3-Cushion
SUWON - The absolute leading role he couldn't play for years in tournaments for the World Cup, the World championship and the European championship. Torbjön Blomdahl, the most respected three cushion player after the king Raymond Ceulemans, seemeed on his way back sometimes, but finally he made a great comeback in the World Cup in Suwon this weekend.
Torbjörn Blomdahl won the final of the World Cup against Jae Ho Cho, one of the Korean playerss who made furore in the week of the tournament. But at the end of this World Cup there was yet another European glory at the highest level. The brilliant Swedish champion won 3-0 (sets 15-8/8, 15-11/7, 15-8/5) and finished after a marathon of matches with a sparkling average: 2,250 against 1,666 for his opponent.
After this third World Cup of the year, Blomdahl again has been risen to the top three of the world, where he has not been for a couple of years. Blomdahl always tried to explain why he didn't succeed to duel for the top five with players like Dick Jaspers, Frederic Caudron, Eddy Merckx and Kyung-Roul Kim .
He pointed to details, for example to the cue and the material he's playing with. Last year in the Masters Agipi he said one day: ,,I''ve found that the shaft with which I'm playing now is ideal for me to play.'' But in that tournament, in which he was the first winner, he could not shine in the past years.
The World Cup in Suwon suddenly opened new possibilities for the Swede. He saw how his major rivals were eliminated one by one: Dick Jaspers, Frédéric Caudron, Dani Sánchez, Eddy Merckx, Kyung-Roul Kim, Filipos Kasidokostas and later on Martin Horn, who reached to the quarterfinals.
Jérémy Bury, who played a superb tournament, was together with Blomdahl the player from top ten that survived in the trench war. The Frenchman met Martin Horn in the quarterfinals and made an end to the illusions of the German, but then was elimiated himself by Torbjörn Blomdahl in a five setter, in which the Swede wasted a 2-0, saw how Bury did come back to 2 - 2 (15-13, 15-1 in 3), but then showed his high classe in the deciding set (15-3).
Jae Ho Cho, of all Koreans ultimately the most successful, defeated his compatriot Chung-Bok Lee in the quarterfinals 3-2, Ma Xuan Cuong disturbed the illusions of Murat Naci Coklu, 3-0 and Ruben Legazpi, after the strongest World Cup he ever played, went off against Blomdahl.
Jae Ho Cho reached the final after a 3-1 win against MA (2.458 average), Blomdahl by a victory against Bury. The Vietnamese considered to be able to a sensation in the finals, but in the last match of this spectacular tournament Blomdahl demonstrated his class. He showed againt why he is for so many years an absolutely top player in the world.
The Swede, that can be the conclusion after this tournament, is back in town. He can be very satisfied and may have a lot of confidence for the rest of the season ,,''We're going to celebrate'', said Beate, the wife of the great winner on facebook this evening.
Murat Naci Coklu played in Suwon the highest average with 1.933, Cho finished 1.908, Blomdahl 1.736. Antonio Ortiz was the only one with the maximum run of fifteen.