French players with three on the podium

BILLY-MONTIGNIES - The young Frenchman Pierre Bibaut has been crowned in Billy Montignies in his own country as the first European champion three-cushion for players under seventeen. In the final of the championship he defeated the Dutchman Raymon Heumen 30-24 in 43 innings.

On the podium of this European championship, played in the northern region of France where today the cycling classic Paris-Roubaix was held, were three French players. They dominated the tournament.

Pierre Bibaut was the best with a final average of 0.788 in the group, unbeaten in the preliminaries, a run of eleven and victories against Gwendal Marechal in the semifinals and Raymon Heumen in the final.

Raymon Heumen lost one game in his group, but was second behind Bibaut. He defeated Thibaut Espada in the semis 30-27 in 43 innings and then lost against Bibaut in the final match.

The final positions in the groups were:
Group A:
1 Thibaut Espada (Fr) averaged 0,748, 2 Gwendal Maréchal (Fr) 0.689, 3 Joey de Kok (Ned), 0.578, 4 Wesley Vergauwen (Bel), 0.427, 5 Guillaume Dieu (Bel) 0.345.
Group B:
1 Pierre Bibaut (Fr) 0.788, 2 Raymon Heumen (Ned) 0.585, 3 Ondrej Hosek (Tsj) 0.419, 4 Gerome Dieu (Bel) 0.408, 5 Saud Muhovic (Lux) 0.370.