3-Cushion
ANKARA - The Turkish billiard player Lütfi Cenet is a specialist in playing the OneCarom Challenge. Not only did he win a final in the first series against Vietnamese Anh Chien Nguyen with a 50 in 10 innings finish and the best run of 16. In the second tournament series, with a slightly different format, Cenet triumphed again, this time in a final with eight and eventually four players. Dick Jaspers finished second in the final score. ''I succeeded to win the final thanks to three high runs", commented the Turkish, two-time world champion for national teams in Viersen.
In the Yaman Billard Academi, the billiard hall in the Turkish capital Ankara, where he lives and grew up, some twenty spectators watched the final round, including his most loyal fan, his wife Basak. Dick Jaspers, Sameh Sidhom and Nikos Polychronopoulos were his competitors in the final days. They played two days of each ten innings from the break. Cenet led after a poor first day with the four finalists with 27 points, ahead of Sidhom with 26, Jaspers and Polychronopoulos with 22 points. The second part, in which Cenet showed to be superior, had a slightly better level, although the Turkish winner was no longer threatened after his runs of 9, 12 and 7 in the 3rd, 4th and 5th inning. Jaspers made a last attempt when he entered the second part with 7 and 8: Jaspers approached to twelve points (67-55), but Jaspers' scores faltered in the two final innings.
Lütfi Cenet commented on the new format: ''The main problem is to keep your focus, because if the opponents score a lot, it takes ten minutes or more to wait." Nikos Polychronopoulos, the fastest player in this field, visibly struggled to adapt to those long waitings.
Dick Jaspers was at his best in the preliminary rounds, which he played in the SIS Billiards Center. On Thursday, the Dutchman travelled to Laxou, to first play the first final round for the Challenge and then for the French league against Torbjörn Blomdahl. ''I had to travel back quickly on Friday and arrived just in time", he said after the final, in which he was unable to reach his level from the pre-rounds, but admitted that Cenet was a way too strong.
Sameh Sidhom was good at times, but could not come to high scores in the last stage (8 in the first 5, 19 in the last 5) and so he was left behind by his two rivals in the lead.
Lütfi Cenet earned 1000 euros on starting money with his performance and 1.000 euros for the victory. Dick Jaspers earned 1.000 on starting money, 500 euros for the second place and 250 for the shared high run (13) which he shared with Sameh Sidhom.
The final ranking:
1 Lütfi Cenet 71
2 Dick Jaspers 60
3 Sameh Sidom 52
4 Nikos Polychronopoulos 44.
The next session in the 4x10 is from October 26 to 30 with:
Group A: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Jérémy Bury, Sung-Won Choi, Therese Klompenhouwer.
Group B: Dani Sánchez, Semih Sayginer, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, Dinh Nai Ngo.
The third series from November 9-13:
Group A: Eddy Merckx, Martin Horn, Jung-Han Heo, Antonio Montes
Group B: Tayfun Tasdemir, Murat Naci Coklu, Roland Forthomme, Jun-Tae Kim.