3-Cushion
ANTALYA - The two Dutch favorites Therese Klompenhouwer and Karina Jetten have made the best start at the European championship three-cushion in Antalya. Both already have qualified for the best sixteen as two players from the eight groups of three move up. The Dutch are already with three players in the next round, the Turkish players are still vulnerable on the second day of the preliminary rounds. Gülsen Degener started with a loss against Belgian Jaimie Buelens, also a double winner on the starting day.
The level on the first day was influenced by the new and slippery cloths. The games were played to 25 points: 11 of the 16 matches didn't finish in 40 innings. Therese Klompenhouwer with a win against Ana Juarez (25-3) played the best match. ''I can fully understand that the first day was not at a high level, because it really was slipping all the way'', Klompenhouwer gave as her first impression.
Karina Jetten already has two wins to her name: against Monika Steinberger 25-2 in 36 (!), against Güzin Mujde Karakasli 25-18 in 26. For the Dutch connection, Daisy Werdekker has also qualified for the next mission with two wins in her group. Belgian Jaimie Buelens remained unbeaten as well with two victories, against Gülsen Degener and Charlotte Sörensen.
The other players who already qualified are Steffi Daske and Estela Cardoso.
CEB President Diane Wild and Turkish president Ersan Ercan welcomed the 24 players, the coaches and the spectators at the start of the day at this Europeans.
The preliminaries will be continued tomorrow, Wednesday, at 11 am Turkish time (9 am Western Europe). The session is followed by the eighth finals in knock-out matches.
All matches can be followed live on kozoom.com.
Belgian Jaimie Buelens launched her performance with two wins, one of them against Gülsen Degener
Therese Klompenhouwer, best match of the day to start her EC
Dutch number two Karina Jetten, promising start, double win
The field of 24 players for the European championship in Antalya