ANTWERPEN – Tears of joy were there, instantly after the final. Frédéric Caudron, a man with nerves of steel, could no longer control his emotions when he was crowned world champion in a 1500 capacity Lotto Arena that simply boiled.
The gold for the victory was metaphorical, the diamonds (80 of them, on the 20.000 euro winner’s cue) will forever be his memento. ,,This is by far my best title ever’’, said Caudron, after he had been lavished with the applause and congratulations of his fans.
The cherry on top was, that the Belgian overtook Torbjörn Blomdahl as the new nr. 1 on the world ranking.
The new Belgian world champion overpowered Greek Filippos Kasidokostas in the final (40-25 in23) and doing so, ended a peculiar stretch of matches. “I have won this championship without having been in serious trouble even once.’’
That makes it even more astonishing that the winner of so many tournaments such as World Cups and European titles, major invitationals and countless Belgian titles had to wait so long (since Bogota 1999) to win his second world crown.
,,To me, a WC is not necessarily more important than a World Cup’’, he said later. ,,People have built it up to be that. But naturally, this WC in Antwerp had it all, with its perfect organization and incredible attendance.’’
Caudron’s most surprising commentary was: ,,I have played a different game. Less attacking, less risk, because I felt a touch vulnerable. Maybe that has forced all my opponents to play lesser matches themselves.’’
His strategy, conscious or otherwise, was the same always: create a gap before the halfway stage with a 7,8 or 9 run, and seal the deal as a frontrunner. Martin Horn was dealt the most emphatic coup de grace, when he saw Caudron run towards the finish line with a 17.
Alexander Salazar and Filippos Kasidokostas (in the final), were not opponents that could test Caudron to his limits. One by one they fell to the man who deserved this championship more than anyone, and who gave up his traditional playful game to adopt a winning-only tactic.
Dick Jaspers and Filippos Kasidokostas were the most disappointed ones to join the new world champion on the rostrum. The Dutchman had found his fighting spirit back after two years without a major win, and only first place counted for him.
Caudron’s opponent in the final, who for years struggles with his progress because of a tremor in his right hand, looked despondent during the final. Antwerp was his fourth WC final, he won only one of them.
Frédéric Caudron had the best tournament average with 1.951, Filippos Kasidokostas did 1.923, Dick Jaspers and Alexander Salazar 1.822 and 1.433 respectively.
Frédéric Caudron also had the high run, made against Martin Horn (17). Another Belgian, Roland Forthomme, ran out with a 16 against Michael Kang.
The top ten of this World championship:
1 Frédéric Caudron 1.951
2 Filippos Kasidokostas 1.923
3 Dick Jaspers 1.822
4 Alexander Salazar 1.433
5 Tayfun Tasdemir 1.867
6 Nikos Polychronopoulos 1.822
7 Martin Horn 1.721
8 Marco Zanetti 1.537.
9 Sung-Won Choi 1.616
10 Eddy Merckx 1.614.
The new world ranking:
1 Caudron, 434 punten
2 Blomdahl 406
3 Bury 310
4 Zanetti 309
5 Jaspers 308
6 Kasidokostas 291
7 Choi 264
8 Kim 264
9 Sánchez 262
10 Kang 227
11 Tasdemir 202
12 Merckx 194
And the players who are just outside top twelve:
13 Cenet, 14 Yüksel, 15 Horn, 16 Cho, 17 Coklu, 18 Forthomme.