LLEIDA - The Spanish semi-finals for teams will be played between Palma and Valencia (10.00, Sunday morning) and Paiporta and Ateneo (12.00). The tournament, which is played in the Catalan town Lleida, finished off the group stages on Friday and Saturday with eight teams. The Paiporta team, with Javier Palazón as its leader, was group winner with six match points, Palma with Michael Nilsson took five points. Peter Ceulemans, who was eliminated with the team Alcantarilla, recorded the best win in 16 innings (2.500). Javier Palazón and David Zapata finished in 17 innings.
The favourite for the title, Paiporta with Javier Palazón, Dion Nelin, Serge Jimenez and Jorge Cantó, ended with 1.464 team average in Group B. That was the best of the eight teams. Paiporta showed its strong collective. Jorge Cantó won all his three matches. Javier Palazón defeated Jordi Garriga in 17 innings, Martin Horn in 20 and lost his last to Ruben Legazpi 40-19 in 21 innings.
Dion Nelin started with a win over Antonio Montes 40-37 in 31, but lost his last match against Dave Christiani 40-36 in 31. Raul Cuenca, the balk-line specialist, delivered a great performance against Sergio Jimenez, whom he defeated 40-30 in 22.
Paiporta won this group ahead of Valencia (three points), Kalima Rivas with 2 and CB Mataro with 1 point.
Asoc. B Palma remained undefeated and played only a draw against Alcantarilla. In that match, Michael Nilsson defeated Peter Ceulemans 40-25 in 26 innings. The Swede was an excellent leader for his team with other victories over David Martinez (40-38 in 22) and Enrique Penalva (40-18 in 22).
Alcantarilla missed the semi-finals due to a painful defeat against Ateneo (7-1). In that match, Jose Guirao and Saúl Corro played a draw. With its two draws, Alcantarilla, that missed Eddy Leppens because of his performance in the Belgian Cup, couldn't secure its place in the semi-finals.
Ateneo, with Enriqe Penalva, Jesus Gallen, Saul Corro and Juan Villora, surprisingly finished second by a draw in the last match against Cartagena, in which only David Martinez and David Zapata won theire matches. That was not enough for qualification.
The semi-finals for Sunday:
10.00 Palma-Valencia. 12.00: Ateneo-Paiporta