GANDIA - Dani Sánchez, Jose Maria Mas and Ricardo Garcia Alarcon have led the Coral Colon team to the first place in Group B of the Spanish team championship. They won the match against Paiporta 6-2.
Casino Cartagena and Casino Alcantarila played a draw in this group, of which numbers one and two qualify for the semifinals on Sunday. The four teams in this group started in Gandia the tournament for the championship that is played with eight teams. The two semi finalists qualify for the preliminaries in the European Cup next year.
Gandia Cafe Max, Alicante, Montmélo and Gran Match will compete in Group A tomorrow. Coral Colon, Paiporta, Casino Cartagena and Casino Alcantarila meet in Group B.
Carlos Crespo was the only player who lost his match for Coral Colon. He lost by one carom against the Spanish champion Antioni Ortiz (40-39 in 33).
Jose Maria Mas played the best match in this match with a victory over Ruben Legazpi in 24 innings: 40-23. Dani Sánchez beat Javier Palazón 40-37 in 32, Ricardo Garcia Alarcon defeated Francis Unguetti 40-26.
In the other match between Casino Cartagena and Casino Alcantarila the young, European junior champion David Zapata was the main star. In his match against Adrian Legazpi he was 24-21 behind, but then Zapata attacked to the finish, first with a run of five and then with eleven to the end (40-25 in 21).
Raul Hernandez played an excellent match for Alcantarila, beating Jose Antonio Carrasco (40-20 in 26). Valantin Andaluz showed himself the better finisher against David Martinez in an exciting final phase. Martinez missed his matchball after a run of four, Andaluz then finished with one: 40-39 in 43.
Alberto Sintas signed for the draw with a win against Diego Jose Guirao in 50 innings.