Two old warriors in the final in Suwon

SUWON - Two matches for the semi finals, four great champions and the outcome was that two old waariors from the top of the professional circuit will play the World Cup final in Suwon. Torbjörn Blomdahl is the favourite, Marco Zanetti the challenger in the battle for gold.

Two players with a huge honor list, with an enormous routine in playing finals: they guarantee an exciting final. The Koreans are out of the tournament, the Belgians, the Dutch, no Spanish, no Greek, no French, no German, but a Swede and an Italian are coming up for the 'Grande finale' in Suwon.

Torbjörn Blomdahl, who turns fifty next month, is the undisputed champion in three cushion throughout in the current circuit. Marco Zanetti, who turned fifty in April this year, glittered many years in all billiard disciplines, but especially in the most popular, three cushion, in which he won two world titles.

The Italian maestro was not only fighting for success in this tournament in Suwon, moreover for his ranking in the world. After the World championship in Porto, he was out of the top twelve. But now, Zanetti has already returned, whether he wins the final or not.

Torbjörn Blomdahl will be the new world's number one with a victory in the final. Then, with the 80 points of the winner, he passes Frédéric Caudron with seven points. Who could have imagined that two years ago, when Blomdahl had a lesser period and many billiard lovers thought the Swede would not come back on top.

In the semi-finals Zanetti and Merckx faced each other in a long, exhausting and high quality match. The Belgian took first lead (15-8), then Zanette brought the score to 2-1 (15-8 and 15-2), Merckx fought back again, but in the endrush, Zanetti won the match 15-12. The averages: 1.909/1.625 averages, runs for both 10.

Torbjörn Blomdahl lost in his duel with Dick Jaspers his first set in the tournament so far, but in the rest of the match he dominated like in all his performances before in Suwon. The 2-0 lead from the Swede (15-9 in 4 15-2 in 5), was in danger for only one moment, after Jaspers' 2-15 (5). In the final set, the Swede was superior again and finished with a final run of ten: 15-2 in 4 innings. Averages: 2.764 Blomdahl, Jaspers 1.750, runs 10 and 9.