Logonewstvcommunitystore

Game Icon3-Cushion

Frédéric Caudron shows his brilliant class

22/07/2013

Publicado por frits bakker

commentlinktwitterfacebook
thumbnail
© © Kozoom photo
Frédéric Caudron, the winner, with Carom Cafe owner Michael Kang

NEW YORK - Two Belgians, who together won the gold medal at the World championship for teams, battled it out for the final win of the Verhoeven Open in New York. Frédéric Caudron, demonstrated his brilliant class to thousands of viewers on Kozoom and the American audience. He defeated Eddy Merckx, another heavyweight in international three cushion, 40-35 (19). The Belgian battle, which has turned out into a classic due to the long mutual history, was decided in the final phase.

The climax in the tournament, where the stars came out to shine and in which rarely has been played that strong in previous years, closed the day after two great semifinals. Frédéric Caudron beat his illustrious compatriot, Mr. 100 Raymond Ceulemans 40-16 in 11 (3.636/1.454).

Eddy Merckx, the world champion, escaped miraculously and with cold sweat in the other semi final match against Torbjörn Blomdahl, who missed his one and only match point  on a 39-32 (16) score. His Belgian opponent answered with a final run of eight.

The Belgians secured spots in the final, their supremacy was marked by the final ranking, in which Caudron, Merckx, Ceulemans, Forthomme and Leppens are with five players in the top ten. The winner, Caudron, also recorded the best average (2.066) ahead of Leppens with 2.057.

Frédéric Caudron, as always with his fluency quick decisions and wonderful style of playing, made the highest run (17) in the 9th inning of his match against Ceulemans. He equaled the tournament's highest, held by Luis Aveiga, who also scored a 17 in the prelims. Eddy Merckx took an early lead in the final, 10-0 in five innings. Then the match turned out into an exciting fight in which Caudron was the very best at the end.

The grin on his face spelled out the relief and satisfaction, when he had topped off his stunning performance.

With runs of 7 and 11 in the 6th and 10th inning he sprinted to a lead. The tension was back when Merckx immediately responded with 11 (25-22). The score was in balance at 29-29 in the sixteenth inning. Caudron had the upperhand in the final sprint: he finished with three: 40-35.

The winner was awarded by 8000 dollars and trophees for the highest run, 17 (with Aveiga) and best match in 11 innings (with Leppens). The best match in the preliminaries was realized by Roland Forthomme: 25 points in four innings (6.250). Eddy Merckx took $ 5,000 for second place, Torbjörn Blomdahl was third with 4000, Raymond Ceulemans was fourth with 3500 dollars.

The overall winner was mainly at his best in the final stages: he defeated Roland Forthomme in the quarterfinals 40-23 in 15, Raymond Ceulemans in the semifinals in 11 and Eddy Merckx in the final in 19 innings.

Frédéric Caudron won the tournament earlier in 2006 (final against Torbjörn Blomdahl, average 1.881) and 2007 (final against Dani Sánchez, average 1.774).

Torbjörn Blomdahl defeated Raymond Ceulemans in the battle for third 40-30 in 19 innings.

Raymond Ceulemans (76) wrapped up his (one-time?) comeback at the international scene with a masterly performance. He finished with an average of 1.714. The Belgian phenomenon amazed the world with his high class matches. He eventually lost only three times, against the number one in the world, Blomdahl, the number two Caudron and the world champion Merckx.

Roland Forthomme finished fifth and completed the Belgian success (four players in the top five). Forthomme averaged 1.737, Gerhard Kostistanski, who was sixth, recorded 1.249.

Miguel Torres, the American surprise, was seventh after he bested Pedro Piedrabuena.

Semih Sayginer jumped over Eddy Leppens in the battle for 9th place.

The top ten in the Verhoeven Open with averages, best match and highest run:

1 Frédéric Caudron, Belgium 2.066-3.636-17

2 Eddy Merckx, Belgium 1.886-2.500-11

3 Torbjörn Blomdahl, Sweden 1.838-2.500-12

4 Raymond Ceulemans, Belgium 1.714-2.667-11

5 Roland Forthomme, Belgium 1.724-2.500-11

6 Gerhard Kostistanski, Austria 1.257-1.818-9

7 Miguel Torres, USA 1.343-1.905-10

8 Pedro Piedrabuena, USA 1.598-2.857-12

9 Semih Sayginer, Turkey 1.535-2.105-12

10 Eddy Leppens, Belgium 2.057-3.636-10.

See all results in Kozoom competition

Comentarios