Champions show excellent form in Coupe d'Europe

DOUARNENEZ - Douarnenez's European champion team, headed by Raymund Swertz, has made the best impression in the preliminary rounds of the Coupe d'Europe for classical teams. They werd the best ranked from for final teams entering the cross-finals. Tomorrow, Sunday, Douarnenez playes against Andernos at 9.30am and Ronchin against the only non-French team, the Dutch from De Hazelaar at 12.30pm. The final match between the winners of those cross-finals is at 3.30pm. The unbeaten players in the preliminaries were Raymund Swertz (Douarnenez, 47/2, 93.75 average), Grégory Le Deventec (Douarnenez, one cushion, 5.71 average), Gert-Jan Veldhuizen (De Hazelaar, 71/2, 21.42 average), Jean-Francois Florent (Ronchin, 71/2, 24.00 average), Bernard Villiers (Ronchin, one cushion, 5.29) and Benoit Legros (Andernos, 47/2, 32.60 average).

Douarnenez Valdys remained unbeaten in Group A in the three matches against De Hazelaar, Bfr Sterkrade and BC Noorderkempen: 4-2, 6-0 and 6-0. Only Marek Faus lost a match in balk-line 71/2 against Gert-Jan Veldhuizen 200-181 in 6. Raymund Swertz won his three matches in 47/2 to 250 caroms in 3, 3 and 2 innings, the latter with a maximum final run 250.

De Hazelaar finished as runner up and will play in the cross-finals against the winner in Group B, the strong team Ronchin. Gert-Jan Veldhuizen remained unbeaten with three wins in 71/2 with maximum scores and 21.42 on average. In the third match against Sterkrade, at least a draw was needed to go on for De Hazelaar. The Dutch team narrowly succeeded in that, as Eric Dericks drew against Uwe Matuszak in one cushion: 120-120 in 37 innings. Micha van Bochem won in that match for the Sterkrade team against Jordy Kanters in 47/2 250-184 in 17 innings.

The Ronchin team reached the maximum score in Group B with wins against Andernos (4-2), Billar Floment Molins (6-0) and and Merklinde (6-0). Only Brahim Djoubri lost his match in 47/2 to Benoit Legros by 250-110 in 11 innings. Among others, Andernos player Legros shone with a 195 run in 47/2.

Andernos moved to the runner-up position thanks to a win in the third match against Billar Floment Molins. That win came by Benoit Legros in 47/2 (win against Carlos Tuset, 250-53 in 10) and Nicolas Gérassimopoulos in 71/2 against Alvaro Gomez (200-47 in 12). Bernard Baudoin and Antoni Gutierrez went together to 100 points, Baudoin finishing on 105-107 with a final run of 15, the match ending in 120-107 in 21 innings.

The final standings of the preliminary rounds with eight teams (match points, games, percentage):

1 Douarnenez Valdys 6-16-98.890

2 Billard club Ronchin 6-16-91,810

3 BC Andernos 4-14-90,180

4 De Hazelaar 3-9-79,880

5 Sterkrade 3-7-62,750

6 Billar Moulins 2-4-52,690

7 BC Noorderkempen 0-4-56,550

8 Merklinde 0-2-55,730.

The Ronchin team with Jean Francois Florent and Bernard Villiers as unbeaten players

The team De Hazelaar with Gert-Jan Veldhuizen (right)

The Andernos team with Gérassimopoulos, Legros and Baudoin.