3-Cushion
SCHILTIGHEIM - He won so many world titles in his long career, there were so many victories in World Cups, European championships and other great international tournaments, but still the ambitions and the hunger of Torbjörn Blomdahl are not saturated. The 49-year-old Swede showed to be in the form of his life in the final of the 2012 Agipi Masters. That's why he stringed a new, brilliant pear on a crown of gold. In the final match he defeated the Korean Kyung-Roul Kim 50-31 in 29 innings.
In the year when he turns fifty, the most succesful player of this generation cleared in the Agipi arena that his hegemony still is not over. The superiority in the fifth edition was more impressive than what he himself, Dick Jaspers and Sung-Won Choi showed in the previous editions. In all his matches against Filipos Kasidokostas, Sung-Won Choi and in the final against Kyung-Roul Kim the Swede took his opponents in a stranglehold with a kickstart. The win was two times a formality (50-7 against Kasidokostas, 50-21 against Choi), only in the final the Korean Kim could fight back to 31 points.
The 16-3 lead, with little runs of five, four, five and five in the first seven innings, was later on built up to 21-3, then Kim crawled slowly back into the match. He closed the gap to ten points (40-30), but could not threaten Blomdahl, who had a crushing final shot again hot with five, two and two: 50-31 in 29 innings.
The fifth edition of the Agipi Masters was marked by an extremely high level, with 51 runs over ten. The tournament turned out on the final days in a battle between two continents: the Europeans Blomdahl and Horn against the Koreans Kim and Choi.
Martin Horn played the best tournament of his career and finished with the highest average of all players. The German was unluckily knocked out in the semifinals by a final run of Kim (12), which eliminated him for the final match.
Torbjörn Blomdahl could keep up the high level until the end and defeated Kyung-Roul Kim, who played himself on the podium for the first time in the Agipi Masters. The winner (20.000 euros and the trophy) in fact was never threatened in his three matches (quarterfinal, semifinal, final): he scored his 150 caroms against his three opponents together only 59. That's significant for Blomdahl's supremacy.
The final result of the fifth edition:
1 Torbjörn Blomdahl, 2 Kyung-Roul Kim, 3 Martin Horn, 4 Sung-Won Choi, 5 Dick Jaspers, 6 Eddy Merckx, 7 Dani Sánchez, 8 Filipos Kasidokostas, 9 Marco Zanetti, 10 Frederic Caudron, 11 Tayfun Tasdemir, 12 Roland Forthomme, 13 Lütfi Cenet, 14, Nikos Polychronopoulos, 15 Jérémy Bury.
Best matches:
Dick Jaspers and Torbjörn Blomdahl, 14 innings, 3.571 average.
Highest run: Torbjörn Blomdahl: 20
The top ten in averages:
Martin Horn 2.157
Dick Jaspers 2.030
Torbjörn Blomdahl 1.953
Kyung-Roul Kim 1.865
Dani Sánchez 1.827
Marco Zanetti 1.745
Frédéric Caudron 1.739
Nikos Polychronopoulos 1.722
Tayfun Tasdemir 1.695
Lutfi Cenet 1.692
The top eleven of the money makers:
Torbjörn Blomdahl 27,200 euro..
Kyung-Roul Kim 13.200
Martin Horn 9.950
Sung-Won Choi 7.075
Dick Jaspers 7.075
Dani Sánchez 6.450
Filipos Kasidokostas 5.950
Eddy Merckx 4.950
Lütfi Cenet 4.525
Nikos Polychronopoulos 4.500
Roland Forthomme 3.750.