ZUNDERT - The light was switched off for the last Dutch players on Saturday night in their own tournament. The showdown, today in the Christmas event, turns out in a meeting with four great performers: a royal Belgian trio and a Turkish prince.
The semi-finals are this afternoon (13.00), the final at 16.00.
Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Merckx were the top dogs on the Saturday night show. The illustrious couple, world champioen for teams with Belgium this year, has to battle with two fearsome competitors: Tayfun Tasdemir and Roland Forthomme.
The showdown follows a tournament in which Frans van Kuyk lost his way completely after a mighty start in the prelims and last in the knockout phase to Roland Forthomme. The Belgian, for his own crowd finalist last year, could seldom really shine in the group phase, but seems to be ready for the bump with Caudron in the semifinals.
The performance was impressive against Van Kuyk: Forthomme won 50-22 in 26 innings (runs 12/5).
Tayfun Tasdemir and Dave Christiani met each other in a match with tension until the end. On the way to the final caroms, the Turk took a small, but decisive lead (50-46 in 30).
Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Merckx made the gap in their matches for the last session with runs of thirteen (Caudron) and twelve (Merckx).
The world champion was superior in his duel with Peter Ceulemans, who lost - after a shining start - his rhythm and his confidence in the last group match against Caudron and in the quarterfinal against Merckx. Merckx won 50-28 in 24 innings.
Frédéric Caudron showed his brilliance and outsprinted Eddy Leppens, his teammate in the Netherlands and Belgium, who lost three of four matches and had a tournament with some bad luck: 50-36 in 22 innings.
The semi-finals for today (Sunday) at 13.00:
Roland Forthomme-Frédéric Caudron
Eddy Merckx-Tayfun Tasdemir.