SAINT-BREVIN-LES-PINS - It was a grand apotheosis indeed: Frédéric Caudron won the world title in 1-cushion this Sunday afternoon, in a packed arena with 600 spectators. The 46-jarige Belgian was cheered and applauded after he had beaten his Dutch rival Jean Paul de Bruijn in a grinder of a match, but by a margin: 150-73 in 14 innings. After the ceremony, Frédéric said he had won this title mostly on character. ,,I have not been in real trouble this tournament, but I did have to work hard for my points. The table conditions were tough, the averages reflect that. We should normally be able to produce a higher standard.''
The best all round billiard player in the world now also holds the title he craved so dearly. It is hi ninth world title in total, adding to two individual titles in 3-cushion, three with Merckx in the national teams and three in balkline: two in 71/2 and one in 47/2. The battle for the gold did not bring what the spectators in the arena and on Kozoom had hoped and expected. Caudron: ,,We both had a poor start (26-26 in 6), then I was the first who could get something going. I finally made my last 120 points in five innings.''
The home strait made all the difference for the champion. Jean Paul de Bruijn was never really in the match, and after his lesser performance against Blomdahl in the semi (150 in twenty innings) he again had all sorts of trouble finding the scoring positions. The Dutchman, like Caudron a grand master in this discipline, played a strong tournament but a weak final, with only 5.214 average. His Belgian counterpart was much more consistent, with his victories over Miroslav Baca (11 innings), Wolfgang Zenkner (5), Alain Remond (18), Johann Petit (11), Torbjörn Blomdahl (10), Peter De Backer (5) and finally Jean Paul de Bruijn (14).
,,I am not happy with my average (14.634), but I am with my fighting spirit. Of the four tables, one was fairly reliable. That is where I have played my two 5-inning matches.''
The Belgian will now leave for the World Cup in Korea, where his wife Jessica has spent the past week with her family. He was complimentary about the audience in the Salle de l'Etoile in Saint-Brevin-les-Pins, a beach resort on the Atlantic coast. ,,Not only during the final was there a fine atmosphere, the stands were filled from Thursday. That makes it a good place to play billiards.''
Jean Paul de Bruijn, the other finalist, also remained unbeaten until the last match. His high point was the win over Nicolas Gerassimopoulos in three innings, where he shone with a closing run of 123. In the second group stage too did he show his class, with wins over Zenkner (14 innings), Gretillat (8) and Villiers (10), but on the final day, he ran out of steam. The six-time European champion missed out on a second world title, the first and only one being Alicante 2007. For Caudron, it was the first in this discipline, and his head was fit for this crown.
This WC was also the tournament of Frenchman Johann Petit's outburst: a two inning match with a run of 146. Torbjörn Blomdahl's performance was a surprise: the Swede played himself into the semifinal, but did not excel in that match and lost it to De Bruijn.
Frédéric Caudron had by far the highest average with 14.634, ahead of Jean Paul de Bruijn with 10.798 and Blomdahl with 10.108. The high run was made by Johann Petit with a 146 followed by Jean Paul de Bruijn with 127.
The final ranking (average and high run):
1 Frédéric Caudron, 14.634-73
2 Jean Paul de Bruijn, 10.798-127
3 Torbjörn Blomdahl, 10.108-90
3 Xavier Gretillat, 9.098-104
5 Bernard Villiers, 8.719-43
6 Johann Petit, 7.956-146
7 Peter De Backer, 7.939-42
8 Wolfgang Zenkner, 6.281-33
9 Phi Hung Tran, 6.120-62
10 Arnim Kahofer, 8.340-50
11 Alain Remond, 7.840-67
12 Nikolaos Gerassimopoulos, 4.698-41
13 Jordi Garriga, 6.250-30
14 Miroslav Baca, 4.666-33
15 Dieter Steinberger, 4.042-24
16 Yusuke Mori, 3.804-25.