PALMA/MADRID - This weekend's billiard marathon in the top division of Spanish team competition, with three full days of matches, kept the Palma team on top of the rankings ahead of Castalla and Móstoles. The young Castalla team from Alicante follows in the wake of Palma after its stunning 8-0 win against Móstoles, one of the favorites for the title. Three teams only, Palma, Castalla and Madrid Nacional, gained the maximum nine points from the weekend. The best player was Daniel Sánchez, the only one to record three wins, with an excellent average of 2,105 over three appearances. The Spanish champion defeated, among others, two prominent PBA players: the PBA champion David Zapata 40-24 in 18 and Javier Palazon 40-23 in 16 innings.
The weekend was divided into three rounds of play: the seventh, eighth and ninth round.
The seventh day went smoothly, the favorites for the title won and in the middle order Madrid Nacional started their race by beating Cartagena with Mikael Devogelaere and Robinson Morales in good form with games in 16 and 17 innings. David Martinez was also among the standouts with 40 in 22 innings.
Palma and Mostoles got the maximum score in the eighth round: 8-0. Castalla beat Granollers 6-2, with David Martinez the only loser against Juan Carlos Pareras. Madrid already climbed to fourth place with its second win, this time facing Paiporta (1-7). Faraco and Robinson shared the win, but Devogelaere, Valen junior and Escribano beat the former Spanish champions.
Dani Sánchez was again among the best again with 2,222 on average.
With the ninth round, the competition was halfway. Móstoles (2nd) and Castalla (3rd) want to try and oust Palma from the lead. But the islanders will not be intimidated by Valencia (2-6) and retain the leading position. Dani Sánchez, better every day, played a top match against Palazón in 16 innings (2,500).
The clash of the day and of the weekend was the match between Castalla and Móstoles, Palma's pursuers and contenders for the title. The surprisingly generous win was for Castalla with good victories for David Martínez against Rubén Legazpi (40-35 in 22), Jorge Cantó against Adrián Legazpi in 24 innings, Jesús Rico against Alfonso Legazpi in 35 and finally Andrés Carrión against Rubén Fernández in 28 innings. The Madrid team is now in third place, three points behind Castalla and four behind Palma.
