HOOGLEDE - It was his most wonderful Belgian success in a long career, because never before Francis Forton has won a major tournament in his own country. This Sunday, the Brussels-born player in the latter days of a long career became winner of the Belgian Cup by beating Roland Forthomme 3-1 in sets in the final match. '“I’m very happy about this win,”' Forton gloated after that stunning victory in the cup stronghold Hooglede.
Francis Forton joins an impressive record of winners. In the last 10 years of the Belgian Cup, he follows the successes of Eddy Merckx (3), Frédéric Caudron (2), Roland Forthomme (2), Eddy Leppens (1) and Peter De Backer (1). ’’I surprised myself, as I did not play my best billiard,” Forton confessed after the tournament in which the averages were remarkably low by Belgian standards. Many games did not reach the 1 average, with only Roland Forthomme being an exception. Two of the leaders, Eddy Merckx and Peter Ceulemans, were eliminated by Henk Blauwblomme. For Ceulemans that happened in the last tournament before the finals by 1 carom, for Merckx with a 0-2 score in the eighth final.
Francis Forton had his best years already around 1995 when, among other things, he won a World Cup in Athens in the final against Christian Rudolph, by far the main international success in the career of the little Brusseler.
’’I played the Belgian championship final three times, losing all three: twice to Caudron, once to De Backer.'' Without that great list of honours, Forton is one of the figureheads of Belgian billiards. He has been a professional player since 1995 and still plays team competitions in Belgium, the Netherlands and France these days.
Why did he miss his way to the real top after that great start? Francis: ’’I was good, but just not good enough when three-cushiob went through a huge progression. Then, the world top players came up with much higher averages. I kept playing around 1,400 when I was at my best and was unable to make the step up. But I have always continued to play with great pleasure, with a certain ambition. Keep training three, four times a week and playing my matches. I was able to maintain my level with that. And how nice it is then to win the Belgian Cup for once.''
His story of the final match against Forthomme: ’’I was lucky to win the first set, in which we both played for set ball. In the second I won in four innings, Roland played super well in the third and then I was able to finish it off.''
According to Forton and also other finalists, the tables in Hooglede were not good enough to play high averages. ''We almost all played below our level, only Forthomme and Blauwblomme had strong matches. I could see how difficult it was by my bankshots. I am usually strong with a cushion first, but here everything was too long or too short.''
How remarkable Forton's win was, seems by the results of the last few years. Forton was 7th in 2024, 6th in 2011 and further from 2010 never made the top eight.
Forton won in the eighth final vs Luc Salvo 2-1 in the round that Merckx lost to Blauwblomme and Forthomme won against Stitschinsky 2-0. In the quarter-finals, Stef van Hees won 3-0 vs Andy de Bondt, Roland Forthomme won 3-0 vs Davy van Havere, Forton won 3-1 against Blauwblomme, Forthomme won 3-0 against Van Hees and Dany Boutet won 3-2 vs Guy van Litsenborg.
Roland Forthomme beat Stef van Hees 3-0 in the semi-finals, Francis Forton won 3-2 against Dany Boutet. Francis Forton triumphed in the final against Forthomme 3-1, Dany Boutet won the battle for third place against Stef van Hees 2-1.
The podium with Francis Forton on top
Francis Forton and Roland Forthomme after the winning point
The final results in the Belgian cup (best 12):
- Francis Forton 12-0.954-7
- Roland Forthomme 11-1.308-8
- Dany Boutet 9-0.936-8
- Stef van Hees 8-0.989-8
- Henk Blauwblomme 6-1.070-9
- Guy van Litsenborg 5-0.950-7
- Andy de Bondt 4-1.044-6
- Davy van Havere 3-0.990-6
- Steven van Acker 1-1.267-7
- Luc Salvo 1-1.000-6
- Ronny Brants 1-0.865-5
- Eddy Merckx 1-0.020-6