3-Cushion
VIERSEN - The Koreans are the best winners so far at the World championship for national teams in Viersen, Torbjörn Blomdahl played the best match, Jérémy Bury is the best winner over two matches and Dani Sánchez shone with the highest run. The global event in the Festhalle hasn't even seen all the favourites at work. The Belgian world champions Eddy Merckx and Frédéric Caudron and the German A-players show up in the next afternoon round against Switzerland and Luxembourg, two opponents which are almost out.
Torbjörn Blomdahl recorded the best match after seven rounds and 26 games in total. The Swede is by far the best winner: he defeated Chi Yeon Cho from Korea 40-14 in 14 innings, averaging 2.857. In the top five are Jung Han Heo and Barry van Beers with 2.222 (18 innings), Dani Sánchez and Jérémy Bury with 2.105 average (19 innings).
The Korean A-team defeated Peru in its first show-up with ease. Jae Ho Cho and Jung-Han Heo needed 19 and 18 innings for the forty caroms against Ramon Rodriguez (40-22) and Guido Sacco (40-18). That was the most convincing team victory so far in a tournament in which the decisive phase is near.
The Netherlands and Belgium B, both of which played a 1-1 draw against France, meet tonight at 20.00. Jérémy Bury won twice for France, against Eddy Leppens in 27 innings (40-33), against Dick Jaspers in 19 (40-33). Barry van Beers was the best man in the encounter with France. He defeated the French champion Jean-Christophe Roux 40-16 in 18 innings.
The Belgium A team still has two matches to go: against Switzerland and Portugal, which teams already played against each: Portugal won 2-0. Group B is also in the early phase: Germany A meets Luxembourg and in its second match Italy. The first match ended in a 2-0 victory for Italy. Group C has two sessions behind: Colombia is off after the 1-1 against the Czech Republic and the 2-0 defeat by Turkey. Tayfun Tasdemir defeated Heriberto Aristizabal 40-29 in 28, Adnan Yüksel bested Gabriel Vasquez 40-33 in 24.
Dani Sánchez and Nikos Polychronopoulos treated the audience in the Festhalle to an exciting match. The triple Spanish world champion closed a 17-1 backlog after five innings with a run of fifteen, then was trailing again 29-23, but he decided the game with a final run of six to 40-36 in 19 innings. The other contest gave even more tension: Dionisis Tsokontas and Ruben Legázpi went on together from the start. The Greek made a first gap at 32-19, the Spaniard fought back, but was defeated by one carom at the finish: 40-39 in 37.
Jérémy Bury showed his admirable fighting spirit in the match against Dick Jaspers. The Frenchman had a comfortable lead (30-22) when Jaspers made ten and was two caroms leading at 32-30. In the same inning, Bury countered with eight and led the foundation for his victory. Jean-Christophe Roux was suffering a poor match, like the day before against Roland Forthomme. Barry van Beers ran out quickly to 25-7 in ten innings and triumphed 40-16 in 18.
Denmark signed for the elimination of the German B team by a 2-0 win. The homeland doesn't return in the tournament, most of all because Stefan Galla played bad. Denmark meets Japan for the quaification. Sweden and Austria also face at that time.
The Koreans Hyung Kon Kim and Chi Yeon Cho still have a chance to survive, despite Blomdahl's top match in the first round. They need a win against Sweden to qualify for the final rounds.
The Koreans Jung-Han Heo and Jae Ho Cho recorded the best team win so far.