3-Cushion
PORTO - The elite among the European teams meet these days in Porto for the Coupe d'Europe three-cushion. The pre-rounds and the final with five teams are played in five days. Today, Wednesday, were the first rounds of qualifications. FC Porto is again the organizer in the billiard arena of Dragao Caixa near the FC Porto football temple. The European Cup will be followed one week later by the World Cup at the same location. For the preliminary rounds, 21 teams presented themselves, divided into four groups of four and one group of five teams. Only the five leaders and one runner-up qualify for the final round. The Turkish title defender FBN Tekstil BSK with Tayfun Tasdemir, Murat Naci Coklu, Can Capak and Gokhan Salman is automatically seeded for this finals. Also the organizing team FC Porto is automatically in the final with Dick Jaspers and Dani Sánchez as its leading players.
Dion Nelin played by far the best match on the opening day in the later evening sessions. The Dane had a rocket start against the Swiss Cetin Behzat, including a run of 9 and finished brilliantly. He won the match 40-8 in 9 innings, 4.444 on average. Dion Nelin is the leader of one of the favorite teams: BK Grøndal, in which Tonny Carlsen, Brian Knudsen and Jacob Haack Sörensen are the other stars.
Kozoom broadcasts all matches for subscribers as of the preliminary rounds (June 26th) up to the final rounds (Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th of June).
Group A started with a victory from ASD Billiards Cafe over AB Palma (2-0, 6-2). In that match, Nikos Polychronopoulos beat Juan David Zapata 40-24 in 19, Javier Palazón was the better of Carlos Crespo 40-32 in 32. In the other match, Mecidiyeköy Spor had a winning start against BCC Witten 2-0, 6-2. Only Ronny Lindemann won his match for the Germans.
Group B already has two favorites for the top positions after one day. BK Varde won 2-0 (8-0) against WBA Wiener (Leppens-Kahofer 40-34 in 20). Morangis was the best with 8-0 against BC Deurne (Uymaz-Dielis 40-19 in 25, Merckx-Philipoom 40-23 in 22).
Group C showed a special match at one table. Jérémy Bury faced Belgian Roger Roefs and led 29-0! Eventually, the match ended in 40-13 in 22. La Baule walked over De Goeie Queue, 6-2. Joey de Kok recorded a surprising victory over his many-years-teacher Jean Paul de Bruijn: 40-39 in 30. La Baule won 6-2. In the same flight, Sporting Clube de Portugal was too strong for BC Elite Wien (6-2). Roland Forthomme was the only loser for the Portuguese team against Andreas Horvath (40-27 in 29). Frans van Kuyk beat George Schmied 40-35 in 39.
Group D started with an 8-0 win for BC Poroba against Sport Lisboa Benfica. Radova Hajek bested Antonio Montes 40-39 in 34, Martin Bohac beat David Martinez 40-38 in 30. In Group E, BK Evita Kladno won 6-2 against Sporting Club 2000.
On Saturday (June 29), after three days of preliminaries, the last eight teams are divided into two groups of four (8 billiards). The schedule of the matches is: 11:00, 12:45, 2:30, 4:15, 6:00 and 7:45. On Sunday, the full program will be broadcast live on Portuguese TV with the semi-finals at 10:30 and 12:30 on 4 tables and the final at 5:30.
The preliminary rounds and players:
Poule A:
SIS Schoonmaak (Glenn Hofman, Jean van Erp, Raimond Burgman, Jeffrey Jorissen, Herman van Daalen)
Mecidiyeköy Spor Kulubü (Aziz Kilicaslan, Slim Özden)
ASD Billiards Cafe (Nikos Polychronopoulos, Javier Palazon, Emilio Sciacca, Francesco Orlando)
Asociaiacion Billar Palma (Juan David Zapata, Carlos Crespo, Ruben Fernandez, Jordi Garriga)
BCC Witten (Ronny Lindemann, Murat Gökmen, Volker Baten, Simon Blondeel)
Poule B:
Morangis Cyllene (Eddy Merckx, Birol Uymaz, Jean Christoph Roux, Jean Reverchon)
WBA Wiener Billard Assoziation (Arnim Kahofer, Claus Maurer, Karl Makik, Herbert Thuer)
Varde BK (Eddy Leppens, Thomas Andersen, Brian Hansen, Allen Schröder)
BC Deurne (Jef Philipoom, Ludo Dielis, Jef Gijsels, Ronald van Geyt)
Poule C:
Billard Club Baulois (Frédéric Caudron, Jérémy Bury, JP de Bruijn, Mikael Devogelaere)
BC Elite Wien (Andreas Horvat, Georg Schmied)
Sporting Clube de Portugal (Roland Forthomme, Frans van Kuyk, Jorge Theriaga)
De Goeie Queue (Martin Janssen, Roger Roefs, Joey de Kok, Jurgen Peeters)
Poule D:
BK Grøndal (Dion Nelin, Tonny Carlsen, Brian Knudsen, Jacob Sörensen)
Sport Lisboa Benfica (David Martinez, Antonio Montes, Vasco Gomes)
BC Poruba (Martin Bohac, Radovan Hajek, Ivo Gazcos)
Billard Club Zürich (Cetin Behzat, Kenan Canturk)
Poule E:
BC Stuttgart (Thorsten Frings, Ramazan Durdu, Lukas Stamm)
Sporting Club 2000 (Salvatore Papa, Andrea Bibetti)
BK Ekvita Kladno (Radek Novak, Stepan Kahout, Jan Ales)
Club Billar Casino de Cartagena (Raul Hernandez, Jose Antonio Carrasco, Carlos Anguita)
The Turkish title defender with Gökhan Salman, Can Capak, Murat Naci Coklu and Tayfun Tasdemir
Jérémy Bury had a 29-0 lead in his match with Belgian Roger Roefs
Eddy Merckx defeated for his team Morangis his country man Jef Philipoom from BC Deurne
Good old Ludo Dielis started with a loss against Birol Uymaz