3-Cushion
SLUISKIL - The victory of Daniel Sánchez in a beautiful, cold-blooded three-setter against top favorite Dick Jaspers, the elimination of Torbjörn Blomdahl (by the Korean Sung Won Choi) and Eddy Merckx (by another Belgian, Eddy Leppens) were the most remarkable results the night before the finals of the World championship three cushion in Sluiskil. With Jaspers, Blomdahl and Merckx again disappeared some great favorites for the world title out of the tournament.
The semi finals today (10:00 start) will be played by Daniel Sánchez (,, I'm back'', he smiled last night in the late hours relieved), Javier Palazón (also a Spaniard, a great talent from Valencia), Eddy Leppens ( supported by a fantastic fanclub) and Sung Won Choi (the best, most unflappable of all Koreans in the tournament).
Javier Palazón plays tomorrow against Leppens, Sanchez against Choi.
The evening before, which ended with a magic show of Semih Sayginer, was marked by a breathtaking tension in the matches and a spectacular ending. Palazón escaped at the end to Burgman.Leppens was trailed 2-0 against Merckx, but then won the next three sets in a great battle. "I recently got a coach who has made me mentally stronger,'' said the winner. ,, I now can win matches, that I otherwise already had lost.''
Sung Won Choi had the strongest nerves at the end of an exciting match with Blomdahl and Daniel Sánchez played against Jaspers so strongly after the difficult and fortunate victory to Nelin, that the Dutch champion had not any chance (3-0).
Daniel Sánchez and Javier Palazón today give the semi-finals a Spanish color, but Eddy Leppens and Sung Won Choi are in the winning mood and ready for a sensationel final day.