ANTALYA – The Belgians were still four in the top 16 at the European Three-Cushion Championship in Antalya, but lost the world champion on Friday morning. The titanic battle between Frédéric Caudron and Peter Ceulemans ended in a magnificent climax. Tayfun Tasdemir was the best winner in this session with sixteen finalists (50 in 19). The Turks, the Belgians, and the Spaniards are left with two players in the top 8 in the final phase The Belgian clash between Peter Ceulemans and Frédéric turned out to be the most captivating match. World champion Caudron dominated the first, primarily tactical part of the match, taking a quick lead, 20-6 and 25-12, but was overwhelmed in the closing stages by an unleashed Ceulemans. The grandson of the great master pulled off a magnificent run of 14 in the final innings and, shortly afterwards—because Caudron had no answer—was able to finish 50-40 in 30 innings.
The other Belgian top player from the leading country in three-cushion billiards, Eddy Merckx, kept pace with Frenchman Mikaël Devogelaere for a long time. Both players shone with a run of 9, but Merckx delivered the knockout blow in the closing stages with a 50-41 win in 29. The southern match between Berkay Karakurt and Nick Polychronopoulos was launched by the Turk with a comfortable lead at 26-6 in 11. It even reached 30-11; Karakurt seemed out of sight of his opponent, but the Greek had a resurgence. Around 40, anything could still happen. After the strong start, Karakurt also had a better finish than his opponent and won 50-42 in 36 innings.
Tayfun Tasdemir, the other Turk, allowed Sam van Etten to participate in the match for a while. The attack was opened with, among other things, a 12, which set Tasdemir on his way to a comfortable victory: 50-28 in 19 innings. For the Netherlands, following the withdrawal of Dick Jaspers (personal circumstances), Glenn Hofman was also unable to uphold the honor. Torbjörn Blomdahl put the Dutch rising star under pressure, first pulling away to 22-16 and then to 28-16 with a 6, faced a few more jabs, but won smoothly 50-43 in 29/28 innings. Martin Horn had to fend off the tenacious Uymaz in the final innings and secured the win at 50-44 in 37. Sergio Jimenez found the key to victory in the long and grueling battle with Bury (50-44 in 29), and Ruben Legazpi eliminated the fourth Belgian from the tournament at 50-33 in 31/30.
For the next round featuring the top 8, at 11:00 Western European Time, the following matches are on the schedule:
Horn-Blomdahl
Ceulemans-Jimenez
Tasdemir-Legazpi
Merckx-Karakurt
Torbjörn Blomdahl knocked down the last Dutchman, Glenn Hofman