PORTO - The three qualifying rounds in the European Cup for club teams have been completed with Andernos as the best team on average. The French foursome reached the qualification unbeaten with almost 1,500 and is the main challenger to champion FC Porto. Today, Saturday, are the quarter-finals with eight teams qualified for a ticket into the final rounds.
The story of the qualifying matches in chronological order.
In Group A, two teams dominated with BK Varde (Denmark) winning at the expense of Mister 100 Lier (Belgium). These two teams beat the Austrians of BC Elite Wien and the Italians of Billiards Café B by 8-0. The match between the two favorites was won by Varde 6-2. Eddy Merckx beat Peter Ceulemans 40-39 in 24 innings, Jean Paul de Bruijn dominated Kurt Ceulemans 40-34 in 28 and Thomas Andersen took rid of Jerry Hermans 40-32 in 35 innings. Only Bart Ceulemans won for the Belgians against Allan Schrøder 40-31 in 32.
BK Varde has an overall average of 1.377. The team of Mister 100 Lier with his big supporter Raymond Ceulemans, is in 2nd place with 1.279 and among the top two runners-up participating in the Final 8 this weekend. BC Elite Wien is 3rd with 0.867, Billiards Café B is 4th with 0.582.
In Group B, the only group with three teams, the final was played between Billiards Café A (Glenn Hofman, Emilio Sciacca, Francesco Orlando and Emanuele Criscino) and Mostoles (Ruben Legazpi, Adrian Legazpi, Ruben Fernandez and Alfonso Legazpi). The 1st individual win went to Ruben Fernandez against Francesco Orlando with 40-38 in 37. The second win was for Mostoles with Alfonso Legazpi at the expense of Emanuele Criscino 33-32 in 50. Glenn Hofman beat Ruben Legazpi 40-34 in 34. The group win was decided on 1 point, as the Italian team scored 301 points in this group and the Spanish team 300. Mostoles had an overall average 3 hundredths higher than Biljartcafé A.
In Group C, the Turks of FBN Tekstil Spor Kulubu (Tayfun Taşdemir, Berkay Karakurt, Gokhan Salman, Murat Tüzül) were assured of first place in the group after two wins over the Czechs of BC Vitkov 8-0 and the Portuguese of FC Leça 6-2. The third match was a formality against Germany's Weywiesen, who were beaten 8-0 by Tasdemir's team with an overall average of 1.341. BC Vitkov (Martin Bohac, Adam Kozak, Adam Baca, Marcel Dirn) was second with 1.039 with no hope of qualification.
Group D was the toughest of the five groups, featuring French BC Andernos (Marco Zanetti, Roland Forthomme, Gwendal Maréchal and Jérôme Barbeillon), Spanish CB Castalla (Sergio Jimenez, Jorge Canto, Jesus Rico, Andres Carrion) and Belgian Op de Meir (Jef Philipoom, Barry Van Beers, Roland Uytdewillegen, Ivan Stitschinsky). Sporting Clube du Portugal had few illusions in this group, losing all their 12 individual matches. The verdict soon fell within the leading trio, with Op de Meir losing both matches against Andernos and Castalla. The two winners had to battle it out in the final match of the day, knowing that the loser would almost certainly qualify for the Final 8 as best runner-up along with Mister 100 Lier (1,278).
Andernos had a team average of 1.616 for this final match, Castalla 1.322. BC Vitkov (1.039) was in 2nd place among the best-placed teams before this match and was thus in the hot seat, but without hope against these two brilliant teams from Group D.
Jesus Rico scored the first two points for his team by beating Gwendal Maréchal 40-30 in 26. Roland Forthomme levelled the two teams against Jorge Canto, 40-30 in 25. Also in 25 innings, Marco Zanetti completed his 40 points, leaving Sergio Jimenez on 35 with a game to go. The Spaniard missed the opening point and Andernos secured a draw and 1st place in the group even before the end of the fourth game between Jérôme Barbeillon and Andres Carrion. The Spaniard won 40-34 in 36, ending in a 4-4 draw between Andernos and Castalla. Andernos is 1st in the group with an average of 1.497 and Castalla 2nd and best runner-up with an average of 1.314. Taking into account the fact that the group winners are ranked based on average and not match points, as the have have an uneven number of teams, Andernos is ranked as the best group winner and will come out in Group B.
In Group E, Turkey's Goztepe Spor Kulubu (1.337) had little competition from Denmark's BK Grøndal (0.770), Austria's BSK Pottendorfer (GPA 0.772) and Switzerland's BC Zurich (GPA 0.617). It became a walk-over for the quartet of Emin Gayret, Ömer Karakurt, Tarik Yavuz and Uğur Kaya, some of whom are little known, but considering the quality of Turkish billiards, it is not surprising that these four players achieve such a team average. The 2nd-placed Grøndal has no chance of qualifying for the next round.
Qualified in order:
1. BC Andernos (Fr) 1,497
2. BK Varde (Den) 1,377
3. FBN Tekstil SK (Turk) 1,341
4. Goztepe SK (Turk) 1,338
5. Billiard Café A (Italy) 1,006
6. Castalla (Sp) 1,314
7. Mister 100 Lier (Bel) 1,278
The formats:
Group A: FC Porto - FBN Tekstil SK - Biljartcafé A - Mister 100 Lier
Group B: BC Andernos - BK Varde - Goztepe SK - CB Castalla
Sessions on Saturday in Western European time: 11am, 12.45pm, 3pm, 4.45pm, 7pm and 8.45pm.
Berkay Karakurt playing for FBN Tekstil team
Gwendal Maréchal, player for Andernos
Peter Ceulemans, Mister 100 Lier player
Eddy Merckx, Varde player