3-Cushion
HURGHADA – It felt like a homerun, like a hole in one… Markus Dömer, playing only his second World Cup rose above himself in the second afternoon session, in his match against Egyptian Ihab El Messery.
Five innings, seven innings, and it was done, like a whirlwind over the Red Sea.
Ten minutes later, the German was talking to Torbjörn Blomdahl behind a laptop, as if he had just played a club match. He said: ,,We have walked 10K together in the gym yesterday, I felt fit as a fiddlet.'' Torbjörn Blomdahl: ,,He has lost weight and gained average.''
Never before had he played this well in a World Cup: 15-5 in 5 and 15-2 in 7 (2.500 gemiddeld), against the 46-year old Egyptian who had been overjoyed this morning to hear that he stayed in the tournament, replacing Greek player Kostas Papakonstantinou who did not show. Markus Dömer could use another quickie match, this afternoon against Javier Palazón, but until then he is free to enjoy the best match in the tournament so far.
Daydreaming, like Jack Wijnen has done for four days now. The Dutch survived three qualification days unscathed, and is now bidding for a place in the main tournament.
Half of his work is already done: Jean Reverchon, former artistic world champion, was beaten in three sets. Savas Bulut from Turkey is the other player in their flight.
Roland Forthomme and Peter Ceulemans showe how strange three cushion can be. The Belgian clash still carried the scent of Sunday’s memorable match, when Forthomme equalled the world record high run (28). His teammate Peter Ceulemans was a proud onlooker then.
Today, the roles were almost reversed. Ceulemans dominated the match, won the first set 15 – 13 in 10 innings and the second even with 15 – 4 in 7.
Forthomme had an easy explanation: ,,Peter played very well, I had no feel for the table.''
Ruben Legazpi had a different excuse, one that sounded very credible. The Spaniard had travelled with Dani Sánchez and Javier Palazón on Tuesday, leaving at 10 in the morning to arrive this morning at 7 in Hurghada. Just three hours later, he was dressed and at the table: he lost Dane Lars Dunch with a disappointing average of 0.897.
Of the two Dutch encounters, Raimond Burgman won one, beating Jean Paul de Bruijn: 15-10 in the first set was quickly followed by 3 – 15 and 5 – 15 in 6 and 8 innings. De Bruin did later beat Forton 2 – 0.
Glenn Hofman and Therese Klompenhouwer had a knife-edge encounter. Two sets were decided on a millimeter: Therese winning the first one 15 – 14, Glenn the second 14 – 15 after Therese had missed matchball. In the third set Klompenhouwer took the lead, but Hofman countered superbly to win the match 15 – 8 in 12, in the third.