BLANKENBERGE - Not again...is what Eddy Leppens must have thought when he was out of the blocks so well, and had built up a good lead against Eddy Merckx in the Belgian 3-cushion final. Please, let the reigning champion not perform another miracle, like he did in his match against Kurt Ceulemans, trailing 32-22 and then running out with eighteen.
In this final between Eddy L. and Eddy M. it was 13-1 after seven innings, 19-1 even, an inning later, 32-16 shortly after the break.
And no, there was not another miracle. For the first time in his career, Eddy Leppens became Belgian 3-cushion champion, having lost the final on six previous occasions. It was a well-deserved victory, because Merckx could not recover from a poor start, against an opponent who totally focused to win that all-important national title.
,,It has to happen at some point, I simply can't keep losing'', said Leppens on the evening before the final. He thought about the last year, when his play was so strong and he even ran a 25 in the group stage. ,,But then there was that final, and Merckx was unstoppable', he remembered. The little guy, currently nr. 1 in the world, won that final in only ten innings (4.000 average).
Today, Sunday 11 January 2015, Eddy Leppens got his revenge, and redemption from all those lost finals. He beat Merckx 40-21 in 16 innings, fell into his wife Andrea's arms was applauded by the spectators in Blankenberge as the new champion.
Eddy Merckx now must take a small step back on the ranking: he is now in 2nd place behind the current Korean world champion Sung-Won Choi.
The top-10 of the Belgian championship, with averages:
1 Eddy Leppens 1.830
2 Eddy Merckx 1.905
3 Jef Philipoom 1.364
4 Peter Ceulemans 1.488
5 Frédéric Caudron 1.876
6 Peter De Backer 1.436
7 Roland Forthomme 1.321
8 Steven van Acker 1.290
9 Davy van Havere 1.176
10 Frédéric Mottet 1.408.
