3-Cushion
LIMA - Would Torbjörn Blomdahl, the most purified player after the glorious period of Raymond Ceulemans, still be able to add a golden crown to his wonderful palmares? For his last world title the Swede must go back to 1997 in Grubbenvorst, where he improved in a knockout system the world record overall average of Ceulemans (Las Vegas, 1986, 1.745) and brought it to 2.015. Blomdahl defeated Raimond Burgman in the final and needed only sixteen innings for three sets of fifteen caroms.
The prodigy of a Swedish billiard father, with whom he won two world titles and three European titles for national teams, has made a promising start against Jean Van Erp in Lima and today won the Vikings-fight against Tonny Carlsen. It could have gone another way than the 3-1 which was on the scoreboard now, for Carlsen won the second set 15-2 and missed a bankshot for the setball in the third set. Blomdahl then smelled his chances, took the initiative and finished with 15-10 in eight innings, good for an average of 1.620.
The Swede knows that he still can threaten all players in the top of the ranking, but is no longer one of the major contenders. ,,I get older every year and sometimes I feel that I miss the sharpness to start a match,'' he said during the World Cup in Matosinhos, where he was very strong again in the final phase in the quarterfinal against Jaspers. Blomdahl was 2-0 behind, came back to 2-2, but then lost the fifth set.
Frédéric Caudron is with his palmares far away from Torbjörn Blomdahl in world championships. He won the title once, in 1999 in Bogota, where Blomdahl was second. The Belgian is certainly a big challenger in the form he shows already for many months. His match against Sergio Jimenez, today, was a game with blood, sweat and tears: Caudron was trailed 2-1, but defeated his opponent in the final with 15-5 and 15-6.
Martin Horn finished with the highest average in the second session of the day (1.805) and even played over two average in the middle of the match. The Asian champion Chung-Bok Lee was a tough opponent: two times he equalized the set score. Horn made a very strong impression in the third set, when he started with a run of ten and finished with five (15-0 in two). The German won the decisive 15-6 in eleven innings.
Sung-Won Choi won the Asian collision against the Japanese Youichirou Mori. The Korean had a cool finish in every set: 15-11, 15-12, 15-14.
With Sánchez, Jaspers, Merckx, De Bruijn, Blomdahl, Caudron, Choi and Horn now eight of sixteen players for the main tournament are known.