Dani Sánchez glorious winner in Spain: title and 2.409

LOS NAREJOS (MURCIA) - The Spanish three cushion title has returned to Dani Sánchez after three years. The four-time world champion defeated Antonio Montes in the final match at the 86th Spanish championship: 40-29 in 13 innings, averaging 3,076 for the new champion. The tournament was played over 7 days in the Spanish federation center in Los Narejos, Murcia with a starting field of 123 players. It was the 19th Spanish title for Sánchez, who played to a great average of 2.409 over the entire tournament.

The four finalists were Dani Sánchez, Antonio Montes, Xavier Yeste and Ricardo Garcia, who beat one of the other top favorites in the quarterfinals, Rubén Legazpi, 40-39 in 30. Dani Sánchez dominated the title race with extremely high averages of which the best match was the last match for gold. In the final, Sánchez distanced himself from Montes with a run of 13. Montes, former European junior champion, came back to 37-29 with a run of 12, but was no longer able to threaten the champion.

When he finished his title race, Dani Sánchez glorified his new cue with which he played the championship. The Catalan star exchanged Adam as his cue sponsor for Predator on January 1. ,,I only play for two weeks with my new cue (Revo shaft, carbon) and I am really happy with it. I couldn't adapt for 100 % of course in such a short time, but I already managed to play these high averages.'' Jérémy Bury recently also signed a contract with Predator and another top-ten player will probably join the cue brand, famous from pool billiards.

Dani Sánchez, who was on 19th place on the UMB world ranking before the tournament, is rising a few places due to his title: probably to 15th place.

Sánchez defeated Jaime Sánchez in the quarterfinals 40-26 in 18, in the semi-finals Ricardo Garcia 40-22 in 16. Antonio Montes beat Sergio Jimenez in the quarterfinals 40-25 in 23 and in the semi-finals Xavier Yeste 40-23 in 24.

The final ranking:
1 Dani Sánchez
2 Antonio Montes
3 Xavier Yeste
3 Ricardo Garcia
5 Jaime Faracao
6 Rubén Fernandez
7 Rubén Legazpi
8 Sergio Jiménez

Dani Sánchez in the final match, watched by all in the full stands

Antonio Montes, excellent championship, second on the podium