JABLONEC - 43-years old player Radovan Hajek, playing for BC Ostrava, took his third Czech national title in 3-cushion. He won the 37th national championship in the final against the big surprise of the title race, 22 years old Milan Ettel 40-38 in 34 innings. The young player, a participant at the recent European championships under 25 in Antalya where he lost against strong opponents, surprisingly beat the last two Czech champions. In the quarter finals he beat Martin Bohac and in the semi finals Radek Novak.
Radovan Hajek, the European champion in 3-cushion at small table from 2017, played a very solid tournament with a general average around 1,300. In the quarter finals was the better of Zdenek Galicek 40-27 in 24 innings and in the semi final, he turned the game against Ivo Gazdos and won 40-37 in 34 innings.
In the final game, Milan Ettel looked that he would finish his great journey throughout the tournament with a national title. He led 37-28. But Milan made only one point in the last 6 innings. Meanwhile, Hajek made a come-back and finished with a run of 3 in the 34th inning.
He won his first national title 20 years ago: Radovan Hajek. The second one was five years ago. He is playing for St. Wendel in the German Bundesliga. This season for example he recorded a valuable win against current vice World champion Rubén Legazpi.
The new champion will be the Czech representative at September’s World Championships in Ankara. Radovan is also chairman of his club, now the biggest in the Czech Republic with more than 80 members.
All credits belong to youngster Milan Ettel. He played his best tournament ever and almost beat the top four Czech players. An absolute highlight of the tournament was played by Martin Bohac. In the group phase, he made 35 points game in 8 innings with a great finish of 16-9-4! It is the first game over 4 average played by a Czech player ever.
Radovan Hajek (left) with the final opponent Milan Ettel and in the middle European referee Jiri Dostal
The final four at the Czech podium