AARHUS - The wonderful joy of two Turkish ladies made up for a rather poor final match. The Women's European national team championships had a climax that was marked by many misses. Turkish ladies Guzin Mujde Karakasli and Gülsen Degener were deserved winners against two Belgians who made a jaded impression in the final. In the Scotch Double, the Turks made 12 caroms in 29 innings (0.413 average), the Belgians 4 caroms in 29 (0.172 on average). The inauguration fortunately brought some more joy in the hall, the announcement that from tomorrow, Thursday, the invidiual European Championship will start, will at least boost the level.
What it was all about in that national championship final, no one could say. The Turks and Belgians were deservedly in the final; the Dutch and the Danes, who were rated slightly higher, had eliminated themselves because of mediocre semi-finals. And so there was deserved applause for Güzin Mujde Karakasli (34) and Gülsen Degener (57) as winners of European gold and Jaimie Buelens (37) and Daniëlle Le Bruyn (67) as winners of silver medals. The Turkish national anthem concluded the championship with two joyful, full-throated winners singing along.
The highlights were in the pre-final phase, where nerves and defensive play kept scoring to a minimum. Yet even in the preliminary stage, the games were of a lesser class than in previous European ladies events. The best matches came from Charlotte Sörensen and Therese Klompenhouwer who, with 1.041 and 1.000, were the only matches over 1 average. Those scores contrasted sharply with the scores in the European Under-25 championships in the days before this tournament. There, the European juniors often played matches between 1,500 and 2,000.
The final four teams in the final draw are among the top teams in Europe every year. The Netherlands became the winner in the two times the tournament has been played so far, but stumbled this time over the Turks, who especially excelled in the Scotch Double in the semi-finals. The mutual matches were won by Guzin Mujde Karakasli against Therese Klompenhouweer (30-29 in 33, 0.909/0.878). The Belgian duo subdued the Danes in long games, but with two good victories. Jaimie Buelens beat Charlotte Sörensen, the world champion, 29-26 in 50, Daniëlle Le Bruyn completed the success with a win against Nanna Petersen: 30-25 in 48.
In the two regular matches in the final, things were also equal between the Turks and the Belgians. Jaimie Buelens defeated Charlotte Sörensen 29-26 in 50, Danielle Le Bruyn, the eternally young owner of a Belgian billiard café, won against young talent Nanna Petersen 30-25 in 48.
The final standings of the European Nations Championship (match points, moyenne, highest series):
- Turkey 7-0.686-4
- Belgium 6-0.551-6
- Netherlands 4-0.795-8
- Denmark 4-0.628-5
- Denmark 2 3-0.475-5
- Germany 2-0.493-3
- Spain 1-0.391-5
- France 1-0.420-5.
The podium with all winners
The final players and the referees
The Turkish winneers