HOOGLEDE - The emotions were obvious in Reginald Depoorter's speech, as he closed the Belgian Cup tournament in Hooglede for the last time. The highly valued and appreciated federation president has said goodbye. As the final between Eddy Merckx and Eddy Leppens had been played (3-1), in the company of his wife and daughter and with his eyes on the podium, Depoorter proudly summed up some of the highlights in Belgian 3-cushion history.
The rostrum of this Belgian Cup final (Eddy Merckx, Eddy Leppens, Frédéric Caudron and Steven van Acker) once again demonstrates how the country of Raymond Ceulemans produces world class players to this day. Eddy Merckx, twice world champion and now triple Belgian Cup winner, played and won a semifinal against the player who had been as good as invincible this year in Belgium: Frédéric Caudron.
It speaks volumes about the strength of his rivals, that this Caudron, on peak form for months already, had to play for the consolation bronze medal this afternoon in de "Gulden Zonne", having been beaten 3-1 by Eddy Merckx. ,,It is not a matter of luck or bad luck, there is no such thing in top sport'', said Frédéric Caudron, always fair and critical of himself. ,,I made two mistakes in the third set, that made it 2-1 to Eddy when I could have had a 2-1 lead. I got punished. You need to be at your very best to win a tournament like this, and I was not quite there, in the semi.'
,,I fought hard in that match, and I was rewarded'', said Eddy Merckx, who lost the first set 15-3 in 5 innings, but then won three consecutive sets 15-12, in 9,8 and 7 innings. It resulted in 3-1, despite the 1.893 for Caudron and the 1.655 for Merckx. And the third set was indeed pivotal in the battle between the two grand masters: Caudron, who had his first set point at 14-8, missed twice. Merckx replied with runs of 4 and 3 to take a 2-1 lead in sets. In the third set, it looked like Caudron could level it when he had a 7-0 lead, but Merckx had the better finish with runs of 5,8 and 2.
His opponent in the final was already known: Eddy Leppens, the title holder, beat Steven van Acker in the other semi. Van Acker had a strong season and was again the revelation of this tournament. The man from West Vlaanderen was kept on a very short leash by Leppens in the first set (2 innings, runs of 5 and 10), had a short revival but lost 6-15 (9), 15-12 (11), 15-10 (6). ,,I had a good tournament, but when you get this far, you start to hope for even more'', said the always modest Steven van Acker. His highlight of the year was in a match against none other than Eddy Leppens, in the Dutch league, when he won 50-20 in 16 innings and a closing run of 19.
Eddy Merckx and Eddy Leppens both started the final with two Cup wins under their belt: Merckx in 2004 and 2014, Leppens 1993 and 2015.
Leppens had the best start with 15-8 in five innings, Merckx leveled from 11-11 in 3 to 15-13 in 6. The next two sets also went to Merckx, 15-9 in 6 and 15-6 in 7 innings. Averages: Merckx 2.304, Leppens 1.955. ,,In the last two sets, I had a better grip on it'', said Merckx, who looked back with satisfaction on his encounter with Caudron. ,,In the past few weeks, there was no shame in losing to Fred, who was often closing in on three average. But today it was my day, I managed to put up a good fight and I was rewarded.''
Eddy Merckx, the winner of the last World Cup (Luxor), will travel to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam this week, for the third World Cup of 2016.
Frédéric Caudron ended in third place, when he beat Steven van Acker for the bronze (15-2 in 4, 15-5 in 7, 2.727/0.700). Frank de Groof beat Davy van Havere for fifth place: 2-1 (15-10 in 9, 9-15 in 12, 15-12 in 11) and Wesley de Jaeger ended seventh after he beat Marco Janssen 2-1.
After the medal ceremony, Reginald Depoorter was appointed honorary chairman of the Belgian federation, and made honorary member of the CEB by board member Johny Houtsch.
Francis Bosseloirs won the final of the small table tournament by beating Fernand Verstreken. Dany Darcis won the bronze.
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The stage of the Belgian Cup, left to right Eddy Leppens, Eddy Merckx and Frédéric Caudron
