BRANDENBURG - The first clash in the European knockout stage three cushion is a battle between the defending European champion Torbjörn Blomdahl and the ladies champion two years ago, Therese Klompenhouwer. That match is the opener of the second tournament day at the European championship all disciplines in Brandenburg, Germany. For the first knock-out round, sixteen players were seeded. Sixteen other players qualified on the first day in the schedule with sixteen groups.
Barry van Beers was the best player on average in the qualifications with 2.000 over two games. Javier Palazón finished second with 1.818 ahead of Thomas Andersen with 1.621.
The group winners were Semih Sayginer, Jean van Erp, David Penör, David Martinez, Therese Klompenhouwer, Steven van Acker, Sergio Jimenez, Javier Palazón, Barry van Beers, Dustin Jäschke, Tonny Carlsen, Kostas Kokkoris, Dionisis Tsokantas, Christakis Christoforou, Thomas Andersen and Radek Novak.
Most remarkable winners:
X Semih Sayginer with a strong final rush against Jean-Christophe Roux: 30-28 in 25.
X David Martinez who beat Arnim Kahofer in the decider 30-28 in 19 overs.
X Therese Klompenhouwer after a draw against Georgio Mancini and a tight win over Cetin Behzat (30-29).
X Steven van Acker with a win over Turkish top player Can Capak.
X Javier Palazón in a strong performance against Murat Celik.
X Barry van Beers, played a draw in his first game against Herbert Szivacz (ran out with 10, Szivacs 6 in the equalizer) and then bested Nikos Tremoulis (30-8 in 13).
X Dustin Jäschke was the better over Peter Ceulemans to the line after the Belgian missed his very makeable match ball.
X Tonny Carlsen outplayed the German Martin Horn in 14 innings 40-23.
X Kostas Kokkoris with a thrilling victory over Dave Christiani. The Dutchman needed 4 points in the equalizer but missed his last.
X Thomas Andersen in a great match against Norwegian Riiber, 30-2 in 11, the best of the day.
The matches in the knockout in three cushion, today with 32 players):
9.00 am:
Blomdahl-Klompenhouwer
Barbeillon-Palazón
Zanetti-Van Acker
Coklu-Tsokantas
Forthomme-Martinez
Tasdemir-Carlsen
Yüksel-Sayginer
Sánchez-Van Beers
11.30 am:
Caudron-Penor
Bury-Novak
Leppens-Van Erp
Merckx-Jimenez
Polychronopoulos-Kokkoris
Rudolph-Christoforou
Burgman-Andersen
Jaspers-Jäschke