French team from Douai takes European title

DOUARNENEZ - The French Douai-Carvin billiards team including Frédéric Caudron and Patrick Niessen won the Coupe D'Europe for classic club teams. The team with the two Belgians and Frenchman Pascal Dessaint and Alain Remond beat the Austrian team Wiener Billard Assoziation in the final after a thrilling battle. The French from Douarnenez, who were defending the title at home, were defeated by the Vienna team in the semi-finals. The game types played by the three players of a team were balkline 47/2, 71/2 and one cushion.

Douarnenez was again the big favorite with Dutchman Raymund Swertz, Czech Marek Faus and Frenchman Grégory Le Deventec. Swertz was the absolute top player of the tournament in the 71/2 balkline type, in which he won all his matches and, among others, finished once in 1 inning: 200 caroms in 30 minutes and 15 seconds. The Dutchman also won in the semi-finals, his two fellow players lost, forfeiting the title.

Douai-Carvin is the team that can shine, among others, because of Belgians Caudron and Niessen, two renowned billiard players in the classical disciplines. Caudron is, among others, 12 times world champion in various types and 30 times European champion. The team from the north of France, some 50 kilometers below Kortrijk, won its first title. Douai remained unbeaten in the preliminary rounds against BC Noorderkempen with Belgians Nico van Hanegem, Ronny Mathysen and Robby Sonck. Then Wiener Billard Assoziation, the later finalist, was beaten 4-2 and finally the Germans from Merklinde also 4-2. Caudron remained unbeaten in all those matches.

In the semi-finals, Douai won against Dutch team De Hazelaar 6-0. The most exciting match was that between Dutchman Gert Jan Veldhuizen and Pascal Dessaint in the balkline 71/2, but when Caudron won vs Eric Dericks in one cushion (120-25 in 10) and Patrick Niessen vs Jordy Kanters in 47/2 (250-42 in 5 innings), the match of Veldhuizen and Dessaing was not completet: it was 140-115 in 3 innings.

The big surprise was Douarnenez's semi-final loss against Wiener Billard Assoziation. Although Raymund Swertz won the 71/2 vs Michael Hikl in 2 innings (200-45), Marek Faus lost the 47/2 vs Patrick Andre with 250-204 in 12 and Grégory Le Déventec lost the one cushion against Arnim Kahofer with 120-99 in 12, marking the end of illusions for the home team.

The final became a Belgian hegemony, albeit that Frédéric Caudron had the greatest difficulty in beating Arnim Kahofer in the one cushion. Although the Belgian held a lead for a long time, Kahofer made a run of 35 close to the end. He missed because he played a gathering shot too short. Caudron was able to finish, Kahofer needed 15 more points to tie, but missed the last over four rails with his left hand. When Niessen won the match in 47/2 against Patrick Andre 250-148 in 11, the final was decided.

The most notable scores in the tournament came from Raymund Swertz (unbeaten in 71/2) and Frédéric Caudron (unbeaten in one cushion). By the way, Austrian Arnim Kahofer played a better average than Caudron, until the final 19.54 against 10.90 for Caudron.

For Caudron, it was his first title in this format of Coupe D'Europe. Patrick Niessen won five times with Cubri/Eticon and is record holder together with Raymund Swertz.

The final standings at the Coupe D'Europe:

1. Douai-Carvin (France) 10 match points, 24 individual match points
2. Wiener Billard Assoziation (Austria) 6-16
3. Douarnenez-Valdys (France) 6-20
4. De Hazelaaar (Netherlands) 4-8
5. Bfr Sterkrade (Germany) 2-6
6. ABC Merklinde (Germany) 2-6
7. BC Noorderkempen (Belgium) 0-4
8. Club Billar Punt D'Atac (Spain) 0-4. 

Frédéric Caudron

Raymund Swertz

Arnim Kahofer