VEGHEL - 60-year-old Belgian Jef Philipoom, taken from the pot of reserves to fill in at the World Cup in Veghel, still knows the tricks of the trade The world tournament, organized for fifth time in the Brabant billiards enclave, saw clashes this Sunday on the first day of play between seasoned routines and young talents, like the match between Jef Philipoom, the 1995 world champion, and Amir Ibraimov, a 16-year-old German who is causing a furore as a young future champion. The chances were in balance before the match, as they both won the first game, but the Belgian had almost brought his opponent to his knees after a furious 22-2 start. Yet Amir, who started with eight zeros out of nine attempts, still resisted valiantly, came back to 27-22, but was sacrificed by the eager Belgian with two small runs in the final for a score 30-26 in 26 innings.
The lights of the World Cup were extinguished after the first day with two magnificent matches. Jean van Erp, forever the local hero, swiped the Turk Demir (whom he teasingly names Truus Demier) off the billiard with 30-10 in 16 innings, best match of the day. With his total of four match points and 1.578, the Dutchman became the day's best winner. Greek Kostas Papakonstantinou, for two years back from his PBA adventure and lost many kilos, shone against Austrian Simperler with a wonderful game: 30-23 in 20 after he was already on 26 in 11 innings.
Jefke Philipoom, as he is called in billiards circles, is not yet shying away from youth. ‘’I know they are hot on my heels, but I can still beat them,‘’ he said shortly after the match, during which he spent minutes on the young, German talent. Jef: ‘’I told him that the match should not have been five points longer, then he would have won.‘’ But of course he was happy with the success. ’’I was told on Saturday, one day before, that I was allowed to play, because players had cancelled. The moment was not very favorable, because I am coughing and snivelling due to a cold. So I lost my focus after that fast start, but I was still able to finish just in time.‘’
Jef's victory still played out in the eve, when it was not yet known whether his 16-year-old son Luca had also survived the first round. In hindsight, that turned out to be a hopeless mission. Jef Philipoom first beat Greek Konstantinos Bartsokas (30-28 in 41) and then Ibraimov 30-28 in 26, in total good for 4 match points and 0.825. With that, Philipoom was certainly not among the top players on this first day.
The first big names to be played out of the World Cup were Carlos Crespo (by Jean van Erp) and, even more, Therese Klompenhouwer, the number one in the women's rankings, who has been playing at high level in the team competitions for weeks. The Dutch started solidly with a win against a Greek and 1.250 average. How erratic form suddenly was showed against Turk Volkan Kara, who wiped out Therese (best run 1) by 30-7 in 20 innings.
The Dutch clash Joris van ‘t Zelfden against Barry van Beers, also between a routine player and a young promising one, attracted a lot of interest from the spectators. The Brabant's start was much better (16-8 in 9), the Zeeuw fought back when his opponent lost the grip and eventually levelled the score with 6, 3 and 2: 30-30 in 28. With the result that both players finished on 3 match points, the Brabant player with 1.276, de Zeeuw with 1.111. And with no cancellations for the second day, Joris van ‘t Zelfden was unfortunate to be eliminated.
Two Dutchmen ran into a blue in the final rounds, Wilco van Wijk squandering his chances against Spaniard Escribano (30-28), Adrie Demming against Dane Brian Knudsen with 30-26 in 23, leaving Demming with the better average (1.272) to finish second. The Brabant man who could cheer was Frits Broeders, as with minimal difference and thanks to Wilco van Wijk's missed win, Broeders became group winner ahead of Van Wijk and Escribano.
At the end of the first World Cup day, some grumbling could be heard. The entry system is still somewhat unfortunate and far from ideal. Many well known names like Birol Uymaz, Jérôme Barbeillon, Bart Ceulemans, Denizcan Akkoca and Steven van Acker are far on the reserve list where players like Frank Spruzina (0.216), Medhat Diab (0.217), Stijn de Meijer (0.328) were allowed to appear in the World Cup arena.
Jean van Erp, best day winner in Veghel
Greek Kostas Papakonstantinou, among the best on the first day
French man Mikael Devogelaere, one of the group winners
The group winners:
- Jean van Erp 4-1,578-7
- Kostas Papakonstantinou 4-1,500-8
- Mikael Devogelaere 4-1,395-6
- Volkan Ozgu Kara 4-1,111-6
- Brian Knudsen 4-1,016-10
- Ataberk Cerkez 4-1,000-4
- Frans van Schaik 4-0.923-10
- Paul Bruijstens 4-0.895-8
- Jef Philipoom 4-0.895-6
- John van der Stappen 4-0.857-5
- Valentin Andaluz 4-0.845-6
- Felix Witkopf 4-0.508-6
- Barry van Beers 3-1.276-7
- Dave Christiani 3-1,224-7
- Frits Broeders 2-1,090-9
- Aygun Sin 2-0.810-6