3-Cushion
LOMMEL - The Superprestige in Lommel will get a final match between a great champion and an upcoming star in the world of three-cushion. The Belgian number one, Frédéric Caudron and Peter Ceulemans compete for the gold medal in the next few hours. They both showed a superior form in the semifinals. Frédéric Caudron defeated Eddy Merckx 40-15 (17 innings), Peter Ceulemans did even better than his opponent in the final battle: he won 40-22 against Eddy Leppens in 15 innings.
Frédéric Caudron was one of the big favorites to grab the titel. His place in the final can't be seen as a surprise. Peter Ceulemans played a spectacular tournament so far. The best of the Ceulemans dynasty after his grand pa, the legend Raymond, did a step back from the international stage, got a big round of applause after he bested Leppens.
The afternoon matches got a very strange course: all four semi-finalists had played a great tournament with high averages and high rins. So no one could make a prediction about the outcome.
But Caudron and Ceulemans dominated there matches so impressive, that they were devolded of any tension. Caudron made a big gap against Merckx between the eighth and thirteenth inning, when he lifted up the score from 14-11 to 31-11. Merckx was quite upset and could make only four poings in his last nine innings.
Peter Ceulemans did in his duel with Eddy Leppens what he's doing already in the whole tournament: killing his opponents with big runs, this time he scored eleven. He gave his opponent no chance to come close: after 12 innings he led 36-14 and at the finish 40-22.
For Peter Ceulemans (31 years, living together with his girlfriend Bettina in Mechelen) is this place in the final the best performance he has achieved so far in his career. He had anothger great highlight in the past season. Ceulemans finishted a match of 40 caroms in only ten innings in a VES tournament in Sint Niklaas.