BRANDENBURG - The final match was more a torture than a nice climax of the tournament. The 39-year-old Dutchman Dave Christiani eventually took the title in the European championship one cushion in the final against Belgian Eddy Leppens. The winner commented shortly afterwards, ''It was very, very bad, but it's only the gold that counts. I am really happy with it, because it is only my second European title in many years.'' The final score was 120-111 in 21 innings, a level that is far below that the best one cushion players can perform.
The Dutchman, who plays two balk-lines and one cushion at this championship, woke up on the morning of the final day with a sudden cold and a pain in the throat. Dave Christiani felt far from fit, missed the good feeling throughout the whole championship and had to put up his character and fighting spirit. ''I saw that Eddy Leppens did not play well either and luckily I could score a little better at the good moments. That's why I have been on a winning score throughout the match. But what a hard fight it was. I don't know how many times we have solved impossible positions, how many three cushion shots we have played. It was very defensive and tacticly of course, because only winning was important, but for a final this was far below what we can.''
With the intermediate scores 25-3 in 3, 55-32 in 7, 61-38 in 10 at the break and then 95-69 in 15, 104-79 in 18, Christiani was finally able to produce a run of ten in his last. Eddy Leppens, still combative as always in that final phase, had 99 points on the scoreboard and had to score 21 times to draw. The Belgian missed out on a five-cushion shot, due to a kiss on its way. Christiani could finally, sixteen years after his first European title (in balk-line 47/2) cheer for his second European gold.
What should have been the climax of the one cushion, was a wear and tear match which showed displayed lots of tension until the end. Two Frenchmen, Johann Petit and Willy Gérimont later walked on with the final players to the podium. The tournament had one of its highlights in the match between Jean Paul de Bruijn and Johann Petit in the quarterfinals. The Frenchman raise to high hights and won 120-34 in 2 innings, eliminating the big favorite for the title.
Johann Petit remembered afterwards a run of 145 in one cushion that he made against Torbjörn Blomdahl four years ago and realized that he made a brilliant final run of 82 against De Bruijn. ''I realised at the end that I should not miss anymore, because Jean Paul de Bruijn with his high class can decide a match from any score.'' The Dutchman, who got the balls in his first inning in an ideal position, missed a little one cushion playing too short. De Bruijn, who won 28 recent matches in a row in one cushion, had to bow for the first time in a long time. "I congratulate my opponent, his run was great."
The joy of the Frenchman didn't last long, because in the next round he was eliminated by Leppens 120-16 in 3. Christiani won in that semi-final against Gérimont 120-64 in 10.
The other highlights were the maximum run of 100 by Sam van Etten, who was eliminated by Eddy Leppens in his second match of the preliminaries. Xavier Gretillat beat Jean Francois Florent in 2 innings, Jean Paul de Bruijn and Eddy Leppens won a match in 3 innings.
For the Italians, the national anthem sounded again after the victory in the biathlon. This tournament was for country teams with players under 21, who played three cushion and 5 pins. Riccardo Matino (5 pins) and Alessio D'Agata won the final against Germany (Marcel Back, Max Gabel), 200-160. In the semi-final, Italy beat the French (Maxime Panaia/Florian Guingand) 200-157. Germany 1 bested Germany 2 200-90.
The one cushion podium with Eddy Leppens, Dave Christiani, de winner, Johann Petit and Willy Gérimont
The biatlon podium with the Italian winners