HERSTAL - The 55-year-old Jef Philipoom, who celebrated his best days in 1995, felt his second youth and faced Frédéric Caudron in the final of the Belgian cup this Sunday afternoon. Could he, the former amateur world champion, make one more stunt on the national podium? He seemed on his way after the sensational 3-0 victory over Eddy Leppens in the semi-final. But the player who can beat Leppens is not the winner against Caudron. And so it came down in the final of the Belgian cup: Caudron could not be stopped in Herstal by anyone.
The figurehead of the new Korean professional circus seems to be on his farewell tour in the Belgian billiard rooms these months in a final demonstration of his class all the way. The Belgian cup battle already lost Eddy Merckx in the preliminaries, usually a tough competitor for Caudron, lost Roland Forthomme in an early stage, lost two feared Ceulemans players, Kurt and Peter and eventually Jef Philipoom, the veteran who doesn't play World Cups anymore and was no threat to Caudron. The final over three sets won, faced a short revival after Caudron had won the first 15-1 in 5 innings. Philipoom struck back 15-9 in 7, but then Caudron showed himself the only real winner in two sets with 15-1 in 4 and 15-4 in 4.
The cup final, at La Fabrik in Herstal, received the winner that the tournament deserved. Caudron went through the preliminaries with victories over Dirk Weeremans (2.307 average), Francis Forton (2.100, run 12) and Ronny Brants in the quarter finals (3-0, 2.812). The youngest of the final players, Steven van Acker, started with a set win (15-5 in 7), but was then overrun 15-10 in 7, 15-6 in 5 and 15-5 in 9.
Jef Philipoom also reached the finals with a great series: a win over Roofthooft (1.517), Kurt Ceulemans (3-1, 1.806) and finally in the semi-final against Eddy Leppens with the maximum 3-0 score.
That led to a podium with two of the best Belgian players, Jef Philipoom as the always feared outsider and Steven van Acker as the real amateur. In the run-up to the finals, Kurt Ceulemans shone with a 3.000 average match and Roland Forthomme was eliminated by Philipoom.
Eddy Leppens took third place by a win over Steven van Acker, Peter Ceulemans bested his uncle Kurt by two sets won: 15-14, 15-14.