PORTO - The decisive part in the European Cup for three cushion teams starts today, Saturday, in the FC Porto arena with four matches between the best teams in Europe. The five group winners, of which the Turks of Tekstil Bilardo Spor Kulubu were the best by far (1,679 on average, high run 17) and two best numbers two have qualified. The home team FC Porto now enters the tournament for the first time and faces the French team Andernos. Tekstil from Turkey is opponent of SIS Schoonmaak.
The matches start with the knockouts from 10.00 am (11.00 am West European time) and will be broadcasted live on Kozoom.
The qualifications ended this Friday night with a lot of tension for the second places, for which eventually SIS Schoonmaak and Andernos qualified with the best averages ahead of among other teams Varde (with Jean Paul de Bruijn) and Kortrijk (with Ronny Brants).
The French team Saint Quentin took the group win ahead ahead of Weywiesen and Op de Meir with a great performance by the two Belgians in the last group matches against two Belgian opponents. Peter Ceulemans defeated Peter De Backer 40-18 in 12, Johan Loncelle won against Ivan Stitschinsky 40-16 in 15 innings.
In one of the deciding games, St. Quentin also beat Biglia 8-0 (Loncelle wins in 21), Mostoles won against Andernos 5-3 (Forthomme-Legazpi 40-27 in 26, Maréchal-Mas 37-40 in 25).
The five group winners were Tekstil, Grøndal, Paiporta, Saint Quentin and Mostoles.
The matches for the best 8 in the knock-out, today, Saturday:
10.00 (11.00 West):
Paiporta-St Quentin
Jimenez-Ceulemans
Yeste-Loncelle
Unguetti-Pérotin
Ortiz-Duriez
Grøndal-Mostoles
Nelin-Ruben Legazpi
Haack-Sörensen-Mas
Dunch-Adrian Legazpi
Lohse-Alfonso Legazpi
11.45 (West Europe 12.45)
Tekstil-SIS Cleaning
Tasdemir-Merckx
Coklu-Van Erp
Cenet-Burgman
Salman-Swertz
FC Porto-Andernos
Jaspers-Forthomme
Sánchez-Maréchal
Rui Costa-Barbeillon
Ferreira-Connesson
The top ten after the pre rounds with match points, averages and runs
1 BC Saint Quentin 8-1.123-12
2 CB Paiporta 7-1.211-12
3 Tekstil Bilardo Spor Kulubu 6-1,679-17
4 BK Grøndal 6-1,411-10
5 CB Mostoles 6-1,173-11
6 Varde BK 7-1,092-9
7 Weywiesen 5-0,954-10
8 BC Andernos 4-1,241-10
9 SIS Schoonmaak 4-1,241-15
10 Kortrijkse 4-0,927-10
12 Op de Meir 3-0,767-9