3-Cushion
MADRID - The Spanish three cushion championship is the tournament in which Dani Sánchez is by far the favorite for the title. The sympathetic Catalan, with his three world titles, is almost unbeatable in the country battle and again showed himself the best with a convincing win. Dani took his sixteenth Spanish title and was on his brilliant best in a final against veteran Alfonso Legazpi from Madrid. The overall average was magnificent: 2.105.
The tournament was played with sixteen finalists in the billiard center of the Spanish federation. The best player in the Spanish history of three cushion made a clean sweep in a grand final phase.
The champion got the show on the road against Enrique Bravo 40-17 in 16 innings (2.500), followed by a victory over the newly crowned European junior champion Antonio Montes in 18 innings (2.222 average), a win in the quarterfinals against Javier Palazón 40-23 in 19 (2.105), in the semi-final vs Ricardo Garcia Alarcón 40-35 in 24 and in the final against Alfonso Legazpi 40-30 in 18 (2.222/1.667).
Sánchez was targeting the end win with some big moves, however Ricardo Garcia Alarcon came within five caroms in the semifinals. Ruben Legázpi starred in the quarterfinals with a 15-run Alfonso Legazpi, they played a draw 40-40 in 27 innings, but Ruben lost in penalty shots.
Xavier Yeste was even one inning better than the later champion in his quarterfinal against Sergio Jimenez (40-24 in 18). Yeste then lost in the semifinals against Alfonso Legazpi 40-36 in 28.
Raul Cuenca, a specialist in the balk-line games, performed surprisingly well: he only lost in the quarterfinals against Ricardo Alarcón 40-32 in 31, but finished with an average of 1.436.
The final score and averages:
1 Dani Sánchez 2.105
2 Alfonso Legazpi 1.319
3 Ricardo Garcia Alarcon 1.301
3 Xavier Yeste 1.349
5 Ruben Legazpi 1.500
6 Sergio Jimenez 1.529
7 Javier Palazón 1.198
8 Raul Cuenca 1.436.