Carom Series
RONCHIN - The European championship for teams in the classic disciplines is won by the team that put up a masterly race and showed itself the very best of six finalists. The Dutch Etikon defeated Bochem in the final and took the European title for the fifth time in the line-up with Henri Tilleman, Patrick Niessen and Jean Paul de Bruijn.
The successful, world class formation will be changed at the end of this season. Henri Tilleman leaves the team because due to personal reasons. The team, in addition, moves from Haarlo to Rosmalen, the name will be changed in Etikon/AEJ.
Jean Paul de Bruijn, who was the star player and the only one with four wins this weekend and Patrick Niessen remain as the two strong figureheads. Gert-Jan Veldhuizen replaces Henri Tilleman.
The hegemony of Etikon was demonstrated again in Ronchin with an unbeaten performance in the preliminaries, although both Tilleman and Niessen lost one match. In the semifinal, where Ronchin was the opponent and in the final against Bochem the champions powered to great wins.
The Germans impressed in the semi-final with strong performances against Spanish Sueca, including Thomas Nockemann who defeated Raul Cuenca in 71/2 with a big margin, 200-0 in one inning and Fabian Blondeel outsprinted Dave Christiani in one cushion (120-23 in 6).
Moreover, Ludger Havlik showed up with a majestic score against Esteve Mata in the 47/2. The matches was stopped when the score was 4-0, Havlik led 170-0 in the first inning.
That promised a great fight in the final, but the opposite was the case. Thomas Nockemann was'nt a shadow of the player he was a few hours earlier on the final day against Raul Cuenca and was far behind when (154-37) when Patrick Niessen had to stop the match after ten innings.
Jean Paul de Bruijn ruled supremely against Fabian Blondeel (120-38 in 7) and Ludger Havlik, one of the luminarries in the semifinals, was dashed off by Henri Tilleman (250-28 in 2).
Therefore, Etikon had almost had a walkover in the battle for gold. The collective level of the Dutch team raised far above the opponents on its way to the victory: German Bochem, Spanish Sueca, with its two balk-line specialists and French Ronchin, they were all overpowered by the Dutch scoring machine.
The individual class was also showed by the averages afterwards. Henri Tilleman finished off 64.87 in the 47/2, Patrick Niessen 26.76 in 71/2 and Jean Paul de Bruijn sparkled with 15.48 in one cushion.
The Dutch all round player was by far the best of the tournament with victories (120 points) in 5, 9, 10 and 7 innings, including runs of 84, 66 and 61.
The individual results:
Balk-line 47/2:
1) Henri Tilleman (Etikon): 75%, average 58,62
2) Esteve Mata (Sueca): 50%, 61,75
3) Nicolas Gérassimopoulos (Andernos): 50%, 34,00
4) Ludger Havlik (Bochum): 50%, 30,34
5) Brahim Djoubri (Ronchin): 33%, 24,77
6) Willy Gérimont (Chartres): 25%, 20,22
Balk-line 71/2:
1) Thomas Nockemann (Bochum): 75%, 32,78
2) Xavier Grétillat (Chartres): 50%, 29,90
3) Patrick Niessen (Etikon): 50%, 26,76
4) Peter De Backer (Andernos): 50%, 17,28
5) Raul Cuenca (Sueca): 33%, 21,35
6) Jean-François Florent (Ronchin): 16%, 22,70
One cushion:
1) Jean-Paul de Bruijn (Etikon): 100%, 15,48
2) Bernard Villiers (Ronchin): 66%, 6,07
3) Jacky Justice (Chartres): 50%, 4,50
4) Dave Christiani (Sueca): 33%, 7,78
5) Fabian Blondeel (Bochum): 25%, 7,72
6) Bernard Baudoin (Andernos): 0%, 5,53.