ANKARA - The world champion Dick Jaspers and German player Martin Horn, one of the four finalists at the World championship, have decided not to play in the European nation team championships that will be held in Ankara on 17, 18 and 19 February. The Dutchman argues that he is giving up his place because he wants to concentrate fully on the World Cup, which is played in the same venue from 21-27 February. The venue for both events is the new sports complex of the Turkish billiard federation, which was officially opened recently.
Dick Jaspers: ''I think it's not good for my concentration to hang around there for five days after the European Championships, before the World Cup starts. That's not the perfect preparation for me.''
Martin Horn: ''I also want to concentrate fully on the World Cup, because it's decisive for participation in the World Games.'' Horn will probably play the World Championship for nation teams in Viersen with Ronny Lindemann. Jaspers plays for the Netherlands in Viersen with Raimond Burgman.
It is not yet known with which players other countries play the European Championship.
The registration for the European nation championship, where Dani Sánchez and Ruben Legazpi defend the title for Spain, opened one week ago. Only the Dutch and German teams are already registered.
For Netherlands 1, Raimond Burgman and Jeffrey Jorissen will play, for Netherlands 2: Dave Christiani and Jean van Erp have qualified. The two reserve places for each team have been taken by Raymund Swertz and Kay de Zwart.
The German teams: Ronny Lindemann and Cengiz Karaca for Germany 1, Lukas Stamm and Tom Löwe for Germany 2. Reserves are Simon Blondeel and Dustin Jäschke.