3-Cushion
NEW YORK - The thriller between Eddy Merckx and Torbjörn Blomdahl was the blistering highlight of the last day in the semifinal rounds of the Open Verhoeven in New York. The Swede was still unbeaten at that time, the Belgian champion knew that he needed a win for his qualification, Murat Naci Coklu was a tough competitor in that group.
The magnificent fight between Merckx and Blomdahl matched until 15-14. The Belgian attacked with to 26-21 with a run of 9, a few innings later Blomdahl missed his first match ball at 29-28. Eddy Merckx missed his last (kiss after a round the table), and Blomdahl also missed his second match ball. At 29-29, when the tension was growing, Merckx pulled the trigger and finished 30-29 in 21 innings.
As a result, the Belgian was on top of his group: with ten match points and 1.953 ahead of Blomdahl with ten points and 1.884. Coklu defeated Merckx, but lost to Blomdahl and was eliminated with ten points and 1.644. Tasdemir was out with six points and 1.389 in this group.
Frédéric Caudron was going with the flow in his group, won five matches and only lost to Ly The Vinh 30-18 in 10 innings. The world champion recorded 1.732, the Vietnamese, who lost to Lim and Morales, finished second with 8 points and 1.707 (run of 13). Nalle Olsson (8 points, 1.226) and Robinson Morales (6 points, 1.567) were eliminated.
Sameh Sidhom was the group winner ahead of Dick Jaspers from whom he lost his only match 30-14 in 16 innings. The Dutchman took eight points like Hugo Patino and Lars Dunch, but Jaspers qualified on average: 1.777. Jaspers lost two matches, against Lars Dunch (30-23), who showed up in a very strong tournament and Hugo Patino (30-24).
Group D was the group of the Colombians: Huberney Catano was the winner with ten match points and 1.393 average, Alexander Salazar was second with eight points and 1.314. Harry Pena (six points, 1.351) and Raymond Ceulemans (six points, 1.293) were three and four and missed the main tournament. The world star Korean Kyung-Roul Kim disappointed, won only two matches and took 1.229. He finished fifth in the group.
Robinson Morales played the best match in the semi-finals: a win in 9 innins against The Vin. Torbjörn Blomdfahl defeated Björn Lohmander in ten innings, Dick Jaspers on in twelve against Gerhard Kostistansky and Alexander Salazar in thirteen against Claus Foge. Eddy Merckx made the highest run: 14.
The qualified players:
Group winners:
1 Eddy Merckx 1.953
2 Frédéric Caudron 1.732
3 Sameh Sidhom 1.464
4 Huberney Catano 1.393
The numbers two:
5 Torbjörn Blomdahl 1.884
6 Dick Jaspers 1.777
7 Ly The Vinh 1.707
8 Alexander Salazar 1.314
The numbers 9 to 16:
9 Murat Naci Coklu
10 Hugo Patino
11 Nalle Olsson
12 Harry Pena
13 Lars Dunck
14Robinson Morales
15 Tayfun Tasdemir
16 Raymond Ceulemans.
The matches in the final rounds start today, Saturday at 10.00 am New York time:
Catano-Blomdahl
Sidhom-Jaspers
Caudron-The Vinh
Merckx-Salazar
(for the positions 9 to 16: Dunch-Ceulemans and Morales-Tasdemir).