten 8-0.