3-Cushion
LAXOU/MORANGIS - The first day in the French team league yielded two winners in Group A: Andernos, which won 7-1 over Laxou with an outstanding Gwendal Maréchal and Morangis, taking victory 6-2 over Courbevoie. The matches in Group B will be played today, on Friday. The top match between Dick Jaspers and Torbjörn Blomdahl ended in a draw after Blomdahl's equalizer with 7. In the absence of Marco Zanetti, who was replaced by Barry van Beers, Andernos knocked down Laxou in its own house and shone with 1,667 on team average (1.219 for Laxou). The outcome was that reducing the shot clock to 30 seconds, didn't have any effect on the quality of the game.
Young Frenchman Gwendal Maréchal almost playfully ran over his opponent Pierre Soumagne. The start of the Andernos player was devastating: Maréchal, in his last year of study, turned out into the star player of this encounter and had a much better kick-off than Jaspers and Blomdahl at the other table. The 13-2 in 7 was followed by a great 15-run, bringing Maréchal at 28-2. The two players did not use the break and Maréchal even ran out to 38 after 12 innings with a 7-run. Three innings later, the Andernos talent left his rival Soumagne at 40-14, averages 2,667/0,933.
The matches in the first round already gave Andernos a 4-0 lead. The Dutch substitute in the team, Barry van Beers, helt his opponent Jef Philipoom in a tight grip from the start and was never threatened in the match: the Dutchman dominated, the Belgian mainly struggled with himself. 40-27 in 24. Adrien Tachoire took a 10-point lead over Jérôme Barbeillon (26-16 in 17), but the score was turned around in the second part. Barbeillon eventually won 40-36 in 31.
With three games won and after Maréchal's brilliant victory, on a 6-0 score, only Jaspers and Blomdahl had to finish their match after a modest start. The Dutchman led 28-21 in 15 and 39-30 in 22. Jaspers' last carom took four more innings, when he finishes at 40-33, Blomdahl went for his last chance. The world champion showed his high class and finished with 8 for the equalizer: 40-40 in 26.
In the Paris region, Morangis kept the full win in-house with 6-2. Courbevoie could only score when Eddy Merckx, with its Morangis past, came to the table. The Belgian beat Antonio Montes.
In the first session, Jean-Christophe Roux delivered an excellent performance facing Maxime Panaia: 31-12 in 15 and 40-18 in 23 (1,739/0,783). Jean Reverchon defeated Hector Echeverry Marin 40-29 in 46 at the other table. Morangis was leading 4-0 halfway, when two Spaniards, Antonio Montes and Ruben Legazpi, entered the arena in a clash with two Belgians, Eddy Merckx and Steven van Acker.
After a strong 8-run, Legazpi led sovereignly over Van Acker at the break: 21-11 in 7. That was the prelude to a Spanish victory: 40-31 in 19 (2,105/1,632). The only win for Courbevoie came from Eddy Merckx, who left Antonio Montes behind in a close finish 40-35 in 24, thanks to a run of 8 in the second and 12 in the 11th inning.
The winning Andernos team with Dick Jaspers, Jérôme Barbeillon, Barry van Beers and Gwendal Maréchal