3-Cushion
BRANDENBURG - Therese Klompenhouwer is still by far the best ladies three-cushion player in Europe. The Dutch showed her hegemony again at the championships in Brandenburg, where she conquered her fifth title in a row. In the final against Karina Jetten, also from the Netherlands, Klompenhouwer was superior: 30-12 in 31 innings.
,,This title is for Maribel’’, the champion said after the ceremony, where she looked up in the sky, as if she wanted to show her medal to the Spanish billiard player who died a few weeks ago.
The title marked a tournament, in which she was not on her best. Maybe, she said, it was because of the sad situation in recent weeks. ,,I lost a few people who were close to me in some weeks. And especially the dead of the Spanish billiard player Maribel Pujol was terrible. I have missed her in this tournament, she was a very good friend. This title is for her.''
Klompenhouwer actually was not in trouble in all her matches. In the prelims she won three times with remarkable ease. ,,I only played one strong match in my last game for the group, which I won 25-3 in 12 innings.''
Then she dashed off her quarterfinal, won the semifinal against Gülsen Degener by a mile and finally defeated Karina Jetten in the match for gold, of whom she had said on beforehand that she would be her most feared opponent.
Jetten, however, had some highs and some downs and was kicked down in the final 30-12.
The top eight of the tournament:
1 Therese Klompenhouwer, Netherlands, 1.012
2 Karina Jetten, Netherlands, 0.617
3 Gülsen Degener, Turkey, 0.670
3 Steffi Träm, Germany 0.559
5 Marianne Mortensen, Denmark 0.627
6 Danielle le Bruyn, Belgium 0.451
7 Ingrid Englebrecht, Austria 0.406
8 Natascha Al Mamar, Austria 0.411.