SOISSONS - The European championship for teams in the classic games has started off with a comfortable 6-0 win of the Czech team Anag against Andernos and a tight 4-2 win of Ronchin in the French clash against Soissons. The European champion Brahim Doubri (Ronchin) was the star player of the evening beating Pierre Soumagne in the 47/2 match with a final run of 292 (300-235 in 5 innings).
Alain Remond levelled the score for Soissons against Bernard Villiers in one cushion (150-112), but Jean Francois Florent took the full win for his team in his duel with Patrick Dupont in 71/2: Ronchin triumphed 4-2.
That victory is very important for the battle in the next sessions for two places in the final round. Title holder Etikon enters the tournament tomorrow (Saturday) with Henri Tilleman, Patrick Niessen and Jean Paul de Bruijn. The Dutch team starts against Ronchin at 13.00.
The Czechs of Anag did not perform very impressive in the opening session, nevertheless they beat Andernos with the maximum score (6-0). Pavel Böhm overpowered Nicolas Gerassimopoulos in the balk-line 47/2 300-163 (15 innings). Marek Faus kicked down Peter De Backer with a hundred caroms margin in 71/2 (250-154 in 9) with a highest run of 117 for the Czech.
The match in one cushion between Janis Ziogas (Anag) and Bernard Baudoin (Andernos) was a torture for both: the Czech won the marathon after 43 innings 150-141 (averages 3.49/3.28)
Tomorrow in this group Bochum starts against Anag (10:00).