SCHILTIGHEIM – Belgian billiard player Eddy Leppens has been there, done that and seen it all. He knows only one strategy that will beat Dick Jaspers: 'be quick out of the blocks, don’t slow down, sprint to the finish.”
He almost took his own advice in the morning round of the Agipi Masters. Leppens started off like a rocket (6, 7 and 4, leading to 17-7 after 3 innings), slowed down a little bit, but then answered Dick’s runs of 11 and 5 with a 10 of his own, and also produced a wonderful endrush: 5, 3 and 3.
Even that was not good enough to win: Jaspers excelled once again, launched an attack after the break (25-24 behind) that could have been decisive (41-27), but where Leppens sometimes loses the mental plot, he this time contributed to a grand finale.
Dick Jaspers finishted with 2 and 2 in his last innings, Eddy Leppens with 5,3,3 to record a final score of 50 – 50 in 19 innings.
Leppens’ run of 10, at a crucial moment in the match, was later debated. The Belgian heard the sound of the timeclock, just before or during the stroke of his third point. Jaspers was convinced it was a time violation, but both referees considered the point valid.
Leppens was allowed to continue, and made a run of 10.
,,What am I supposed to do when both referees give me the point’’, said leppens later. ,,Who am I, to go to my chair then.’’ Dick Jaspers: ,,Eddy is right, those are the rules. I thought his clock was up, but the referee should decide that.’’
Frédéric Caudron shone from the start against Sung Won Choi (6,8 and 3) and a strong finish (3, 5 and a closing run of 8), keeping the fighting Korean (4 and 6 in his last two innings) at distance: 50-35 in 22.
The Belgian had a bad patch in the middle of the match. He used 3 more innings than Jaspers and Leppens on the other table, as a result of 8 open innings out of 22 (Jaspers and Leppens both had 5 out of 19).
Caudron leads the table after two rounds in this flight, where three players average over 2: Jaspers 2.632, Caudron 2.564 and Leppens 2.222.