FRANCONVILLE - Despite the excellent form Jérémy Bury and Jérôme Barbeillon showed at the World team championship in Viersen last week, Jean-Christophe Roux convincingly won the fourth French national three-cushion tournament of the season. He defeated Barbeillon in the semi-finals and won the final of Francis Connesson, the conqueror of Jérémy Bury in this tournament.
The final was an exceptional high level match. The two finalists both had a good start with Roux leading 20-13 in five innings. He then ran out to 31-18 by a run of nine in the seventh inning. The French record, Bury's 40 points in nine innings, was in sight, but the match went slightly down: Roux finished after 17 innings 40-36, 2.353 for the winner, 2.118 for the loser!
In the semi-finals against Barbeillon, Roux took an early lead 20-11 in 10 and to 31-22 in 22. Still, Barbeillon returned in the match and was only three points down, but had his attack came too late: 40-37 in 32.
Francis Connesson, who defeated Bury in the semi-finals 40-33 in 33, recorded 1.531 overall average. Cédric Melnytschenko even scored 1.667 in his two matches with a highlight in the match against Vahit Can: 40-13 in 18 with a high run of fourteen.
The players of the French national team in Viersen, Bury and Barbeillon, retain their leading position in the national ranking.
The final tournament is in Andernos in the weekend of May 15, right before the World Cup in Ho Chi Minh starting on May 16