Jaspers titleholder, tournament with new rules

ISTANBUL - The Dutchman Dick Jaspers will defend his title at the European Championships in Istanbul from May 24 to 27, 32 players are divided into eight groups of four, there will be played according to new rules and the prize money will be 24.400 euros. The winner takes 5300 euros, the number two 3300.

The playing room is in the Siyavuspasa Sports Center, eight kilometers from the airport. The preliminaries will be played to thirty points, in the knockout stages, from the eighth-finals, to 40 points. There will be no more equalizing inning, in the preliminaries as well as in the main tournament.

The new system has been received with some critisism in circles of top players and some prominent billiard nations. The European federation (CEB) has announced the new rules for more than a year ago to increase the attractiveness of the matches and the tournaments.

The group format is announced today at the site of the CEB. The eight group leders, classified according to the rankings, are Dick Jaspers, Frédéric Caudron, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Eddy Merckx, Jérémy Bury, Filipos Kasidokostas, Martin Horn and Dani Sánchez.

The Belgians and Turks are the best represented with four players, the Netherlands enter the tournament with three players, Sweden, Spain, Germany, France, Italy and Greece with two. The 32 players represent eighteen countries.

The European champion (Jaspers) is seeded as first, eighteen players are registered by their federation, one player, Savas Bulut from Turkey, has received a wildcard from the organization, twelve players are seeded according to the European rankings.

Adnan Yüksel, Vagelis Moulos, Riad Nady, Ruben Legazpi and Andreas Efler are, in that order, the first five players on the reserve list.

The group format is:
Group A: Dick Jaspers (Net), Raimond Burgman (Net), Emilio Sciacca (It), Christian Rudolph (Ger).
Group B: Frédéric Caudron (Bel), Sameh Sidhom (Egyp), Paulo Andrade (Por), Frédéric Mottet (Bel).
Group C: Torbjörn Blomdah (Swe), Nikos Polychronopoulos (Gr), Tonny Carlsen (Den), Radek Novak (Tsj).
Group D: Eddy Merckx (Bel), Murat Naci Coklu (Tur), Ramon Hamm (Lux), Savas Bulut (Tur).
Group E: Jérémy Bury (Fra), Jef Philipoom (Bel), Javier Palazón (Spa), Torsten Danielsson (Swi).
Group F: Filipos Kasidokostas (Gr), Lütfi Cenet (Tur), David Pennör (Swe), Jérôme Barbeillon (Fra).
Group G: Martin Horn (Germany), Marco Zanetti (It), Slobodan Soro (Hon), Andreas Kronlachner (Aut).
Group H: Dani Sánchez (Sp), Tayfun Tasdemir (Tur), Christakis Christoforou (Cyp), Jean van Erp (Net).