GRANADA - Dani Sánchez's palmares in the Spanish three-cushion championship is almost endless. The 47-year-old Spanish UMB professional, number three in the world rankings following Dick Jaspers and Marco Zanetti, crowned himself for the 21st time with the title in his country after a sovereign final against Ruben Legazpi, his teammate at the World Championship in Viersen and the European Championship in Ankara. Sánchez won 40-11 in 19 innings.
In Grand Hotel Luna in Granada, the Catalan maestro narrowly survived a tough semi-final against veteran Alfonso Legazpi (40-38 in 32 innings) to face Alfonso's son Ruben in the final. Ruben Legazpi shone in the semi-finals against Robinson Morales, the Colombian Spaniard, who was out of chance in that fight with the youngest of the Legazpi's: 40-11 in 19. The battle for the Spanish gold was the other way around. Dani Sánchez had a super start with 13-0, ran out with a run of 11 and was not for a moment threatened by his much taller opponent with whom he defends the European title in Ankara in two weeks. The finish was reached in a final run of 8, when Sánchez decided the fight: 40-11.
With this Spanish title, Sánchez immediately confirms the form he showed last year, including recent victories in the World Cup in Veghel (final against Jung Han Heo) and the Lausanne Masters (final against Tayfun Tasdemir). As a result, the Spaniard climbed up to the top three of the world rankings. Dani: ''I have recovered from a tough month of January, in which I got COVID on 1st of January. I had five days of fever and headache and was tested negative only on 10th of January. Then, my wife and daughter were infected, so I didn't have a very good preparation.''
The Spanish champion, who has not been in South Korea since the middle of last year and takes care of his business there from a distance, is now looking forward to the upcoming events. His main goals for now are the European Country Team Championships and the World Cup in Ankara. ''I feel good, although I did not show my best games in this Spanish championship. Only in the final, things went well, after Ruben (Legazpi) stayed behind due to a miss from the break and had a bad start. I made an 11 in the 4th inning and 8 to finish.'' The Spanish championship was played with mouth masks because of the many Corona infections in Spain.
The championship, in which the PBA players do not participate, is where Sánchez usually shines. He won his 20th title last year in the final against Antonio Montes, this year he faced Ruben Legazpi, who played a strong tournament, but could not fight back in the final after a poor start.
The tournament was also marked by the debut of Robinson Morales. The Colombian, who lives in Alicante, made it to the best four, but lost in the semi-finals to Ruben Legazpi. Dani Sánchez started in the knock-out phase with a win over José Ortiz (40-32 in 24), beat Enrique Penalva in the eighth finals 40-33 in 23, his Palma teammate Carlos Crespo in the quarterfinals 40-21 in 23 and sprinted in the semi-finals just in time past Alfonso Legazpi, who can certainly be called the revelation of the championship.
Alfonso's son Ruben, this year's winner of the Kozoom Challenge against Eddy Merckx, reached the final by defeating Javier Diaz (40-28 in 25), José Gomez (40-15 in 25), Raul Cuenca (40-27 in 26) and Robinson Morales (40-11 in 19).
The four final players Robinson Morales, Ruben Legazpi, Dani Sánchez and Alfonso Legazpi