PORTO - The French from Andernos, the Danes from Varde and two Turkish teams were the top starters at the European club team championship in Porto. Marco Zanetti and Berkay Karakurt shone with strong matches for their teams, Andernos with Zanetti, Forthomme, Maréchal and Barbeillon made it clear that this team is a rival to the champions of FC Porto. The French team achieved the best average in its first group match against the Belgians from Op de Meir: 1.839 ahead of Varde (Merckx, De Bruijn, Anderson, Schröder) starting 1.666 and Goztepe (Gayret, Omer Karakurt, Yavuz, Kaya) with 1.495. The European championship, known as Coupe d'Europe, is played in the arena where the World Cup finished yed last week in Porto, with 19 teams divided into five groups. The five group winners qualify for the quarter-finals with the two best runners-up. These seven teams will compete with FC Porto, the title holder, for the European club title.
In Group A, Varde and Mister 100 lead after victories over Billiards Cafe B (Italy) and BC Elite Wien, both 8-0. Peter Ceulemans was the best man for Mister 100 against Andreas Efler (40-25 in 19) and Eddy Merckx for Varde against Giuseppe Tiranno 40-17 in 23. Jean Paul de Bruijn, second man for Varde, was also an excellent winner in 19 innings.
Group B will be played with three instead of four teams. Only Billiards Cafe A and BSV Velbert were in action with wins for the Italians, who are led by Dutchman Glenn Hofman. The team won 6-2 over the Germans, Glenn Hoffman defeating Tom Löwe 40-27 in 18 innings. The other Italian victories came from Emilio Sciacca and Francesco Orlando.
Tekstil Spor Kulubu and BC Weywiesen lead Group C after victories over BC Vitkov 8-0 and FC Leca 6-2. The Turks' leader Tayfun Tasdemir started with a generous win over Martin Bohac (40-15 in 23), Berkay Karakurt bested Adam Kozak 40-18 in 17. The Turks further play with Gökhan Salman and Murat Tüzul and are definitely contenders for the final rounds. For Weywiesen, only leading man Christian Rudolph was defeated by Joao Gomes 40-39 in 50 innings. Jens Eggers, Markus Wirgs and Stefan Siegburg went on to win for the Germans.
Castalla's Spaniards and Andernos' French will battle for the top spot in Group D, where Andernos is the big favorite. Marco Zanetti was a brilliant starter for Andernos against poor Op de Meir leading player Jef Philipoom 40-12 in 14. The Italian led his team to a convincing 8-0, as Roland Forthomme also won (against Barry van Beers, 40-36 in 22). For the Belgians, apart from Philipoom (0.857), Ivay Stitschinsky (0.548) was not in the best of form. Gwendal Maréchal won against Roland Uytdewillegen 40-22 in 20 innings. Playing against SC de Portugal (8-0), Castalla had its best player in Sergio Jimenez, who beat Rui Edgar 40-25 in 24. Rui Lopes (0.612) and Ricardo Belo (0.285) were Portuguese who had no chance against Andres Carrion and Toni Garcia.
Group E kicked off with an 8-0 win for Goztepe spor Kulube over BK Grøndal, the team that appeared with strong line-ups in previous years but has now sent out a much weaker team. Goztepe was therefore a class too strong for this team. Taruk Yavuz and Ugur Kaya were the bese winners in 19 and 21 innings. For Grøndal, Dan Johansen, the team owner, was the leader with 0.470 on average. For Pottendorfer against BC Zurich, Herbert Szivacz was the only regular winner against Cetin Behzat 40-21 in 39. The other three games did not make it to the end, the Swiss had a team average of 0.547. Pottendorfer with Szivacz, Nebuda, Weiss and Arnhold averaged 0.761.
Today's first games, Thursday, are:
10.00 (Portuguese time): Weywiesen-Vitkov and Op de Meir-Castalla
Pottendorfer-Grøndal and Mister 100-Billiards Cafe B
14.00: Mostoles-Velbert and Tekstil-Leca.
Roland Forthomme and Barry van Beers before they kick-off their match