ANDERNOS / COLMAR - The Paris team Morangis, with the Belgians Eddy Merckx and Eddy Leppens, has been eliminated for the title race in the French team competition. On the sixth and final day of the regular team competition in Group B, Morangis lost the away game to Andernos 6-2. Andernos had qualified before for the semi's, number two in Group B is Colmar.
The semi-finals, played in the home of the champion La Baule:
Andernos-Saint Quentin
La Baule-Colmar
In the decisive match for Morangis, Jean-Christophe Roux had a great start in Andernos against Jérôme Barbeillon running 6, 4 and 9 in the first 8 innings and a 15-point lead at the break: 24-9. In 13 innings that followed, Roux scored only one point. Barbeillon came back to 30-25 in 21 and later to win 40-37 in 28.
Roland Forthomme was 18-11 down to Eddy Leppens in the 12th inning, the two Belgians tied at 23-23 in 19. Forthomme took a lead in that part of the game with a run of 7. He eventually won 40-29 in 27, bringing Andernos a 4-0 lead.
Francis Connesson took an early lead in the match against Jean Reverchon and took the full profit for his team, 40-30 in 27. Eddy Merckx took the only win for Morangis in the match against Nikos Polychronopoulos, the best match of the evening, 20-11 in 8 at the break and final score of 40-28 in 18. The averages: Andernos 1.465, Morangis 1.347.
Thanks to a 8-0 win over Coubevoie, Colmar took the second place for the qualification.
Boutet and Efler were the best winners in 41 innings against Murillo and Panaia. Dion Nelin won the meagre match against Echeverry 40-36 in 47.
Colmar had 0.930 team average against 0.727 for the Parisians.
The results of the sixth round:
Andernos-Morangis 6-2
Connesson-Reverchon 40-30 (27)
Polychronopoulos-Merckx 28-40 (18)
Barbeillon-Roux 40-37 (28)
Forthomme-Leppens 40-29 (28).
Colmar-Courbevoie 8-0
Riotto-Delforge 40-30 (43)
Boutet-Murillo 40-26 (41)
Efler-Panaia 40-33 (41)
Nelin-Echeverry 40-36 (47).