PAIPORTA - 61-year-old Frenchman Bernard Baudoin first eliminated the titleholder Dave Christiani at the European Championship in one cushion this Saturday and is now even in the semi-finals of the title race. There, he faces another Frenchman: Xavier Leroy. The other semi-final for the European title is between Arnim Kahofer and Nikolaos Gerassimopoulos. The final day therefore shows two Frenchmen and a Greek Frenchman facing the Austrian Arnim Kahofer.
Bernard Baudoin, best known as a main sponsor of Kozoom from the early years, will be on an international podium after many years this Sunday after the Europeans in Cervera, 2011. He is one of the surprising finalists, after players like Dave Christiani, Raul Cuenca, Marek Faus, Sven Daske and Alain Remond were eliminated in the preliminary stage. Baudoin himself settled with Dave Christiani, the title holder, in a match in which the Frenchman took a comfortable lead and just stayed ahead of his Dutch rival in the final stage: 100-92 in 13 innings.
The same tension was seen in the quarter-final he played against Johann Petit, which went over 120 points. Baudoin and Petit kept each other in balance, made highest runs of 35 (Petit) and 32, but in the end Baudoin showed the strongest nerves: 120-113 in 17 innings. Arnim Kahofer, who had come out best from the preliminaries, was superior in his match against Marek Faus, the Czech that was far behind in the end: 120-41 in 11, highest run for Kahofer 37.
In the two other quarter-finals, Xavier Leroy, as the second Frenchman after Bernard Baudoin, settled with the only remaining Spaniard, Joan Torres Espinosa. Leroy shone with a run of 43 and won 120-102 in 16 innings. The French/Greek duel in the other quarter-final was between Willy Gérimont and Nikolaos Gerassimopoulos, a Frenchman who plays for Greece. The victory went to Gerassimopoulost after a match that finished on 120-120 in 17: 'Gerassimo' scored one more time than Gérimont in the barrage (4-3).
The semi-finals, on Sunday morning at 10.30:
Bernard Baudoin-Xavier Leroy
Arnim Kahofer-Nikolaos Gerassimopoulos.
Deciding and remarkable games in the 8 group qualifications were:
Sven Daske-Joan Espinosa 100-100 in 8
Xavier Leroy-Rauo Cuenca 100-97 in 16
Bernard Baudoin-Dave Christiani 100-92 in 13
Maarten Janssen-Bernard Villiers 100-95 in 17.
The final ranking in the preliminaries (top 5):
1 Arnim Kahofer 4-8.33-44
2 Bernard Baudoin 4-6.89-25
3 Xavier Leroy 4-6.66-26
4 Willy Gérimont 4-6.45-54
5 Nikolaos Gérassimopoulos 4-6.45-38
Best average: Dave Christiani 8.72 (with 1 match point) ahead of Joan Torres Espinosa, 8.69 with 3 match points.
Highest run Sven Daske: 61.
Arnim Kahofer, the best man in the qualifications, now in the semi final against Gerassimopoulos