3-Cushion
VIERSEN - In a blood-sweat and tears match, in which the reigning champion Belgium and the Netherlands battled for a place in the semi-finals of the World championship for national teams, the two Belgian protagonists, Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Merckx defeated Dick Jaspers and Raimond Burgman in an enthralling fight with a minimum difference of two caroms.
The German home team bested the Austrians in the same session. In the late evening round Turkey edged Spain thanks to second man Murat Naci Coklu. South Korea dealed with Denmark after a strong comeback from Kyung-Roul Kim.
Tomorrow (11.00) South Korea plays in the semi-final against Belgium. Germany meets Turkey.
The highlight of the day, in football called the derby of the lowlands between the Netherlands and Belgium, was a match with a final to not forget. Eddy Merckx and Dick Jaspers went all the way together in their match with a five caroms maximum difference.
Frédéric Caudron and Raimond Burgman were in balance as well until the very last points.
Jaspers had the best chances to grab the win at the end of the match when he led 38-31. At that time, Caudron and Burgman were in the last phase of their match.
Caudron scored his 40th carom when Burgman was three points down, but the Dutchman managed to tie from the spots: 40-40 in 21.
Dick Jaspers could secure victory for his team if he had beaten Merckx in the final phase. The Belgian world champion, however, saved his team by a miraculous escape: he closed the 38-31 gap to 38-37 and then, under an enormous tension and after two misses of Jaspers, won the game 40-38, the sign for the Belgian fans to celebrate the win with a big applause.
Germany defeated the Austrians thanks to an excellent playing Martin Horn. The frontman of the team bested Andreas Efler 40-14 in 17 innings.
The other match, between Christian Rudolph and Arnim Kahofer, did not finish. At the moment Horn had finished, the Austrian number two led 27 to 19, but with this score the Germans were unreachable.
South Korea came to the semifinals in the last session by defeating Denmark. The key player of the Asians, Kyung-Roul Kim got rid off a 20-11 backlog and then built up a 32-23 lead. Jung Han Heo, his teammate, took the win in a simple match against Thomas Andersen 40-21.
Dani Sánchez and Tayfun Tasdemir fought an exciting duel, but the match Spain-Turkey eventualy was decided at the other table. When Sanchez led 36-32, Murat Naci Coklu closed his game against Ruben Legazpi by a big margin (40-23). Therefor the Turks could pick up their ticket for the semis.