BRANDENBURG AN DER HAVEL - Raymund Swertz and Therese Klompenhouwer gave the final day of the European championships some extra shine for the Netherlands, and their country became the nr. 1 in total medals won. Turk Serdar Gümüs won the title in artistic billiards and his countrymen Can Capak and Birol Uymaz closed off the mega-event when they won the three cushion team event for club teams.
The Stahlpalast in Brandenburg an der Havel honored the last of the champions on Sunday afternoon, setting the total on eighteen. The final day was dedicated to four disciplines, including the artistic. The Netherlands won the medal race, with four golds, three silvers and three bronze, a total of ten. Germany came in second, ahead of Italy, Turkey and Belgium.
Dutchman Raymund Swertz, twice balkline champion two years ago, lost one title to Xavier Gretillat (47/2), but prved to be the best again in 71/2 when he beat his countryman from the same province, Dave Christiani. Both Dutchmen had delivered one perfect performance: matches in a single inning, on their way to the final. Swertz proved the strongest in that match: 200-96 in four innings. Swertz had beaten Spaniard Raul Cuenca in the semi (200-135 in 3), Christiani got past Thomas Nockemann, 200-8 in 1 inning.
Nockemann had the highest general average (49.750) ahead of Christiani with 46.181.
The final of the artistic became an absolute nailbiter: Turkish world champion Serdar Gümüs (last year in Turkey) and Belgian Walter Bax needed all sets and all of the program to decide the title. Gümüs won, because Bax failed at the last attempt to make a pique over three cushions. The Turk did make that, and claimed the European title. The sets: Gümüs-Bax: 65-43, 34-56, 47-34, 48-49, 54-50.
The ladies three cushion podium with Therese Klompenhouwer
Therese Klompenhouwer went up against one of her traditional rivals, Turkish Gülsen Degener, who showed good form but still was unable to mount a threat to the now six-time champion. The Dutch player was dominant in all of her matches, and the only logical champion. The final ended 30-18 in 22 innings. Klompenhouwer had cruised past Danielle le Bruyn (30-14 in 31) in the semi, Degener was too experienced for her young Turkish colleague Guzin Karakasli: 30-19 in 40.
The most remarkable titles on this EC?
Torbjörn Blomdahl may call himself European champion 3-cushion for the next two years, Dick Jaspers and Raimond Burgman won the national team title in that disciplines, Frédéric Caudron is still the best in 1-cushion, Therese Klompenhouwer the strongest lady in three cushion.
Serdar Gümüs wins the artistic billiards, Xavier Gretillat and Raymund Swertz are the balkline masters and Berkay Karakurt took over from his brother and closed his junior years as Europe's best.
The tournament organization improved on its success of 2013 and drew many spectators who - especially during the 5-pin matches - created quite an ambiance. That discipline is very popular in Italy, has thousands of practitioners and starts to get the attention of 3-cushion players, such as Frédéric Caudron.
The subtlety of the balkline and the noisiness of the artistic did not mix very well on the closing day, because concentration was made difficult by miscues and balls jumping out of the tables. In the cauldron that the 24-table room became, 'adapt and survive' was the key principle.
Torbjörn Blomdahl became the new world nr. 1 even before his final against Eddy Merckx, after he had shortly lost that status when the UMB had changed the ranking rules. The Swede got past Sung-Won Choi, and is now assured of the nr. 1 position at least until the WC in Porto.
Frédéric Caudron stamps more and more authority on the 1-cushion discipline, with rivals like Jean Paul de Bruijn, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Xavier Gretillat and Arnim Kahofer having to watch from behind.
French Greek Nicolas Gerassimopoulos was one of the tournament's revelations as an allround player. He did well in balkline and even better in 1-cushion, when he eliminated both Eddy Leppens and Jean Paul de Bruijn.
Turk Berkay Karakurt followed in his brother's footsteps as junior 3-cushion champion and now joins the seniors. Belgian Kenny Miatton surprised several of the favorites on his way to the title on the small table. He beat his countryman Steven van Acker in the final.
Birol Uymaz and Can Capak won the three cushion on the small table
Birol Uymaz and Can Capak were the winners on the final day, in 3-cushion for club teams on the small table when they defeated Roland Forthomme and Peter De Backer.
The medal winners:
For the Netherlands:
Netherlands A-team, Jaspers en Burgman
Therese Klompenhouwer
Raymund Swertz
Sam van Etten
For Germany:
Simon Blondeel
DBC Bochum
Susanne Stengel-Ponsing
For Turkey:
Berkay Karakurt
Mecidiyeköy
Arda Güngor
For Belgium:
Frédéric Caudron
Kenny Miatton
For Switzerland:
Xavier Gretillat
For Sweden:
Torbjörn Blomdahl
For Italy:
5 pins teams, juniors and individual
The top-10 of the medals (gold, silver, bronze, total):
1 Netherlands 4-3-2-9
2 Germany 3-2-6-11
3 Italy 3-2-2-7
4 Turkey 4-1-5-10
5 Belgium 2-4-5-11
6 Switzerland 1-0-1-2
7 Sweden 1-0-0-1
8 France 0-4-5-9
9 Spain 0-1-3-4
10 Greece 0-1-0-1.
The artistic podium with the winner Serdar Gümüs.