3-Cushion
SCHILTIGHEIM - Two players, Roland Forthomme Dani and Sánchez, indulged themselves in a neck-and-neck race, in which the Belgian took the win after a decisive run of eleven in the last innings. The very experienced Eddy Merckx defeated the upcoming talent HaengJik Kim at the other table 50-25. Four players will compete for two places in the final group tomorrow.
The sheep are not separated from the goats in this phase. The leaders in the group, after three rounds, are Eddy Merckx and Roland Forthomme. The four players in top, Merckx, Forthomme, Bury and Sánchez, will compete for two precious places. HaengJik Kim could be considerd as almost off after two losses.
Four players will flat out to the finish in Group A in the latest matches of the evening. The best so far are the Koreans with their high averages and high runs, but Caudron is on the table against Nikos Polychronopoulos tonight. Kyung-Roul Kim faces Jef Philipoom.
Eddy Merckx finished with a big margin despite an unfortunate match against Kim. He could have taken some points now and then which were narrowly missed. Moreover he was close to the run of ten (nine) and the match in twenty innings (21). The Belgian saw his tenth point, a round the table shot miss by a hair.
His second bonus he spoiled by finishing the match in the 21th inning, but nevertheless he showed a lot of confidence and he looked very strong. Merckx won 50-25 in 21 innings.
Roland Forthomme had a formidable end rust against Sánchez, turning a 35-33 score to 47-34 due to a run of eleven. The Spaniard failed in his last innings, scoring only ten times in his ten last innings. Forthomme ended the eventually with three: 50-37 in 23.
The situation in the group is very interesting: the Belgians Merckx and Forthomme lead with four points from three matches, Sánchez and Bury got two points from two matches.