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World top of nation teams meets in Festhalle

03/05/2014

Published by frits bakker

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© © Harry van Nijlen/Kozoom
Torbjörn Blomdahl is the record holder for Sweden at the World championship for teams

VIERSEN - The top twelve of the world, beyond two Koreans, is about to start the battle for the world championship three cushion for national teams in two weeks (13 to16 March). The magnificent and authentic Festhalle in Viersen is hosting the event for the 17th time. The World championship was played 27 times before. The record holder of wins is Sweden with 9 victories.

Torbjörn Blomdah is the most successful player in the field. The Belgians Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Merckx are the current title holders. Their nation team, one of the best in three cushion, won two times in a row after a 25 year long period without a win.

The Belgians defeated last year Germany in the final match. The reigning champion starts the tournament this year under the name Belgium B, because both Caudron and Merckx did not reach the final in the Belgian championship last year. Roland Forthomme, the former champion and Eddy Leppens, are the Belgium A team.

On the honor roll, Germany, Turkey and Japan share the second place with four wins each. Belgium, Netherlands and Denmark won the World title two times. The Belgians are the record holders average since 2012 with 1.884. The Japanese won the first title with Nobuaki Kobayashi and Junichi Komori in 1981. Torbjörn Blomdahl was the best of all for the first time in 1987 with his father Lennart.

The Swedish team won the tournament five times in a row between 2005 and 2009 in the line-up with Torbjörn Blomdahl and Michael Nilsson.

Other well-known players who won the tournament were Frederic Caudron, Eddy Merckx, Dick Jaspers, Dani Sánchez, Nobuaki Kobayashi, Junichi Komori, Martin Horn, Semih Sayginer, Tayfun Tasdemir and Christian Rudolph. The Koreans, who in width have the best players, could never win the gold medal. The best performances were two fourth places with Kyung-Roul Kim and Sung-Won Choi in 2008 and Kyung-Roul Kim and Dong Koong Kang in 2009.

The Mexican team with Raymundo Munoz and Alan Campos was on the list of participants, but is now taken off. Their federation, which was suspended by the UMB once before, has been struggling for years with financial problems. The Germans Ronny Lindemann and Thorsten Frings are the substitutes.

The group format :

Group A: België A (Roland Forthomme, Eddy Leppens), Italië (Marco Zanetti, Emilio Sciacca), Luxemburg (Ramon Hamm, Paul Mootz).

Group B: Duitsland (Martin Horn, Stefan Galla), Tsjechië (Martin Bohak, Lukas Popenaznik), Egypte (Sameh Sidhom, Mohsen Fouda.

Group C: Zuid-Korea (Jung Han Heo, Jae Ho Cho), Zwitserland (Cetin Behzat, Rene Hendriksen, Venezuela (Miguel Canton, Merlin Romero)

Group D: Spanje (Dani Sánchez, Ruben Legazpi), Portugal (Vasco Gomez, Mario Goncalves Aranha), Duitsland B (Ronny Lindemann, Thorsten Frings).

Group E: Turkije (Tayfun Tasdemir, Tolgahan Kiraz), Japan (Takao Miyashita, O Takeshima), Amerika (Hugo Patino, Mazin Shooni).

Group F: Nederland (Dick Jaspers, Barry van Beers), Vietnam (Dinh Nai Ngo, Anh Vu Duong), Griekenland (Filippos Kasidokostas, Nikos Polychronopoulos).

Group G: Denemarken (Tonny Carlsen, Michael Lohse), Frankrijk (Jérémy Bury, Pierre Soumagne), Finland (Toni Hannula, Sami Hannula).

Group H: Zweden (Torbjörn Blomdahl, Michael Nilsson), Oostenrijk (Arnim Kahofer, Andreas Efler), België B (Frédéric Caudron, Eddy Merckx).

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