3-Cushion
SCHILTIGHEIM - The victory was a sort of a golden milestone in the history of the Agipi Masters: Dick Jaspers defeated Dani Sánchez in the quarterfinals of this year’s edition 50-27 in 22 innings and therefore passed the barrier of 100.000 euros, earned in six tournaments.
He was welcomed by Jean Jacques Gangloff, speaker and entertainer in the Agipi arena, with the words: ,,There he is, the most expensive player in the world.'' Jaspers responded with a shy smile: ,,Yeah, gosh, that's pretty much money.’’
More important, for the moment, was that the two-time winner is on title track again. Tomorrow (Saturday) he will meet Marco Zanetti, who is in a great form already for some weeks. The Italian for sure will be a tough competitor on the way to the final.’’
Dick Jaspers faced an opponent in the quarterfinals who missed spirit and confidence. Dani Sánchez surrendered early in the match and could rarely score more than two or three caroms.
Dani Sánchez was amazed afterwards: ,,I did not have the feeling that I could win. I offered my opponent too many chances at the start of the match when I missed some good positions. And Dick has benefited from those misses.''
The Spaniard gained sharpness in recent weeks during a trip in Japan, where he travelled about four thousand kilometers back and forth and made roughly 4.000 caroms in training sessions and exhibitions.''
Dick Jaspers: ,,I was expecting a very strong Sánchez, with so many training hours in his fingers.’’ The match, however, got a quick decision when the Dutchman scored 8 and 5 in the eighth and ninth inning.
He then ran out to a bigger margin, closing the match at 50-27.