ANDERNOS - Spanish player Ruben Legazpi and two French opponents will kick off the Kozoom 3-Cushion Challenge Cup this Tuesday (9th of March). The tournament, organised by the European federation CEB and Kozoom, of which the finals are played in the summer, 15, 16, 17 and 18 July, has a total line-up of sixteen European players. The world's best from the UMB ranking like Dick Jaspers, Marco Zanetti, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Eddy Merckx and Tayfun Tasdemir, among others, are in the line-up, including the women's world champion Therese Klompenhouwer. The group stage over a total of 24 days, each time with groups of three players, of which the 8 winners qualify for the final, is played at the location of the new Kozoom Studio in Andernos with live broadcasts in the highest quality production. The matches start at 17.00.
Ruben Legazpi has not played any international matches since the European nations title, which he won for Spain with Dani Sánchez in the first months of 2020 in Antalya. He only appeared in some team matches in Holland and France in October and a few regional matches in Spain.
The 38-year-old Spaniard is facing this week 37-year-old Mikaël Devogelaere and 18-year-old Nathan Duriez in a group in which Thomas Andersen, Dani Sánchez and Martin Bohac were replaced. ''I have prepared myself very well in training sessions and hope that I can reach a high level,'' said Legazpi on the eve of his appearance, in which he is the main contender for qualification. ''I have played with Mika (Devogelaere) in a team for three years: he has grown in three-cushion and I like his style of play. I have never met the young Frenchman in our group.''
Ruben Legazpi staps on the plane this Monday and already had a (negative) COVID test on Friday, like all players before their departure for the tournament. The Spaniard watched David Zapata's performance in the PBA final in Seoul on Saturday with great admiration. ''It is a wonderful success for Spanish billiards. I knew he was capable of winning a big tournament: Zapata is effective in easy positions, he defends very well and stays calm and focused at important moments.''
The first preliminary round at the Kozoom Cup is this week from Tuesday 9 to Thursday 11 March, the final group will be played from 15 to 17 June. The format of play in the eight groups of three players:
qualifications with three players playing each other in 24 sets of ten caroms (8 sets per game per day). The final is played over four days with eight players, the winners of the groups: double knockout, man-to-man matches, to four sets of 10 caroms won.
All sessions in the preliminaries start at 17.00, the shot clock is 40 seconds with 1 time-out per player per set without equalizing inning. The qualification for the final tour is determined by the sets won and overall average.
The three players in each group in the preliminary rounds play each other at one match table over three days. In case of a tie (6-6-6, 4-7-7 or 2-8-8), a final, deciding set will be played between two or three players.
The group formats and the days of play in the preliminary rounds:
Group C (9-11 March): Ruben Legazpi, Mikaël Devogelaere, Nathan Duriez
Group A (16-18 March) Dick Jaspers, Peter Ceulemans, Rui Costa
Group H (30 March-1 April) Eddy Merckx, Tayfun Tasdemir, Maxime Panaia
Group E (16-18 April): Murat Naci Coklu, Dion Nelin, Jérôme Barbeillon
Group G (20-22 April): Torbjörn Blomdahl, Lütfi Cenet, Gwendal Maréchal
Group F (11-13 May): Semih Sayginer, Jérémy Bury, Therese Klompenhouwer
Group D (2-4 June): Martin Horn, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Roland Forthomme
Group B (15-17 June): Marco Zanetti, Antonio Montes, Arnim Kahofer.