LA BAULE - At the end of the day, in an empty arena after a long day of matches, two young French players battled it out for the last win on the first day. The 18-year-young Enzo Riquart, a two-times French junior champion, could switch off the lights in the sports centre, where the La Baule World Cup was launched by two first-day-stars this Monday. The Belgian Peter Ceulemans led the ranking with four match points and 2.500 of average followed by Danish Jacob Haack Sörensen with 4 points and 2.307. Jef Philipoom, still a former world champion, was eliminated on the first day by French outsider Eric Kremer-Leclaire. Dutchman Jordy de Kruijf excelled in his match against Frédéric Beghin and finished like a daredevil with a final run of 11.
Peter Ceulemans, of all people know that he must keep both feet on the ground, reminding his tremendous start at this year's World Cup in Porto: 2.857 on the first day of play, followed by the elimination on the second day. Still, it was really impressive again what the best Ceulemans in the shade of the all time master showed in his first performance. He triumphed in his second match over Gregory Le Deventec, 30-7 in eight innings: 1-1-11-0-3-2-4-8. That was slightly better than Jacob Haack Sörensen on his first day with victories in 15 and 11 innings. In his last match against Dutchman Marco Wolfs even 30-2.
Another Dutchman, Jordy de Kruijf, who has been on roller skates in many World Cups, had his glorious day. In the battle with Frédéric Beghin, he was some points down when the Frenchman led 21-19. Then, the Dutchman launched his sensational end rush and only finished after his winning run of 11.
The ranking after the first day in La Baule:
1 Peter Ceulemans 4-2.500-11
2 Jacob Haack Sörensen 4-2.307-8
3 William Oh 4-1.363-7
4 Jose Miguel Soares 4-1.333-9
5 Adrien Tachoire 4-1.304-7
6 Mikael Devogelaere 4-1.176-6
7 Jordy de Kruijf 4-1.111-11
8 Maxime Panaia 4-0.983-5
9 Jun Hyuk Cho 4-0.952-5
10 Manuel Sousa 4-0.923-4
11 Bernard Villiers 4-0.882-3
12 Eric Kremer-Leclaire 4-0.869-5
13 Enzo Riquart 4-0.845-5
14 Lukas Stamm 4-0.714-8
15 Wilco Meusen 3-0.810-4
16 Remy Chenay 2-0.810-5.
The first runners-up:
1 Allan Jensen 3-0.759-5
2 Jef Philipoom 2-1.137-7
3 Frédéric Beghin 2-0.962-7.
Jacob Haack Sörensen, an excellent start in La Baule
Jordy de Kruijf, one of the highlights with a final run of 11
Adrien Tachoire, best Frenchman on the first day in La Baule