3-Cushion
ALBERT - The brilliant form of Peter Ceulemans (runs 11 and 15) was not good enough to inspire his French team Albert to victory on Friday night against Rouen. The 5-3 loss means for Albert, that the elimination for the French playoffs is close. Albert, the leader until Friday, now needs a win in the away match against Andernos on May 14. Valéry Callens, team boss of Albert: ,,We never won there in seven years... This is a very bad weekend. We need a small miracle in Andernos.''
Peter Ceulemans showed up in an excellent match against Ruben Legazpi, in which he started with 11 and ran away with 15 in the 16th inning. ,,I had the bad luck that Legazpi was also very strong'', Ceulemans concluded afterwards. The Spaniard finished with 2 and 5 and, after Ceulemans made his last point, equalized with four to 50-50 in 25 turns.
That could have been enough for the team win if Kurt Ceulemans had won his match against Mikael Devogelaere, but the Frenchman took the win 50-45 in 33. And because Dion Nelin (Albert) really was not in his best form against Javier Palazón (loss 50- 28 in 30), the team win went to Rouen. Cédric Melnytschenko was the only winner for Albert against Vincent Facquet 50-27 in 30.
Andernos and Rouen are topping the ranking in this group now with seven match points followed by Albert with 6 and St. Maur with 0 points. Andernos won the home match against St. Maur 6-2. Nikos Polychronopoulos lost to Jean-Christoph Roux (50-41 in 38), but Forthomme, Barbeillon and Mottet were winners for Andernos in 35, 39 and 34 innings vs Thierry Roxo, Kevin Vasseur and Jean-Luc Miller.
The final day in this group is on May 14:
Andernos-Albert
Rouen-St. Maur.
Ruben Legazpi, a draw against Peter Ceulemans after a strong finish