Carom
MONTMELO - The Spanish championship for teams will get his finals from June 14 to 17 in Gandia. Sixteen teams played for the final qualifying this weekend: eight teams remained for the final weekend. The 28-year-old Sergio Jimenez Galera from Montmelo was the absolute star: he won his three matches with 2.791 average.
Jimenez was the frontplayer in the Montmélo team, the winner in Group A before Coral Colón, Antequera and Magerit. Sergio Jimenez won his first match in only twelve innings against Francisco Sancho (40-13), then defeated Dani Sánchez 40-30 in 15 and finally beat Jose Maria Morales 40-19 in 16 innings.
Montmelo (Sergio Jimenez, Javier Yeste de Pablo, Juan Bouterin Bote and Antonio Martinez) and Coral Colón qualified for the final weekend.
The young Casino Cartagena team was the winner in Group B before Alicante, Mataro and Getafe. David Martinez played the best match for the winning team: he defeated Pau Benitez Reina from Mataró 40-8 in 16 innings. David Zapata excelled as well with three wins in 32, 32 and 23 innings.
Casino Cartagena (Jose-Antonio Carrasco, David Zapata, David Martinez and Alberto Sintas) and Alicante qualified for the finals.
Paiporta with Javier Palazón, Rubén Legazpi, Antonio Ortiz and Francisco Unguetti showed itself the strongest in Group C before Gran Match, Barcelona and Casas Colgadas.
The best match was played by Rubén Legazpi, who bested Juan Jorge Sánchez-Casas from Colgadas 40-14 in 19 innings. Javier Palazón was the best over three games with six match points and 1.690 average.
In Group D, Gandia Cafemax finished as the winner before Casino Alcantarilla, Valencia and Murcia. Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Leppens came over from Belgium to make the Gandia team as strong as possible. That resulted in a best teamaverage of all: 1.368.
Eddy Leppens remained unbeaten with 1.364 average, Frédéric Caudron had the second best average of these prelims (1.846), but he wasted one matchpoint in a draw against Raúl Hernandez (40-40 in 32).
Caudron then played a world class match against Carlos G. Ciurana of Valencia, whom he sweeped from the table with 40-2 in 12 innings.
Gandia Cafemax and Casino Alcantarilla qualified for the final round.
The final in Gandia is played in two groups of four:
Group A: Montmelo, Cafemax Gandia, Alicante, Gran Match.
Group B: Casino Cartagena, Paiporta, Coral Colón, Casino Alcantarilla.
The highest runs of the qualification:
1 Sergio Jimenez: 16
2 Javier Palazón 2: 14
3 Sergio Jimenez, Frédéric Caudron: 13
4 Jorge Canto, Javier Palazón: 12
5 Javier Yeste: 10.
Best matches:
Group A: Sergio Jiménez in 12 innings.
Group B: David Martinez in 16 innings.
Group C: Javier Palazón in 17 innings.
Group D: Frédéric Caudron in 12 innings.
The individual ranking (top twelve):
1 Sergio Jiménez, 6 points, 2.791 average
2 Javier Palazón, 6, 1.690
3 Ruben Legazpi, 6, 1.558
4 David Martinez, 6, 1.446
5 David Zapata, 6, 1.379
6 Eddy Leppens, 6, 1.364
7 Ricardo Garcia, 6, 1.263
8 José Manuel Gómez, 6, 1.212
9 Ruben Estrada, 6, 1.200
10 Miguel Casade Mint, 6, 0.851
11 Frédéric Caudron, 5, 1.846
12 Raul Hernandez, 5, 1.290.