BRANDENBURG - The Belgian kings Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Merckx have closed the European billiards championship with the team victory in the national tournament. The multiple world champions at the World championship for countries in Viersen proved to be the best at the European championship in the Scotch Double system. In the final, Spaniards Dani Sánchez and Ruben Legazpi were beaten 40-20 in 12 innings, 3.333 for the winners. The golden duo won the final against France 40-32 in 21 (1,904) and in the quarterfinals against Denmark 40-7 in 11 (3.636).
The medal ranking at the end of the eleven-day mega-event was led by the Netherlands with 5 gold medal wins, 3 silver and 5 bronze winners, a total of 13 medals. Italy finished second with 4 times gold, third was France with 3 times gold, Belgium fourth with 3 times gold and fifth Turkey with 1 time gold.
The national teams first played the preliminary rounds, which led up to the final rounds on Sunday. Then, the Belgians won in the semi-finals against France 40-32 in 21, the Spaniards made a strong impression against Turkey (40-20 in 16), the Netherlands, one of the favorites, was overtaken by Germany and Denmark 1 defeated Denmark 2.
The Spanish team had a brilliant start in the semi-final against Denmark (7 and 10) and beat the Danes with a riant victory: 40-7 in 11. Caudron and Merckx qualified for the final by beating the home country Germany 40-22 in 20. The final yielded the third gold for the Belgians: Jelle Billiet in the free game under 17, De Goeie Queue in three cushion at the small table for club teams and the Belgian team in the national team final.
The Turk Ömer Karakurt showed himself the master at the small table. He excelled with high runs and wonderful averages, was second with his clubteam behind De Goeie Queue and was well deserved on the highest podium on Sunday evening after the individual championship three cushion small billiards. He defeated Belgian Steven van Acker in the final 40-17 in 9 innings and a high run of 15.
The two finalists, real specialists at small billiards, were outstanding in the entire preliminary phase. Steven van Acker won a match against Serdar Bas in the quarterfinals 40-22 in 8 innings (5.000 on average). Ömer Karakurt shone against Frenchman Grégory Le Deventec in the semi-final: 40-15 in 19.
Two Dutch and two Belgian wheelchair billiards players were invited for a demonstration on the final day. The four players met each other in a tournament: Jan Vos from the Netherlands was the best followed by Johan Grimon and Stefan Neyens from Belgium and Frans van Buel from Belgium. The players' comments afterwards: "We hope that wheelchair billiards is not only limited to the Netherlands and Belgium, but that other countries have also been made enthusiastic."
The Belgians Eddy Merckx and Frédéric Caudron in full focus in the final match
Dani Sánchez and Ruben Legazpi during the final in which they lost to Belgium
Turkish player Ömer Karakurt, the best on the small table
The four wheel chair players during their demonstration
