LOMMEL - The World champion, Frédéric Caudron, is back from his trip around the world, Eddy Leppens will return soon from Colombia and Eddy Merckx, the titleholder in the Superprestige, has finished his holidays in Italy this week.The serious things are about to start with the official launch in the traditional Superprestige in Lommel from 1 to 6th September. The sixteen best Belgian players in the ranking come to the Adelberg for a great fight for the Superprestige title.
The organization is again in the excellent hands of Eddy Leppens with his wonderful staff of helpers.
The tournament is held in the arena which will be transformed into a billiard hall in De Adelberg in Lommel, where the atmosphere and the ambiance are adapted to modern times. Players, spectators and sponsors are received in a room where top billiards is the point of focus, but with a lot of entertainment.
Ferre van Loco, who recently passed away so suddenly, was one of the major sponsors and driving forces of the tournament. He deserves to be remembered as a man with a golden heart for the billiard sport in the next edition.
The Superprestige has a honor roll with all the big names of Belgian billiards. Raymond Ceulemans holds the record with eight wins, Frédéric Caudron has one victory less, Eddy Merckx is on five now, Roland Forthomme on three and Ludo Dielis and Paul Stroobants on two victories.
Eddy Leppens managed to win one time, in 2004, in this tournament where he's the great animator now.
The honors list (thanks to Bert van Manen):
8 wins: Raymond Ceulemans (1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2001)
7 wins: Frédéric Caudron (1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2013)
5 wins: Eddy Merckx (1999, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2012)
3 wins: Forthomme (2005, 2009, 2010)
2 wins: Ludo Dielis (1991, 1993)
2 wins: Paul Stroobants (1987, 1990)
1 win: Jef Philipoom (2000)
1 win: Eddy Leppens (2004).
The Superprestige starts off, like every year, with the group stage: one group per day in the preliminaries. The numbers one and two will advance to the quarterfinals.
The group formats:
Monday 1 September, group A: Eddy Merckx, Davy van Havere, Francis Forton, Ronny Daniels
Tuesday 2 September, group B: Roland Forthomme, Jef Philipoom Kenny Miatton, Frank de Groof
Wednesday 3 September, group C: Eddy Leppens, Peter De Backer, Kurt Ceulemans, Thomas Broux
Thursday 4 September, group D: Frédéric Caudron, Peter Ceulemans, Martin Spoormans, Steven van Acker.