VIERSEN - The Germans continue their World Team Championship in Viersen with a magnificent 2-0 victory in the deciding match against Belgium. Martin Horn, who had a fantastic finish against Eddy Merckx with a run of 20, and Ronny Lindemann beat Eddy Merckx and Peter Ceulemans in Group D and have joined group winner Spain in the best eight teams of the Worlds for nation teams in Viersen, West Germany. The Belgians had to leave the stage unexpectedly after the 2-0 defeat against the Germans, who delivered two strong matches to close the group stage. In the late evening, the Netherlands were also knocked out of the tournament by the Colombians, who had their unbeaten player in Huberney Cataño and move up to the quarter-finals as number two following Vietnam.
Martin Horn dominated for Germany Eddy Merckx in a formidable final sprint in a match in which the Belgian led 19-12 after ten innings and Merckx even ran out to 28-15 with a run of nine (12th inning). Martin Horn was trailing 36-20 in 17 innings, when the German leading player went to the table and, cheering the German fans, finished the match with a fantastic run of 20: 40-20 in 17. Ronny Lindemann completed the German success by beating Peter Ceulemans 40-21 in 20.
The Netherlands and Colombia, through the years two prominent players on the global stage, battled for the second position in Group C to accompany group winner Vietnam to the quarter finals: Netherlands-Colombia had a long run up, in which Dick Jaspers could not shine against Pedro Gonzalez and Raimond Burgman had to chase Huberney Cataño the whole match. And because the Netherlands had to win against Colombia, it didn't look like the Dutch could pull off a stunt anymore. The elimination was a fact when Cataño played out against Burgman 40-17 in 25 innings. And the Dutch team even suffered more troubles in the last match of the evening, when Dick Jaspers, the world champion, lost against Pedro Gonzalez, number 23 on the world ranking: 40-33 in 25 innings.
The Vietnamese remained unbeaten in this group by defeating France 2-0: Quyet Chien Tran is one of the key players of the tournament so far, he beat Devogelaere 40-21 in 19. Duc Anh Chien Nguyen won the match against Panaia 40-13 in 19, so the French finished bottom without points.
The two other groups (Group A and Group B) go to the showdown tomorrow, Saturday, with the last matches. In Group A, the Koreans play against the Greeks and Japan against Jordan. And in Group B, the decisions will be made in the matches between Turkey and Egypt and between Denmark and the Czech Republic. The Japanese lead in Group A after the 1-1 draw against Korea, with Ryuuji Umeda pulling off his next trick. The former world champion defeated Haeng Jik Kim 40-38 in 28 innings. The Greeks remain a contender for the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Jordan.
The Spanish team defeated poor Peru in its last match of Group D, which played only a draw against the Belgians out of three matches. Dani Sánchez was victorious against Guido Sacco (40-23 in 25) and Ruben Legazpi remained unbeaten in three group matches against Christopher Tevez 40-26 in 25. That brings Spain in the lead of the group with 5 match points and 1.557 average.
Group A after two rounds:
1 Japan 2-3-1,311-6
2 Korea 2-3-1,274-10
3 Greece 2-2-1,032-6
4 Jordan 2-0-0.845-7
Saturday: Japan-Jordan and Korea-Greece.
Standings Group B after two rounds:
1 Turkey 2-3-1,790-12
2 Denmark 2-3-1,576-15
3 Egypt 2-2-1,222-9
4 Czech Republic 2-0-1,045-5
Saturday Turkey-Egypt and Denmark-Czech Republic
Standings Group C after 3 rounds
1 Vietnam 3-5-1,896-13
2 Colombia 3-5-1,476-7
3 Netherlands 3-2-1,380586-18
4 France 3-0-0.866-6
Group D after three rounds:
1 Spain 3-5-1,557-8
2 Germany 3-4-1,385-9
3 Belgium 3-2-1,433-9
4 Peru 3-1-1,028-7
Best matches after two and three rounds (total of 20 games)
1 Tayfun Tasdemir-Martin Bohac 40-19 in 13 (3.076)
2 Dick Jaspers-Mikael Devogelaere 40-13 in 14 (2.857)
Martin Horn v Eddy Merckx 40-36 in 17 (Horn's closing run 20)
3 Quyet Chien Tran-Dick Jaspers 40-35 in 19
Quyet Chien Tran-Mikael Devogelaere 40-21 in 19
Chang Hoon Seo-Takao Miyashita 40-19 in 19
4 Eddy Merckx-Dani Sánchez 40-32 in 20 (2,000)
5 Ronny Lindemann against Peter Ceulemans 40-21 in 20
6 Tayfun Tasdemir-Dion Nelin 40-25 in 21
7 Quyet Chien Tran-Pedro Gonzalez 40-20 in 21.
Best averages over two and three matches:
1 Tayfun Tasdemir 2.352 (2 games)
games)
2 Eddy Merckx 1.870 (three games)
3 Dick Jaspers 1.862 (three games)
4 Ruben Legazpi 1.558 (three games)
5 Dani Sanchez 1.555 (three games)
Martin Horn and Ronny Lindemann, happy after the win and qualification
Huberney Cataño, unbeaten in prerounds
Ryuuji Umeda, the former world champion is leading with Japan