Therese is always happy with success in Europe

VALENCIA - The very best European lady in three-cushion has one more tournament to demonstrate her supremacy. In the Spanish city of Valencia, this Sunday afternoon, Therese Klompenhouwer stood proudly at the top podium of the Predator 3-cushion Grand Prix for ladies. The difference in quality was just as big as in all the European championships in her career, only for this time Therese herself did not achieve the high averages the billiard world is used to from her. ''I am happy because I played below my level the whole tournament, but fighting and using my experience I still managed to win,'' she beamed.

The Predator Grand Prix is a new initiative from the European federation, to be organized again later this summer in Bottrop. The European ladies are happy with this offer because they can compensate for the lack of tournaments, compete with top European players and earn a nice prize money. ''It is wonderful that the European federation, the CEB, is doing this for us,'' assures Therese Klompenhouwer, who came through the preliminaries undefeated and without any difficulty, showed slightly better form in the knock-outs and only needed a final sprint in the last match against Denmark's Charlotte Sörensen to reach the eventual win 30-23 in that final match.

The average she finished with was extremely modest for Therese Klompenhouwer: 0.820. Her Danish opponent in the final was not even far away from it with 0.728, the other ladies on the podium were Dutch Karina Jetten (0.664) and Spanish Estela Cardoso (0.584).

For 24 players, seeded or not, it was a nice first for this Grand Prix. The organizers realized during the preliminaries that at best a stricter selection on averages should be established, but will no doubt adjust the format.

Therese started the circuit very moderately with a win against Spain's Mezecka in a game that deserves no place at an international Grand Prix: 25-3 in 40 innings. The tournament seemed to go on with Charlotte Sörensen, Dutch Karina Jetten, Estela Cardoso, Mirjam Pruim and Guzin Müjde Karakasli as contenders for the podium places. That turned out to be the outcome afterwards. From the 36 qualifying matches came the eight finalists, who were able to pick up the pace slightly.

Charlotte Sörensen defeated Katja Tite 30-11 in 36, Karina Jetten was the better of Güzin Mujde Karakasli 30-15 in 38, Estela Cardoso was the only one of the Spanish contestants to go to the podium with a win over Mirjam Pruim 30-24 in 56 and Therese Klompenhouwer beat Marianne Mortensen, an old acquaintance, 30-8 in 49.

That led to the semi-finals with Therese winning against Cardoso (30-10 in 35) and Charlotte Sörensen against Jetten 30-24 in 52.

Therese Klompenhouwer and Charlotte Sörensen went in balance in the final until 21-21 in 22 innings. Then the Dutch put on her attack with runs of 4, 3 and 2 for a final score 30-23 in 26. For Therese, it was her best match of the entire tournament.

The top eight in the final standings:

1 Therese Klompenhouwer (Netherlands) 12-0,820-8

2 Charlotte Sörensen (Denmark) 10-0.778-7

3 Karina Jetten (Netherlands) 8-0.664-8

4 Estela Cardoso (Spain) 6-0.584-6

5 Mirjam Pruim (Netherlands) 6-0.546-7

6 Güzin Mujde Karakasli (Turkey) 6-0.620-5

7 Katja Titze (Germany) 4-0.487-6

8 Marianne Mortensen (Denmark) 4-0.437-4

9 Steffi Träm (Germany) 2-0.518-3

10 Danielle Le Bruyn (Belgium) 2-0.470-4.

Therese Klompenhouwer on the podium with Charlotte Sörensen (left), and the nrs. 3 Karina Jetten and Estela Cardoso

The two final players and the referees for the GP final match