LOMMEL - The young ones keep on knocking at the door. Davy van Havere (29) played himself in the quarter finals tonight, Frédéric Mottet and Steven van Acker did it before. Eddy Leppens was by far the best man with the highest average and the highest run. Day three was not the day of Francis (Cisse for his friends) Forton, certainly not for Johan Claessen, who played far below his level. Leppens and Van Havere come back on Friday for the quarterfinals.
With Eddy Leppens and Davy van Havere the fifth and sixth player for the next round are known now. They will join Roland Forthomme, Frédéric Mottet, Eddy Merckx and Steven van Acker.
Most notable of the qualification so far was that three of those six players don't belong to the top of Belgian three-cushion, they still are seen as upcoming talents.
Davy van Havere turns thirty next month, though he is one of the players that can grot to a higher level next year, like Steven van Acker and Frédéric Mottet.
The 29-year-old man from Capellen surprised Francis Forton with a better endrush tonight. It was the deciding match for the qualification. Thereafter Van Havere could afford a loss against Leppens, with a win against Johan Claessen in his last match he was qualified with four matchpoints.
Francis Forton, seen as one of the contenders, could pack his cue at the end of the evening. The man from Brussels couldn't threaten Eddy Leppens in his last fight and lost 40-35 in 25 innings. Davy van Havere took a big lead at the other table, but spoiled some inningst in the last part of the match: 40-21 in 31 innings.
Eddy Leppens was seeded with an average of 1.791, Davy van Havere finished with 1.250. Leppens made the highest run of the evening: 11.
Tomorrow the last preliminary round will be played: it's called the group of death with Frédéric Caudron, Jef Philipoom, Ronny Brants and Peter Ceulemans.