New rules, new balls, another title run

ISTANBUL - The European championship three cushion in Istanbul will be launched under the new rules of the CEB (the European federation): the match lengths are reduced to 30 in the preliminary rounds and to 40 in the final phase, all with a 40 seconds time clock and no equalizing inning.

Dick Jaspers defends his title. He will compete with 31 rivals from eighteen different countries, divided into eight groups of four. The top two moves on to the knockout stages.
 
The tournament room is in the Siyavuspasa sports center, where the Turkish organizing federation has put down four match tables. On Thursday and Friday the group matches are played, on Friday the eighth and quarter finals, on Sunday at 11.00 am the semifinals, the final is at 15.00.
 
Can Dick Jaspers repeat his stunt of last year when he grabbed all important titles: the world title, European title and the Dutch title? The Dutchman for sure was not in his best form in recent weeks: he lost twice against Torbjörn Bomdahl in the French play-offs and on Saturday in the GP of Rosmalen he was outplayed by the rather unknown Martien van der Spoel.
 
But Jaspers certainly is a player who like no other can focus on major championships. ,,There is nothing more important for me than winning a title. The World championship and the European championship are the tournaments that are on top of my  international calendar'', Jaspers says.
 
The competition will come especialy from the top twelve players in the world. Torbjörn Blomdahl looks like he is reborn after his victory in the finals of the Agipi Masters, Frédéric Caudron played some high-level matches again this weekend in the Spanish league, Martin Horn was never such a feared opponent for all his competitors as this year, Eddy Merckx couldn't grab the win in the Belgian cup last weekend, because he lost against the not so known Davy van Havere, but everyone knows that he's a killer in this type of tournaments, Dani Sánchez can grow to his best form and Marco Zanetti, the silver medalist of the World championship, Lütfi Cenet, Tayfun Tasdemir, the home players, Jérémy Bury, Filipos Kasidokostas: the all are contenders and outsiders.
 
The eight players who are seeded are Dick Jaspers, Frédéric Caudron, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Eddy Merckx, Jérémy Bury, Filippos Kasidokostas, Martin Horn, and Dani Sánchez.

The Belgians and Turks are the best represented with four players, three players come from the Netherlands and Sweden, Spain, Germany, France, Italy and Greece enter the tournament with two players.
 
The wild card of the organization is given to Savas Bulut, the first three players on the reserve list are Adnan Yüksel (Tr), Vangelis Moulos (Gr) and Nady Riad (Egy).
 
The total prize money is 24,400 euros. The winner will receive 5300 euros, the second 3300, the numbers three and four 1980 euros.
 
The group format is:
Group A: Dick Jaspers (Net), Raimond Burgman (Net), Emilio Sciacca (It), Christian Rudolph (Ger).
Group B: Frédéric Caudron (Be), Sameh Sidhom (Egy), Paulo Andrade (Pt), Frédéric Mottet (Be).
Group C: Torbjörn Blomdahl (Swe), Nikos Polychronopoulos (Gr), Tonny Carlsen (Den), Radek Novak (Ch).
Group D: Eddy Merckx (Be), Murat Naci Coklu (Tr), Ramon Hamm (Lux), Savas Bulut (Tr).
Group E: Jérémy Bury (Fr), Jef Philipoom (Be), Javier Palazón (Sp), Torsten Danielsson (Sui).
Groupl F: Filippos Kasidokostas (Gr), Lütfi Cenet (Tr), David Pennör (Swe), Jérôme Barbeillon (Fr).
Group G: Martin Horn (Ger), Marco Zanetti (It), Slobodan Soro (Hun), Andreas Kronlachner (Aus).
Group H: Dani Sánchez (Sp), Tayfun Tasdemir (Tr), Christakis Christoforou (Cyp), Jean van Erp (Net).
 
The tournament can be followed live by Premium pass holders on Kozoom.