3-Cushion
OMMEL - The Cuvino Superprestige 2012, the traditional season starter in Belgium with the top sixteen players from the previous season, will be a trendsetter. The motto is: we want to bring top billiards in a new ambiance. Frédéric Caudron, with Eddy Leppens the organizer in Het Cultureel centrum De Adelberg in Lommel, explained on Friday morning at the opening of his own billiard center Salpho:
,,The only, major change in this year's Superprestige is that we will make tables for all spectators around the arena, so that they can eat a little snack and have a drink. We want to leave the culture of the traditional tournaments. There will be some movement and some noice, of course, occasionally, but we, the billiard players, have to get used to it.''
The tickets haven't been significantly increased. Frédéric Caudron: ,,We don't ask entrance prices for Vip places, we just want to raise the ambiance for the audience and the players. We lose some capacity in De Adelberg, but we don't care, because we never had a full house.''
Furthermore, the Cuvino Superprestige 2012 has the same system as the previous editions. The top sixteen players from Belgium have seeded for the tournament, the start is on Tuesday (28 augustust), the final day on Saturday, September 2 with the quarter finals, semi finals and final.
The playing schedule is clear: the first four days, each time a group of four players will face each other. The two best of these groups qualify for the quarterfinals.
Eddy Merckx (on Tuesday), Roland Forthomme (on Wednesday), Peter Ceulemans (on Thursday) and Frédéric Caudron (on Friday) lead the groups. The three sessions in the groups are at 18.00, 20.00 and 22.00.
Frédéric Caudron is the winner of last year, Peter Ceulemans the runner up after a particularly strong tournament, in which he defeated amongst others Eddy Leppens and Roland Forthomme eliminated.
The groups are:
Group A (plays on Tuesday, August 28): Eddy Merckx, Francis Forton, Peter De Backer, Ronny Daniels.
Group B (play on Wednesday, August 29): Roland Forthomme, Davy van Havere, Martin Spoormans, Henk Blauwblomme.
Group C (plays on Thursday, August 30): Peter Ceulemans, Eddy Leppens, Kurt Ceulemans, Steven Van Acker.
Group D (plays on Friday, August 31): Frédéric Caudron, Jef Philipoom, Fréderic Mottet, Luc Salvo.
The program after the preliminaries:
Saturday quarterfinals at 11.00 and 13.00.
Semi-finals at 15.30.
Final at 18:00.
The matches can be followed live on Kozoom for Premium Pass holders.