3-Cushion
HURGHADA - The Spanish star player Dani Sánchez has already crowned himself with the overall victory in the World Cup cycle 2015. He can't be caught after his victory over Tayfun Tasdemir (40-40, 4-2 in the shootouts) on the penultimate day at the Hurghada World Cup. Sánchez will be the challenger for Torbjörn Blomdahl in the battle for the Super Cup on Saturday, March 5th next year. On the gala night in Antwerp, the Swedish world champion plays against Sánchez, the winner of the World Cup cycle of six tournaments.
The winners of the five World Cups this year were Dick Jaspers (Luxor), Torbjorn Blomdahl (Porto) Tayfun Tasdemir (Ho Chi Minh), Dani Sánchez (Guri) and Murat Naci Coklu (Istanbul). The last World Cup in Hurghada comes to the showdown tomorrow (Saturday).
Dani Sánchez lost two of his main competitors on the day before the finals in Hurghada: Dick Jaspers was beaten by Lütfi Cenet, Torbjörn Blomdahl was outplayed by Marco Zanetti (40-29 in 20 innings) in the last evening session. The Spaniard himself dealt with his last rival, Tayfun Tasdemir, in a thriller as they are rarely seen. The two players battled for every carom, offered the audience an amazing spectacle and finished the regular match with 40-40 after the Turk scored the two missing points in the equalizer.
The Spaniard went into shootouts with four from the break, Tasdemir missed his third carom by a whisker. The tension on Sánchez' face quickly turned into joy. ,,But someday'', he said later with a big smile, ,,I will die because of all the stress after my last point.''
,,The victory in the World Cup cycle makes me much more happy than the win of the match'', was his reaction afterwards. ,,The level of playing is so high this year, with so many matches over two average and so many strong players. I know there are people who doubted whether I would come back after a few years with less success. That's why this gives me such a fantastic feeling to win this World Cup.''
Marco Zanetti has virtually assured his position in the top ten after his victory over Torbjörn Blomdahl. He is in tomorrow's semi-final Dani Sánchez' opponent.
Dani Sánchez, when the tension is on in the final part of the match
Tayfun Tasdemir for his last chances
Marco Zanetti attracks the audience in his match with Torbjörn Blomdahl