3-Cushion
BAD WILDUNGEN - The German championship three cushion, the finishing touch after a long marathon of disciplines and matches in Bad Wildungen , is on his way to a showdown with one big gun and three outsiders. The starring role is for Martin Horn in the most important discipline: he is ready to regain the title.
The defending champion, Christian Rudolph, was eliminated by surprise by Chrstos Christodoulidis, who is among the semifinalists. Markus Schönhoff was in an excellent match responsible for the elimination of Ronny Lindemann, another main favorite.
The matches for the semifinals (today) are:
Johann Schirmbrand - Markus Schönhoff
Martin Horn - Christos Christodoulidis.
Christos Christodoulidis, a player from Munich, felt himself in a kind of magical mystery tour, beating the reigning champion and European vice champion, Christian Rudolph in the run-up to the finals. The dark horse in the field of players showed his mettle with a 30-24 win in 22 innings. Therefore Rudolph was only second in his group. Christodoulis then defeated Roman Bachmaier in the quarters in a very moderate match: 40-34 in 44 innings.
Johann Schertl caused another surprise, pulling of a little sprint by beating marathon runner Markus Dömer, but in the next match he could not bring home the win in his match vs Johann Schirmbrand.
Orhan Erogul, tuned up his form in one of the group matches with an excellent win against Thomas Ahrens (30 in 12 innings). He paid for his starring role in his next match in the quarterfinals, in which he was defeated by Martin Horn 40-12 in 23 innings.
The fourth semifinalist, Markus Schönhoff, can also be considered as a big surprise. The Magdeburg player looks very sharp and lively in this tournament and outplayed Ronny Lindemann 40-30 in 23 innings.