LILLE - Frédéric Caudron was a special guest this afternoon, Richard Bitalis walked around, because he's the deliverer of the billiards and coach of the Dutch women. And the French organization from Faches Thumesnil, a suburb of Lille, shows himself very proud hosting the European championship three-cushion for women. ,,Hello, French girls, you wanna play billiards?''
,,We have done something special'', says Celine Jacques, who is already for three years in top three of France in this discipline and who's now as a home player a member of the organization. ,,My club is the organiser and my boy friend, Steve Dorard, the sporting director of the tournament.''
The 29-year-old Céline Jacques, born in Amiens, living in Lille and after her study working at the court in Paris as assistant to the judge, is one of the sixteen players in the Europeans. She's not one of the favorites for the title, that role is played by Therese Klompenhouwer, the triple champion. ,,I have just a little time to practice due to my work, because it's not only the work, but I travel by train to Paris, every day, two hours up and down.''
Celine started the tournament with a surprisingly draw against Gerrie Geelen, after a win in the first set, a loss in the second and a draw (8 in 25 innings) in the deciding set. Julie Dechamps, the French champion for the moment, startet the tournament with a win today, but also with a poor average against Anja Wijnen from the Netherlands (0.280/0.253), the second French player, Christine Morel, lost with 0.225 average against Karina Jette. Morel made the highest run of the first session (6).
,, The French billiard for women urgently needs a boost,'' said Celine Jacques on the first day of the tournament. ,,We have ten ladies who play three-cushion and twenty who play free game, I think. That is far too little for our country. We try to promote our sport here at the European championship. The tournament is in a business school in the centre of Lille, because one of the members of our club is a teacher at that school. Four months before the start we already put a billiard table here, where students could play.''
It should be the start for a better future, although Celine Jacques realizes that many women drop out early because they marry, have children or gonna do other things in life. ,,I've learned the game from my father, since I stopped playing music when I was young. I had no sports at that moment and I began to like playing billiards in the club of my father in Faches Thumesnil. Richard Bitalist teached me the basic stuff, but I should play and practice more than now, because my average is the same for a few years.''
On the first day of the Europeans Therese Klompenhouwer made the best impression with a victory over the German Michaele Esser (12-0, 12-9). The Dutch played 0.923 average, Gülsen Degener was not far behind the big favorites with an easy win against the Belgian Jaimie Buelens (0.888), who was only in the first set a threat for Degener.
Karina Jetten defeated Christine Morel 2-0 after a tough start of the match and won later this evening her match against Natascha Al Mamar from Austria. Two Dutch favorites for the title dominated the first day. The most feared competitor seems to be Gülsen Degener, who recently signed a sponsor contract for Longoni as the first and only lady player.