Two top favourits for the Portuguese team title

MATOSINHOS - Six Portuguese teams with foreign top players like Torbjörn Blomdahl, Eddy Merckx, Dani Sánchez and Jef Philipoom, have been launched in the Portuguese team championship. FC Porto is the hot favorite for the title. The tournament is played in Matosinhos, a suburb of Porto.

The two top favorites, FC Porto and FC Leca, have the maximum points after one round of playing. FC Porto trumped its opponent ALAB in the first match 8-0, FC Leca FC triumphed with the same score against Sporting CP.

The Belgian Eddy Merckx started the tournament with the best match beating Joaquim Alves 40-11 in 19 innings (2.105). Jef Philipoom, in the same team, also made a strong impression with 40-8 win in 22 innings against António Mariano.

FC Porto sparkled with Dani Sánchez and Torbjörn Blomdahl against the young Spaniards David Zapata and David Martinez. The Spanish finished off in only twenty innings (40-18 against Zapata), Blomdahl needed one inning more against Martinez (40-28).

The results in the first round:

FC Porto-ALAB 8-0

Dani Sánchez-David Zapata 40-18 (20)
Torbjörn Blomdahl-David Martinez 40-28 (21)
Rui Costa-Francisco Rodriguez 40-31 (35)
Manuel Santos Oliveira-Emanuel Luis 40-28 (35)

SL Benfica-Bilhar Clube de Porto 4-4

Fernando Tomás-Armandio Marinho 40-18 (41)
Joao Silva-Manuel Ferreira 39-40 (50)
Joaquim Torres-Arthur Figueiredo 38-34 (50)
José Antunes-Carlos Almeida 23-40 (39)

FC Leca-Sporting CP 8-0

Eddy Merckx-Joaquim Alves 40-11 (19)
Jef Philipoom-Antonio Mariano 40-8 (22)
Pedro Martins-Rui Gil 40-33 (47)
Vitor Fernandes0Ricardo Belo 31-22 (50).

Matches for the second round:
FC Porto-Sporting CP
FC Leca-BC Porto
SL Benfica-ALAB