BLANKENBERGE - The first title at the Belgian championship all disciplines went to Peter Mostrey, but an Italian, living in Belgium, was the real winner of the tournament in 5 pins. Giovanni Carbognin, with an Italian passport, won the final against Peter Mostrey 3-2. He was allowed to climb on the podium, but was not honoured as the Belgian champion. Peter Mostrey took the title.
The Belgian chairman Bennie van Goethem faced an unexpected decision. "We have allowed this Italian player to participate, because 5 pins is in our country and still a fairly new discipline. He knew that he could not win the Belgian title, because he has the Italian nationality and plays ranking tournaments in his own country. But we agreed that he could play after he qualified in the pre-rounds. He lives near Charleroi and is a member of Dampremy. We knew that he was a strong player, so there was a chance that he would win the tournament.''
The Belgian gold eventually went to Peter Mostrey with Peter Debaes and Patrick Engelbrecht as the numbers two and three. Bennie van Goethem: "The Belgian players asked Carbognin on the podium and he deserved it. But we have to bring this up in the committee to avoid this situation in the future.''
Giovanni Carbognin and Peter Debaes were the two group winners. Patrick Engelbos and Peter Mostrey went to the semi-finals as the numbers two. There, Carbognin won against Engelbos 3-1 (60-53, 60-18, 37-60 and 60-29) and Mostrey was slightly better than Debaes: 3-2 (60-45, 60-37, 46-60, 32-60, 60-56). In the final, there was tension until the last set between Carbognin and Mostrey. The Italian first took a lead (60-56), Mostrey equalized 60-40, Carbognin took the lead again with 60 -46, but again the Belgian came back 60-15. The deciding set was a thriller, won by the Italian 60-57.
The first two days at the Belgian Multi's were marked by the first preliminaries in three cushion, 5 pins, the ladies tournament and the juniors. Eddy Leppens and Roland Forthomme qualified as numbers one in their group for the eighth finals with Davy van Havere and Rudy de Laet as the runners-up.
Eddy Leppens won his group unbeaten by victories over Rudy de Laet, Frank de Groof and Ronny Daniels in 17, 22 and 24 innings. Leppens finished 1.904 of average and a highest run of 11. Roland Forthomme beat his opponents Davy van Havere, Wesley de Jaeger and Steven D'Hont in 28, 18 and 24 innings and finished 1.714 average (highest run 11).
In the juniors, Dylan Parent leads the ranking with two wins and 0.490 of average ahead of Kevin van Hees with 2 points and 0.420 and Nick Rosier with 0 points and 0.310.
Jaimie Buelens leads the ladies ranking with 4 points and 0.520, followed by Danielle le Bruyn with 3 points and 0.430, Sandra de Letter with 1 point and 0.448 and Karolien Matthys with 0 points and 0.310.
The first matches in the classics were also played. Patrick Niessen defeated Philippe Deraes in the free game 400-1 in one inning and Robby Sonck 400-11 in 6. Maarten Janssen also won his both matches: Robby Sonck 400-246 in 2 and Deraes 400-2 in 1.