3-Cushion
SCHILTIGHEIM - The kickstart with runs of 8 and 6 and the final sprint with 11, three innings before the end, gained Torbjörn Blomdahl the access to the final round and closed the door for Tayfun Tasdemir. The Swede played his best match in the last round (50-45 in 18), so that he may return to the tournament of which he was the first winner.
He missed the final last year, because he was outplayed by Eddy Merckx and Frédéric Caudron in the last round for the qualification. This afternoon he reacted with a big smile after he had forced his way to the final weekend. ,,I played a very bad game last night against Filipos Kasidokostas, but today I was in a much better shape. And I'm very happy with this victory'', he said.
The start was amazing and paved the way for a quick party: Blomdahl had a flying start with eight and six, but in the scores between (25-15 and 26-19) Tasdemir showed his fighting spirit.
The Turk even took the lead for a while (35-32), but then was knocked down by the final sprint of Blomdahl, who made the gap with 11 in the 16th running to 45-37 and finished two innings later with four.
Filipos Kasidokostas kept on the other table his unbeaten status. The Greek defeated Javier Palazón 50-37 in 25 innings and was crowned as the winner of the group.