EEKLO - The final day in the Trophy of the Legends can turn out into a final between the two big champions of Belgian billiards: Raymond Ceulemans and Ludo Dielis. That would be the dream final of the tournament in Eeklo, in which sixteen players started in the knock-out and four remain for Sunday. These four are Ceulemans and Dielis, the rather unknown Belgian Marc Roofthooft and the successful Spanish national coach Jose Maria Quetglas, who are in the spotlights for the main prizes.
The eight players who had qualified for the first knock-out were Raymond Ceulemans, Ludo Dielis, Richard Bitalis and Martin Spoormans as group winners and Poul Bjerring, Marc Roofthooft, Paul Stroobants and Jose Marie Quetglas as the group numbers two. The most known player who was eliminated was Rini van Bracht, who could not hide that he hadn't played billiards for eighteen years. The Dutchman couldn't win a match in his group.
Martin Spoormans was one of the favourites for the tournament win with his averages in the pre-rounds. The Belgian however suffered a more than surprising loss in the quarters. Marc Roofthooft, another Belgian, had a better start than Spoormans, but lost the margin in the final part. Spoormans even finished first, but Roofthooft equalized with one. In the shoot-out, Spoormans scored twice, Roofthooft answered with three and knocked down the favourite.
Raymond Ceulemans was the better of Danish Poul Bjerring (40-32 in 38) and Ludo Dielis dealt in a tough fight with Paul Stroobants (40-35 in 50). The fourth finalist on Sunday is the Spanish national coach Jose Maria Quetglas. The gray eminence, a great orator, who unfortunately still doesn't speak English well, is responsible for the rise of Spanish talents like Javier Palazón, David Zapata, David Martinez, Antonio Montes and Carlos Anguita. He started moderately in the Trophy, still qualified as number two in Ludo Dielis' group and defeated one of the other contenders in the quarterfinals: Richard Bitalis (40-22 in 26).
The semi-finals, Sunday morning at 11.00, are:
Raymond Ceulemans-Jose Maria Quetglas
Ludo Dielis-Marc Roofthooft.
