The gallery in the posh dining room of the Agipi center in Schiltigheim can be enriched with a picture of the champion again. The Agipi team won the seventh European Cup today (Sunday, June 12) and showed that the team is able to counter on four positions with Frédéric Caudron, Marco Zanetti, Jérémy Bury and Jean Christoph Roux all attacks on his entrenched position.
Agipi is again the best of Europe after winning the final against Caseta Nova, the top team from Alicante. The Spanish fury seldom swept through the arena of the champion, only with a strong start of Tayfun Tasdemir against Caudron and Murat Naci Coklu in his first set against Zanetti. The supprematie was hardly affected, because Marco Zanetti answered against Coklu after that lost set with great wins in the two next sets (15-3, 15-4).
The cup, which was shining for four hours already on the speaking table of Jean Jacques Gangloff, could go from hand to hand within the team that gradually becomes accustomed to the ceremony at home, but still the joy that gives such a championship a special glow was to be seen in the arena.
The Agipi boss Claude Fath again enjoyed the victory, Frédéric Caudron showed the proud of the leader, Marco Zanetti, in the semifinals and finals the big man of the team, shone like it was his first great triumph and Jérémy Bury and Jean Christoph Roux enjoyed the applause of the audience with a delightful sense.
Agipi and the European Cup are gradually joined together as Roland Garros and Rafael Nadal are. It happened before in a period of fifteen years whith BC Barcelona, which team won the cup in 1966, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1979, 1980 and 1981. The Spaniards did it with players like Claudio Nadal, Bartolome Bonhora, Jaime Carreras, Guillermo Justo, Xavier Minguell and Francisco Monte.
The secret behind the success of Agipi is of course the corporate class, but also the fighting spirit and willingness to let the team shin in his full glory. The best example was seen in the semifinal against Clichy Montmartre. Agipi had a difficult period in the match at a 2-2 score. Frédéric Caudron was balanced by Eddy Merckx, Marco Zanetti looked at a 1-0 disadvantage against Michael Nilsson. The Italian maestro saw the danger, squared his shoulders and suddenly rose to great heights with a set in one inning and a run of twelve in the final set.
Agipi radiates not only world-class, it is a fighting machine, as the team showed on the final day again. Frédéric Caudron got the most difficult positions in his matrches against Tayfun Tasdemir and lost in two sets 15-10 and 15-9, but Marco Zanetti again stood up as the phenomenon that sometimes is even more a team player than an individual player.
The champion of Europe can put the trophy for another year in his own gallery. Caseta Nova grabbed the silver medal, FC Porto got the bronze. The championship will be organized by Agipi next year again.