Ostrava - 46-years old Radovan Hajek, player of BC Ostrava, played his best performance ever. During the 40th three cushion national championships in Czech he recorded a general average 1,461 and won the national title for the 4th time in a final with Radek Novak. Except for the quarter-finals, where he faced a big comeback from Miroslav Baca (16-34/18, 34-36/26), Radovan was never in trouble. He passed the group stage with an average 1,438 and won all three matches in the knock-out stages in 27 innings. In the semifinal, he beat the defending champion, Martin Bohac 40-23. The other finalist was Radek Novak, who had a better finish against Adam Kozak.
Hajek had a strong start in the final match against Radek Novak. He was leading 26-4 after 11 innings, leaving difficult positions for his opponent. Final score was 40-18.
Radovan Hajek, the European champion in 3-cushion on a small table in 2017, is in the best shape of his life. He won 4 out of 6 national Grand Prix tournaments. For the first time, he also won the whole circuit and stopped the five-season winning streak of Radek Novak. And also for the first time, he recorded a general average over 1,200 from all official Czech national games. Hajek will be the Czech representative at September’s World championships in France. Hajek's team BC Ostrava secured second spot in the 3-cushion competition. For the second time in a row, TJ Sokol Zizkov, with line-up Martin Bohac, Radek Novak, Marcel Dirn, Pavel Skop, Adam Baca, Tommy Magnussen and Andreas Schenkel won the Czech national competition. Both teams will participate in the Coupe d’Europe in Porto.
Fun fact. Dion Nelin (BC Kladno) lost his first match in a Czech competition ever. Martin Bohac beat him during the last round of the competition.
Czech champion Radovan Hajek with a magnificent average