THE HAGUE/LISBON/GRØNDAL/VIENNA/LAUSANNE - The battle for the European Cup for teams in three cushion is ready for action at five different locations. The heats with four groups of four and one of five are played on Saturday, April 30th and Sunday, May 1st in Vienna (Austria), Lausanne (Switzerland), Grøndal (Denmark), Lisbon (Portugal) and The Hague (Netherlands). The 21 teams are vying for six places in the final round, the five group winners and the best runner-up from the five groups. The final is in Porto, Portugal, from 2 to 5 June.
Two teams are automatically qualified for the final round: the Dutch champion Dallinga.com and FC FC Porto, the organizer. Dallinga will not play with the strong line-up that won the European Cup in Istanbul last year (Caudron, Jaspers, Merckx and De Bruijn). De Bruijn is the only one from the winning team to show up in the European Cup final.
The new Turkish top team Gaziantespor, where Frédéric Caudron is the frontman and Tayfun Tasdemir, Murat Naci Coklu Can Capak the other star players, performs in the preliminaries in the Portuguese group, which is with Sporting Club Portugal, Bergisch Gladbacher (Martin Horn), Op de Meir, Gaziantespor and Societat (Sergio Jimenez, Jose Maria Mas and Xavier Yeste) undoubtedly the most tough of the five preliminary groups. Gaziantespor is certainly the Turkish contender for gold at the European Cup after Bahcelievler has stopped.
The Hague team Buffalo.nl wants to make a wonderful event in its home place Biljartcafé Jorissen. The preparations have been started already five weeks ago to make it a great weekend. with live broadcasts of Kozoom on four tables.
Team leader Cor Trampe: ,,We are supported by Buffalo/Joba and Piet Benelux Biljarts, because this is a very special event for our team. The other teams should normally have to pay for all costs, but we want to make something beautiful.''
The group format for the preliminaries:
Group A (WBA in Vienna): Madrid Escuela with Ruben Legazpi, Javier Palazon and David Martinez is the favorite to win. The German champion Ravensburger, that lost its Turkish players Tasdemir and Coklu this year, shows up amongst others with Murat Gökmen. Arnim Kahofer is the leader in the WBA team, Torsten Danielsson in the team of Billard Club Zurich.
Group B (Lausanne): Marco Zanetti wants to fire up the Lausanne team of Diane Wild in a group with not too well-known players. De Goeie Queue, champion in Belgium with Caudron, Merckx, Jaspers and De Bruijn, sends a second team in the arena, led by Roger Roefs. Leca FC and Fredericia Billardklub from Denmark are the outside tapes in this field.
Group C (Grøndal): CetSi Morangis, the France champion with Eddy Merckx, Eddy Leppens, Richard Bitalis and Jean Reverchon, is the main candidate for the group win. ,,The Danes are very dangerous, we should not underestimate them'', Leppens commented when he saw the draw. BK Grøndal, in the final last year, plays with Dion Nelin, Tonny Carlsen, Brian Knudsen and Lars Dunch. Also in this group: BC Elite Vienna and Scuola Billardo la Biglia.
Group D (Lisbon): the strongest group with Gaziantespor as the undisputed favorite. Societat Coral Colon may been seen as the main rival with three Spanish top players (Jimenez, Mas, Yeste) Bergisch Gladbacher has only Martin Horn from the champion team. Op de Meir is playing without his regular league players Eddy Leppens and Barry van Beers. Jorge Theriaga's location in Lisbon is the organizer.
Group E (The Hague): The Hague's Biljartcafé Jorissen is hosting the fifth group. The home team plays in the strongest line-up with Glenn Hoffman, the team world champion Jean van Erp, Jeffrey Jorissen and Herman van Daalen. The big favorite for the group win is definitely Andernos, the French former champion team with Roland Forthomme, Filippos Kasidokostas, Jérôme Barbeillon and Francis Connesson. The other two teams are Mecidiyköy Kulübü and Smile Club from Italy.
The group format:
Group A: WBA Wien (Kahofer) Billard Club Zurich (Danielsson), Madrid Escuela (Ruben Legazpi) Ravensburger (Murat Gokmen).
Group B: Academy Lausannoise (Zanetti), Leca FC Escudeiro), De Goeie Queue (Roefs) Ferericia Billard Club (Clausen).
Group C: BK Grondal (Nelin, Carlsen, Knudsen), BC Elite Wien (Schmied), Scuela Billardo (Papa) CetSi Morangis (Merckx, Leppens, Bitalis, Reverchon).
Group D: SC Portugal (Theriaga), Bergisch Gladbacher (Horn), Op de Meir (Stitschinsky), Gaziantespor (Caudron, Tasdemir, Coklu, Capak Salman), Coral Colon (Jimenez, Mas, Yeste).
Group E: Buffalo.nl (Hofman, Van Erp) Andernos (Forthomme, Kasidokostas) Mecidiyekoy Spor (Uymaz, Bayatli), Smile Club (Sciacca).
The new Turkish champion with Frédéric Caudron, Tayfun Tasdemir and Murat Naci Coklu as the star players
The Buffalo team making promotion for the qualification rounds in the streets in The Hague
The Cetsi Morangis team with Jean Reverchon, Richard Bitalis, Eddy Leppens and Eddy Merckx is one of the contenders for a final place