3-Cushion
SCHILTIGHEIM - Which of two French teams will joint the Turks of Bahcelievler in Group B to the semi-finals of the European Cup tonight. The Andernos team has finished his matches in the preliminaries and has one match point out of its first meeting with Laxou (4-4). The French rival Laxou, with one point as well, has one match to play and meets Bahcelievler tonight.
The Turkish team has already secured its semi final spot. The victory over Andernos (6-2) means that Bahcelievler will end up ahead of Andernos and as first or second in the group.
The team of Laxou fights for its last chances in the evening session against Bahcelievler. With a win or a draw, Torbjörn Blomdahl and co will be definitely qualified. A loss for Andernos needs some calculation (with Andernos and Laxou finishing at 1 matchpoint).
Bahcelievler performed well in a 6-2 win against Andernos, averaging 1.741, Andernos had 1.307. The French finished with 1.315 overall in two matches. Laxou played 1.093 in its first match, in which Blomdahl was the only winner and the other (losing) players remained below 1 average.
The Turks were the winners at three tables in the confrontation with Andernos. Murat Naci Coklu took the biggest score: 40-14 in 23 innings against Francis Connesson.
Tayfun Tasdemir closed out the game against Filippos Kasidokostas at a 34-32 score with a run of eight: 40-34 in 22.
Adnan Yüksel, before the break, defeated Jérôme Barbeillon 40-31 in 24 innings.
Roland Forthomme came up as the only winner for his team, which can be useful in the showdown. The Belgian champion knocked down Lütfi Cenet 40-35 (22).