LA BAULE - The two leading teams after the first day in the French team competition in Group A are La Baule and Laxou. The champion team, La Baule, defeated Albert 6-2, Laxou defeated Saint Quentin by the same score. Frédéric Caudron was the best winner in his match against Peter Ceulemans: 40-26 in 16 innings. Martin Horn and Jef Philipoom were the better of the Spaniards Martinez and Zapata.
Jérémy Bury defeated Glenn Hoffman 40-33 in 24, Mikael Devogelaere took the full profit against Xavier le Roy, 40-32 in 39. Jean Paul de Bruijn was the only loser in the reigning champion team. Cédric Melnytschenko won 40-35 in 24 with a run of 13.
The matches:
Caudron-Ceulemans 40-26 in 16
Bury-Hofman 40-33 in 24
De Bruijn-Melnytschenko 35-40 in 24
Devogelaere-Le Roy 40-32 in 39.
Laxou defeated the debutant St. Quentin with victories by Martin Horn, Jef Philipoom and Pierre Soumagne. Nathan Duriez scored for St. Quentin against Eric Cremer-Leclaire.
Martin Horn defeated David Martinez 40-26 in 20 after a start with 2-2-6-4. The Spaniard faced a 10/12 points gap in the entire match. Pierre Soumagne had a strong start scoring 17-8 in 11 innings against Kevin Perrotin. Juan David Zapata led against Jef Philipoom until the 13th inning, from then the Belgian ran out to the match win, 30-18 in 21, 40-25 in 27.
The matches:
Horn-Martinez 40-26 in 20
Philipoom-Zapata 40-25 in 27
Soumagne-Perrotin 40-24 in 20
Kremer-Leclaire-Duriez 21-40 in 45.
Laxou played 1.259, Saint Quentin 1.027.