3-Cushion
LUXOR - The Luxor World Cup comes to an end this afternoon (16.00) with a final between the numbers one and two of the world. Frédéric Caudron and Torbjörn Blomahl meet for the third time in a short time: the Belgian world champion defeated Nikos Polychronopoulos in the semi-final, the Swede Blomdahl bested Choong-Bok Lee.
The audience in the Sonesta St. George hotel looks forward to a high-quality match, between the two leading players in the world circuit. Frédéric Caudron, based on the recent mutual results, can be slightly considered as the favorite because he rarely loses against Blomdahl.
However, the Swede won the last two matches, the Caseta Nova challenge in Spain, 87-60 in 40 innings, and two days before 50-32 in the French league, but the result over ten matches is that Caudron was the eight time winner.
The Belgian therefore leads 8-2 in ten encounters, he also won the last two World Cup finals they played against each other: last year in Medellin, Colombia, when he finished off 40-27 in 26 innings, three years ago in Vienna, when Caudron played a world record average and beat Blomdahl 3-1 in sets.
,,Before that, Caudron also beat me in quite a lot of matches'', admitted Blomdahl after his victory in the semi-final against Choong-Bok Lee. But still, every match between the two masters of three cushion is unpredictable.
The final place in the Luxor cup was one time in danger for both players. Torbjörn Blomdahl had a narrow escape against Vietnamese Ngo Dinh Nai, who missed the match ball by a whisker and then saw Blomdahl finish with five.
Frédéric Caudron had a phenomenal start in the semis against Nikos Polychronopoulos (17 in 3 innings, making 17-1), was out of sight halfway, but when he had a hick-up after the break, the Greek champion started his pursuit, bringing him to 31-22 in ten and after a new attack (eight run) even to 36-35.
When the Belgian finished by four, one inning later, Polychronopoulos put up for a dazzling equalizer: he missed his third point, was helped by a fluke, then scored his fourth, but failed for the equalizer.
Torbjörn Blomdahl made abundantly clear in his match with Choong-Bok Lee who was the best. He robbed the Korean of his illusions: the match lacked any kind of tension after the Swede ran out to 5-1, 14-2 and 22-5 (8 innings) and 40-27 in 22 at the end.
,,Most of the Koreans were always playing attack'', explained Blomdahl later. ,,The only one who could play defense was Sung-Won Choi, but they are improving in tactical way. I think that Lee made a wrong choice. He is naturally a player who wants to score, but he played defense from the start. I could quickly run away to a safe score.''
The final Caudron-Blomdahl is at 16.00 pm and is broadcast live on Kozoom for Premium pass holders.