LIER - The player in form suddenly showed to be vulnerable, the opponent, still far from his best form, struck ruthlessly. Davy van Havere came to the Super Cup as an outsider and eliminated one of the big favorites in the first knock-outs on Friday evening in the Mister 100. How capricious, unpredictable billiards can be on the best level, was demonstrated by Davy van Havere and Roland Forthomme. The Belgian standout of the preliminary rounds, showing Roland Forthomme with a 40 points match in only 7 innings, paled in comparison to the power game Davy van Havere delivered, including with a run of 14 and with a generous victory over Forthomme: 50-25 in 22 innings: over two average for the outsider, just one average for the outspoken favorite. The spectators in the Mister 100 were perplexed, the connoisseurs in the room watched in a growing amazement at what unfolded in that match.
It was not the only match with a surprising result. Peter Ceulemans lost the match against the always dangerous Jef Philipoom 50-46 in 28 innings and thus also flew out of the Super cup. The same for his uncle Kurt, somewhat less surprising because it was against Eddy Merckx (50-24 in 37). And finally, Steven van Acker won remarkably easily against Andy de Bondt: 50-16 in 25.
The two players with the best averages in the preliminaries, Roland Forthomme with 2.222, Andy de Bondt with 1.549, left the tournament after the first knock-outs were handed out. Therefore remained for the semi-finals, today, Saturday, at 2pm, Eddy Merckx and Davy van Havere, playing each other, and Jef Philipoom and Steven van Acker, the other semi-finalists. The final between the winners is later this afternoon at 4pm.
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On Thursday, the juniors, in a group of four by invitation, also played their final matches. Luca Philipoom was outstanding in the last two games, showing his growing class and eventually finishing with an almost 1 average. For his last two matches over 30 caroms, the young Philipoom (15) needed 25 innings against Nino Coeckelbergs and 30 innings against Nick Rosierr (30-13 and 30-16). Truly a performance that counts for the young player, who will exchange his Belgian passport for a Dutch one from 1 September. That is possible because his mother has Dutch nationality. Luca Philipoom is convinced that Dutch trainings are much better than the Belgian school. He will be taught in the Netherlands by the federation by Jean Paul de Bruijn and Christ van der Smissen.
Quarter-finals seniors:
Davy van Havere-Roland Forthomme 50-25 in 22
Steven van Acker-Andy de Bondt 50-16 in 25
Jef Philipoom-Peter Ceulemans 50-46 in 28
Eddy Merckx-Kurt Ceulemans 50-24 in 37.
The final score in the junior tournament:
- Luca Philipoom 6-0.918-5
- Nino Coekelbergs 4-0.708-4
- Nick Rosier 2-0.688-6
- Tim van Hoeck 0-0.441-4
Young Luca Philipoom (15) with a big smile from the maestro himself in Mister 100