HOOGLEDE - The figurehead is back, the hall is familiar, it feels like coming home, because the Belgian Cup is played in its old, familiar location this weekend. The switch to Herstal, near Liège, lasted two years with two victories by Frédéric Caudron. Now, without the Belgian top player, 64 players will gather today, Friday, Saturday and Sunday in De Gulden Zonne in Hooglede, where Reginald Depoorter held sway for almost 30 years. The old boss is involved again in the organization this year. Reginald is back, at the age of 85, mainly behind the scenes, but he did initiate the return and did a lot of preparations.
Henri Pelgrims is directing the tournament, for the last time, as there are whispers, but anyway, it's all in good hands again. The Gulden Zonne was already quite full in the early afternoon hours, when among others Roland Forthomme booked the first victory against Wesley de Jaeger (15-12, 15-17, 1.034/0.786) and Patrick Kesteloot defeated a rather unknown opponent, Frédéric Denneulin, 15-8 in 27 and 15-7 in 11.
Frédéric Caudron's shadow hangs a bit over the Belgian Cup, the individual tournament that is an annual tradition for the Belgians. The 54-year-old professional player in the Korean PBA now, is missing from the 32-man field of match billiards for the first time these days. The favorites to win the cup now are Eddy Merckx, Peter Ceulemans, Roland Forthomme, Peter De Backer and other three-cushion guns. The Belgian Cup, which started today (Friday, May 20), is played both on the match table and on small billiards with the 32 seeded players from the country.
All matches on match billiards will be broadcast live on Kozoom.
The schedule for the first day:
Match table:
Friday 20 May:
Sixteenth finals (knock-out):
13.00:
Roland Forthomme-Wesley de Jaeger
Francky van Coillie-Maarten Janssen
Leslie Menheer-Peter Mostrey
Frédéric Denneulin-Patrick Kesteloot
15.00:
Steven van Acker-Frank de Groof
Jef Gijsels-Pascal Nichelson
Ivan Stitschinsky-Luc Salvo
Francis Bosseloirs-Christophe Wyn
Saturday 21 May:
Sixteenth finals
13.00:
Mathy Monnissen-Jef Philipoom
Danny Wuyts-Kurt Bruggheman
Ronny Brants-Andy de Bondt
Francis Forton-Ivan van der Auwera
15.00:
Eddy Merckx-Tom Persyn
Kris Stock-Paul Wallerand
Yves Schiettecatte-Peter De Backer
Peter Ceulemans-Bart van Hove.
The participants in the Belgian Cup at small billiards are:
Jean-Marie Bolle
Jean-Claude Boulanger
Alain Callaert
Bjorn Caudron
Jan Ceulemans
Freddy Clapdorp
Daniel de Baets
Luc de Weerdt
Franky de Witte
Michel Degotte
Patrick Derede
Claude Devos
Jean-Pierre Dewaelheyns
Pascal Dewolf
Patrick Engelbos
Didier Goethals
Raymond Hennico
Alex Lemaire
Gioachino Locicero
Dirk Maes
Johannes Naus
Paul Pauwels
Yannick Peeters
Danny Rodius
Alexandre Serre
Frans Sysmans
Hans van de Paer
Mireille Vandaele
Johan Vermeulen
Eddy Vinck
Michel Vinck
Sezgin Yildrim.