LOS ALCÁZARES - The young Germans and Turks are the best starters for the time being at the European three cushion championship for players under 25. Tom Löwe (Germany) is the best on average after one day, followed by Seymen Özbas from Turkey. The eight players leading after two rounds with the maximum four match points are two Germans, two Turks, one Belgian, one Austrian, one French and one Italian. Two of the main contenders for the title, Gwendal Maréchal (France) and Ivan Mayor (Spain), launched the tournament with one win and one loss. Five of the frontrunners have an average over 1.000 after two rounds, as well as two runners-up, Gwendal Maréchal and Lukas Mortensen.
Turkish player Seymen Özbas started in Group A with two strong wins against Dimitrios Seleventas (30-24 in 29) and Gwendal Maréchal (30-24 in 24), therefore he has almost certainly qualified for the knock-outs with 16 players. Maréchal and Seleventas are duelling for second place and qualification. Alessio D'Agata leads in Group B with 4 match points, ahead of Nathan Duriez and Dogukan Corbaci. The battle for qualification is still wide open in this group.
Maxime Panaia was not yet the convincing winner that was expected in Group C. The Frenchman however is on the maximum score and leads ahead of Marcel Back and Daniel Peña. In his last match Panaia still plays against Peña. Tom Löwe is the comfortable leader in Groupl D with 4 points out of 2 and 1,153 on average, the best of the 32 players after one day. Lukas Mortensen started with a loss against Mario Mercader (30-22 in 24), but recovered by beating Nick Dudink (30-14 in 22), thus taking second place in the shadow of Tom Löwe and ahead of Mario Mercader on average.
Simon Blondeel is the second German to take the lead in one of the flights: Group E, where he is ahead of Ivan Mayor. The German and the Spaniard played in the second round for the lead: Blondeel won in an exciting match 30-28 in 30 innings. Dutch champion Joris van 't Zelfden, who won his match against Björn Jensen 30-29, still has a chance to qualify, but meets Blondeel in his last. Nikolaus Kogelbauer, in Group F, lives up to the high expectations with two victories: one against Belgian Nick Rosier (30-16 in 26), second against Greek Christos Falangas (30-14 in 28). Kogelbauer has almost certainly qualified, German Ali Ibraimov came up after his first loss against Falangas with a strong match against Rosier, which he won 30-13 in 19 innings (the best match in the tournament so far).
24-year old Belgian Stef van Hees makes a very strong impression in Group G, where he is leading ahead of Dutchman Tom Slikker. Van Hees made his bid for the lead by winning against Enzo Riquart (30-19 in 34). Tom Slikker had a poor start against Stef van Hees (30-10 loss in 22), but recovered by beating Portuguese Luis Pinto (30-25 in 33). Turk Muhemmed Mustafa Kilic leads Group H with the maximum score ahead of Sergio Martinez, whom he defeated 30-27 in 33. Emanuele Criscino from Italy surprised with a win against Goncalo Santos from Portugal (30-27 in 33) and keeps his chances to qualify.
Rankings
Group A after 2 rounds:
1 Seymen Özbas (Turkey) 2-4-1,132-8
2 Gwendal Maréchal (France) 2-2-1.173-5
3 Dimitrios Seleventas (Greece) 2-2-0.915-6
4 Pallucca Lenny (Luxembourg) 2-0-0.44 1-4
Group B:
1 Alessio D'Agata (Italy) 2-4-0.833-3
2 Nathan Duriez (France) 2-2-0.882-6
3 Dogukan Corbaci (Turkey) 2-2-0.716-5
4 Sebastian Heimrath (Austria) 2-0-0.571-4
Group C:
1 Maxime Panaia (France) 2-4-0.833-6
2 Marcel Back (Germany) 2-2-0.766-
3 Daniel Peña (Spain) 2-2-0.718-3
4 Daniel Kristiansen (Denmark) 2-0-0.605-7
Group D:
1 Tom Löwe (Germany) 2-4-1.176-7
2 Lukas Mortensen (Denmark) 2-2-1,130-7
3 Mario Mercader (Spain) 2-2-0.833-5
4 Nick Dudink (Netherlands) 2-0-0.540-3
Group E:
1 Simon Blondeel (Germany) 2-4-60-0.952-6
2 Ivan Mayor (Spain) 2-2-58-63-0.920-9
3 Joris van 't Zelfden (Netherlands) 2-2-49-78-0.628-4
4 Björn Jensen (Denmark) 2-0-49-78-0.628-4
Group F:
1 Nikolaus Kogelbauer (Austria) 2-4-1,111-7
2 Ali Ibraimov (Germany) 2-2-47-54-0.870-6
3 Christos Falangas (Greece) 2-2-44-63-0.698-4
4 Nick Rosier (Belgium) 2-0-23-35-0.657-4
Group G:
1 Stef van Hees (Belgium) 2-4-60-1.071-6
2 Tom Slikker (Netherlands) 2-2-0.727-4
3 Enzo Riquart (France) 2-2-49-75-0.653-4
4 Luis Pinto (Portugal) 2-0-48-74-0.648-4
Group H:
1 Muhemmed Mustafa Kilic (Turkey) 2-4-60-65-0.923-5
2 Sergio Martinez (Spain) 2-2-58-63-0.904-4
3 Emanuele Criscino (Italy) 2-2-56-0.862-4
4 Goncalo Santos (Portugal) 2-0-38-63-0.603-3
Tom Löwe from Germany, the best on average of all players after one day
Strong Turk Seymen Özbas, who was the better of Gwendal Maréchal in his group
Alessio D'Agata, the leader in a strong group with Duriez and Corbaci
Maxime Panaia, one of the French contenders for the podium
Belgian Stef van Hees, surprisingly strong starter