3-Cushion
VIERSEN - The final applause was for Eddy Leppens after a beautifully bankshot in the final inning of his match against Joao Pedro Ferreira. The Belgian needed a third set to overrun his Portuguese opponent, but ultimately succeeded quite simple. The Belgians so beat Portugal on two tables, the Turks did the same with Peru.
Surprisingly, none of them were in the first round of day two, because Portugal already was defeated by Italy and Peru, the country where the World championship will be played this year, wasn't an opponent to fear. Without Ramon Rodriguez, with Guido Saco and Oscar Pachas the South Americans can return to their country. Guido Saco only won one set for the team against Anh Vu Duong yesterday.
The tournament will see more top ten players today. Eddy Merckx defeated Rui Manuel Costa with an average of 2.142 and showed Belgium the way to the full win, Tayfun Tasdemir towered above Sacco, Lütfi Cenet did the same with Pachas with 1.875 average.
At the start of day two, people looked back with admiration at a prominent match late yesterday. Ryuji Umeda and Tonny Carlsen played an excellent match, the Dane crowned his battle even with the highest average of the day (1.947), but finished as the loser, because the Japanese had such a great final with a run of eleven.
The winners of this morning are playing one more time today. Belgium meets Italy at 20.00 tonight, Turkey faces Vietnam at that time.
Dick Jaspers plays his first match this afternoon against René Hendriksen of Swiss, Torbjörn Blomdahl opens his tournament against Carloman Ortiz.