Blomdahl wins his 10th, Horn misses his first in Europe

ANKARA – The tenth European title Torbjörn Blomdahl won in Ankara this Sunday, stood in the way of a historic German double. 61-year-old Swedish phenom increased his rich record list after the tight, hard-fought victory over 53-year-old Martin Horn (50-48 in 40 innings). The Swedish success overshadowed the German deception. For the 13th time in history of this European championship, a German player was in the final, never was the gold medal for a German.

The country that is such a feared winner in football, lost a title nine times with August Tiedtke, among others, for Martin Horn it was his third time in a final after previously seeing gold slip from his fingers against Blomdahl (1998) and Murat Naci Coklu (2004). But luckily there was the European team title for Martin Horn and Ronny Lindemann this week.

Torbjörn Blomdahl won his first European gold in the post-Raymond Ceulemans era in 1985. He won the tenth this Sunday after a rather difficult victory over Frenchman Adrien Tachoire (50-47), then against Dane Dion Nelin even at 50-49, beating Dutchman Glenn Hofman at 50-48 and Spaniard Ruben Legazpi later in the semi-finals. They were all victories that the Swede dragged away before the gates of hell.

The same happened again in the final with Martin Horn. The German had a 14-2 start, gave the match out of his hands at halfway by 25-19 and 29-19, got into a comfortable position at 46-41 by runs of 9 and 5, but was beaten by Blomdahl at 48-44 with a winning and closing run of 6.

Blomdahl himself admitted that it had been a tournament with ups and downs. ’’Only against Ruben Legazpi I played strongly, for the rest I had to fight hard. The great love for my sport helped me in the tough moments.'' And afterwards the pleasant feeling that 39 years after his first European title, he is still competing in the new generation. ''I can still win, but also still play better than what I showed now.''

Semi-finals:

Hague player Jeffrey Jorissen's illusion ended in the semi-finals against Martin Horn on Sunday. The German won the match after two high runs (10 and 8) at 50-43 in 34 and advanced to the final. For Jeffrey Jorissen, it was his first international success and perhaps a step towards an even bigger stage.

Jorissen ran into a better start from Horn, but recovered. The Dutchman came back to 35-32 and launched an attack. Horn responded right away with 7, taking a 47-37 lead, but missed five more match balls on 49. Finally, he was able to finish it off at 50-43 in 34.

Torbjörn Blomdahl dominated almost the entire match against Ruben Legazpi for the other final spot. The 23-18 was not yet a hopeless score for the Spaniard, who made frantic attempts but could not return. Blomdahl had no real weak moments and gradually built the lead towards the end. Yet Legazpi still got hope when he came back to four caroms (47-43) with short intermediate sprints. It was the last chance, as Blomdahl pulled off his final sprint to 50-43 in 24 innings. 

The European championship, organized in Turkey for the sixth time only from 2002, followed the championship with national teams in which Germany won the gold ahead of the Netherlands. The long history shows that a German has been in the final 12 times so far, but has never won gold. The unluckiest of all those Germans was August Tiedtke, who stood in a final seven times, losing six times to René Vingerhoedt and once to Johann Scherz.

The organization in Ankara was excellent, as was the arena, only the number of spectators was not what a tournament of this importance deserves. The Belgians (the top country in Europe with 37 gold medals), the Turks themselves and the French were missing at the final podium. Torbjörn Blomdahl was the multiple winner in the top four, who finally could finish it off in the end.

Marco Zanetti, the title holder, was the first major player who had to leave the event after losing in the first knock-outs against Ronny Lindemann. From the 8th finals onwards, more leading players disappeared. Dick Jaspers was edged out by Ruben Legazpi, Tayfun Tasdemir went down against Roland Forthomme, Eddy Merckx left the stage against Glenn Hofman.

That led to the quarter-finals where Jeffrey Jorissen said goodbye to his long slump and won against Robinson Morales (50-35 in 24). Martin Horn after a tough fight handed out the knock-out against Roland Forthomme (50-47 in 28), Torbjörn Blomdahl faced the new rising star of global billiards, Glenn Hofman, and barred the way to the podium (50-48 in 27). Ruben Legazpi reached 49-49 against Jérémy Bury with a mighty run of 9, both players missed once more at that score and the Spaniard finally pulled the trigger: 50-49 in 32).

So far for the preliminary stage, with notable matches for Dick Jaspers (2,777), Arnim Kahofer (2,666), Maxime Panaia (2,500), Tayfun Tasdemir (2,380), Gerhard Kostistansky (2,352), Jérémy Bury (2,272), Dion Nelin, Jeffrey Jorissen, Jérémy Bury and Eddy Merckx (2. 173), Ruben Legazpi and Jeffrey Jorissen (2,083), Robinson Morales, Glenn Hofman and Barry van Beers (2,000) in the run-up to a wonderful Sunday with a German, a Swede, a Spaniard and a Dutchman competing for medals.

The final standings:

1. Torbjörn Blomdahl 10-1,644-10
2. Martin Horn 8-1,493-12
3. Ruben Legazpi 6-1,707-13
4. Jeffrey Jorissen 10-1,400-12
5. Glenn Hofman 8-1.628-9
6. Roland Forthomme 4-1,580-7
7. Jérémy Bury 4-1.935-15
8. Robinson Morales 8-1.592-11
9. Berkay Karakurt 2-1.508-7
10. Dion Nelin 2-1.867-8

The European podium with left to right Martin Horn, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Jeffrey Jorissen, Ruben Legazpi

Torbjörn Blomdahl, the love for my sport

Martin Horn, the European team title, but unfortunately no individual title

Jeffrey Jorissen, first international podium

Ruben Legazpi, aimiable Spaniard at the European podium