3-Cushion
VIENNA - Herbert Szivacz is the third Austrian player in three-cushion behind Andreas Efler and Gerhard Kostiskansky. The top two of the homeland is directly seeded for the main event of the World Cup. The 43-year-old Herbert Szivacz had to play today in the preliminary rounds and survived after a brave and spectacular sprint against the Turkish player Manol Minaoglu: 2-1.
The winner of the match, who comes from the village of Pottendorf, which lies thirty kilometers from Vienna and only has 14,000 inhabitants, was enjoying the applause that came from the tribunes. He didn't shine so much, the last years, with successes: Szivacz only won the Austrian title once, in 2005.
For his best match ever he has to go further back in time. ,,I have been playing Grand Prix tournaments for the BWA. And in 1995 in Felden I played for me a historical match against Sang Lee. I missed ten match points, before he finished the game.
Today the Austrian was the hope of his country and one of the players who gave the audience a couple of pleasant hours. Dave Christiani from the Netherlands and Yavaz Mehmet (Turkey) did so on one of the other tables, in a thriller that captivated until the last carom.
The Dutchman saw his chances disappear like snow before the sun, when Yavaz seemed on his way to the finish. The Turk, who has been five years away from the three-cushion track because he made a few trips around the world on his motorbike, however stumbled in his duel with Christiani at one point. The Dutchman finished under under great pressure with a small run of two.
He sighed afterwards: ,,My opponent couldn't touch a decent ball this afternoon, but against me it seemed like he could attack and defend like he was Dick Jaspers himself.''