ZUNDERT - Who actually made the biggest impression on the penultimate day of the Christmas tournament in Zundert? Was itDick Jaspers showing Roland Forthomme his brilliance with a riant 5-0 in sets? Or Frédéric Caudron, ending spectacularly against Barry van Beers and then started as a rocket against Peter Ceulemans to reach the final with a solid 5-2 score? The tournament in D'n Hoek is ready to bring you a great final, this Sunday afternoon at 2 PM, with a match to best of 11 in sets of 9. The numbers one and two of the world are in the arena of the billiards hall in Zundert. The organization could not have wished for a better climax.
The day started on Saturday with the emotions of Jan van Kerkoerle and ended with the outcome of a dream final. Dick Jaspers and Frédéric Caudron face each other in the final today and will put a sounding name on the honour list. The spotlights turned on this Saturday from Jan van Kerkoerle, the Zundert team leader, to the billiard tables where Dick Jaspers makes his come-back in his own area with an unstoppable series of four wins. The hometown hero, Roland Forthomme, was the victim in the semi-finals with a 5-0 in sets: 9-3 (4), 9-0 (1), 9-0 (2), 9-1 ( 4) and 9-5 (5), 2.813 average for the winner against 0.692 for Forthomme. With his last comment, the Belgian got the fans on his hand anyway. "This is not my first time losing to Jaspers. I hope it was my last time.''
Frédéric Caudron launched the first set against Peter Ceulemans with 1 and 8, Ceulemans went to the table for only one inning, scored eight times and lost that set 8.000 average. Caudron ran out to 2-0 in sets, 3-0 after a 9-0 in the third, Ceulemans, with his legendary 'grandpa' in the stands, showed something of his class and came back to 3 -2, but then he was overpowered by Caudron: 5-2: 9-3 (2), 9-2 (4), 9-0 (4), 5-9 (4), 8-9 (2), 9-3 (2), 9-4 (5), averages 2.636/1.750.
Dick Jaspers moved very relaxed through the hall in these first days. "The return to Zundert feels good'', he said between two matches. ,,I know a lot of people here and it's nice to play in my own home era again after a year of heavy travelling. ''The year has given his career a new highlight: world champion, number one in the world , two World Cup wins, a Master's tournament in Korea and an unbelievable world record: 40 points in four innings, 10.000 average.
The Christmas tournament felt like coming home, he said after the preliminaries, which he apparently came through without any troubles. He was the only one of the eight players to win all his matches. Peter Ceulemans went to the final rounds as number two with strong performances against Eddy Merckx and Gerwin Valentijn, two matches in which he made the 36 winning points in 14 and 16 innings.
The other group ended in a shared first place by Frédéric Caudron and Roland Forthomme. Caudron eventually won the group, because Roland Forthomme, who already had qualified for the final rounds, ran into Eddy Leppens in the last session. Forthomme's knock-out followed one round later against Jaspers.