Worldchampionship National TeamsViersen (Germany)

Jean van Erp: from sad face to happy face

02/20/2016

Published by frits bakker

Jean van Erp shows his emotions after the victory over Germany

VIERSEN - Jean van Erp's clenched fist said more than a thousand words. The Dutch victory over hosts Germany in the quarterfinals of the WC for National teams resounded for quite a while in the Festhalle in Viersen, where the German fans had supported their team with all the noise they could produce. The elimination hurt, and the Dutch supporters in the room were beside themselves with joy.

,,I could not stop myself from waving a fist to the German fans in the stands'', said Jean van Erp, who made the winning point. ,,In the match itself, I did not play well at all, which cause you to be annoyed with all the horns and the shouting. I had to get that out of my system, when we had won.''

The first Scotch Double, the format where four players at the same table play a short extension to decide the winner, made teh Netherlands the first semifinalist. Dick Jaspers had defeated Martin Horn comfortably (40-16 in 13 innings with a high run of 12) and jean van Erp had lost his match to Stefan Galla (40-32 in 35).

,,I felt the tension, I think I put too much pressure on myself and my level dropped'', said Van Erp. ,,Fortunately, I was able to make up for it in the Scotch Double, when the balls suddenly started to roll well. And it's nice to play with Dick of course, he has such terrific form.''

An equal amount of emotion was in Andreas Efler's jump for joy, after he and Arnim Kahofer had qualified for the semi at the expense of Greece, also after a Scotch Double. The Austrians have not been spoiled by success lately. Arnim Kahofer said he is about to win his first ever medal in 3-cushion. ,,I can't tell you how happy that makes me.'' The Greeks, amongst the favorites for a short while, were sent home after the extension ended 15-10 in Austria's advantage.

There was disappointment on the face of Polychronopoulos, who again performed well. He beat Arnim Kahofer with ease (40-16 in 15 with a decisive run of 11, but Austria was saved by Andreas Efler, who has rarely shown better temperament than he did in this tournament. The most experienced Austrian first beat Kostas Kokkoris (40-35 in 24) and then lifted his teammate up to create a Scotch Double upset.

The Belgian title holder (Merckx / Caudron) had to dig deep to withstand two of their formidable countrymen. ,,It is something special, to have to play against your own country'', admitted Merckx, who went through the eye of a needle against Leppens, to avoid a Scotch Double.

Frédéric Caudron has so far been an unbeatable second board player, Eddy Merckx is the leader who usually saves the best for last. ,,We have a score to settle with these guys'', said Jef Philipoom, never afraid to stick his neck out. Caudron, in his usual overdrive gear, never gave Philipoom a chance (40-25 in 16).

Eddy Merckx had a little bit more consideration with his opponent, and Eddy Leppens stayed in the match much longer. The win, in the end, was for the A-team: Merckx saw Leppens come back to 35-39, but won thanks to three majestic points late in the match. ,,He looked to be a bit off for a few innings'', said Leppens about his opponent. ,,But then he can come up with a few of these sensational points to close out the match. If he hadn't produced those, it would have been a different ballgame.''

The Turkish clash in the other half of the arena, between Lütfi Cenet and Semih Sayginer for the A-team and Can Capak and Hakan Incekara for the B-team, turned into a late victory for the frontrunners. Cenet had no trouble with Incekara (40-18 in 24), Sayginer, who had felt sick all day and needed medication, had trouble finishing against Capak and escaped with 40-39 in 31.

The WC had ended its preliminaries of eight flights with three teams on Saturday afternoon. The match between Greece and South Korea in the toughest of the flights decided over the fate of France, that needed a Korean 2-0 win. Nikos Polychronopoulos was the one to end the uncertainty. The Greek secured his team's place in the quarters when he beat Jérémy Bury in the first match and HaengJik Kim in the second: 40-38 in 28.

Jae Guen Kim had a spectacular start on the other table against Kostas Kokkoris: 22-12 in 5 innings, but Kokkoris quickly recovered to make it 24-21 in 9. It was decided when Polychronopoulos made his last point against HaengJik Kimt. Jae Guen Kim finished against Kokkoris (40-33 in 21), but that was a statistic: the Koreans and the French were out of the tournament.

The French, watching Greece - Korea from the stands, missed their qualification because of the two wins by Polychronopoulos, one of the stars of the group stage. It was a painful way to get eliminated. Jérémy Bury and Jérôme Barbeillon had the best combined average of all the teams in the group stage (1.845), yet they could not win their tough flight.

The Belgian A-team had an easy win over the Czech republic (two out-of-this-world shots by Caudron against Radek Novak), and qualified for a meeting with Belgium B. Lütfi Cenet and Semih Sayginer dealt with two South American players: finger-billiards magician Luis Aveiga and Javier Teran.

The winning teams after the group stage, with averages:

1 Netherlands 2-4-0-1.818 2 Belgium A 2-4-1.649 3 Turkey A 2-4-1.456 4 Greece 3-1-1.681 5 Austria 3-1-1.289 6 Turkey B 3-1-1.157 7 Germany A A 3-1-1.020 8 Belgium B 2-2-1.627

The individual top-twelve: 1 Dani Sánchez 2-4-2.051-11 2 Dick Jaspers 2-4-1.904-7 3 Nikos Polychronopoulos 2-4-1.777-17 4 Frédéric Caudron 2-4-1.777-10 5 Jean van Erp 2-4-1.739-8 6 Semih Sayginer 2-4-1.666-12 7 Marco Zanetti 2-4-1.632-11 8 Ryuuji Umeda 2-4-1.600-7 9 Jacob Haack Sörensen 2-4-1.568-13 10 Eddy Merckx 2-4-1.538-8 11 Andreas Effler 2-4-1.538-8 12 Martin Horn 2-4-1.379-8.

The semifinals:Belgium A-Turkey A and Netherlands - Austria, tomorrow (Sunday) starting at 11.00. The final is scheduled for 13.30.