ANDERNOS - The cue with the black shaft of Eddy Merckx will be exchanged for a brand new white speed bike for the next few weeks. The generous Belgian winner of the Kozoom session faced two opponents without any chance: Dutchman Dave Christiani and Frenchman Maxime Panaia. The undisputed natural talent of the blue billiard cloths will be seen daily on his eight-day holiday in the green surroundings of de Vossemeren, a holiday park near Lommel. ''I am going to run in my new bike, a wonderful Riese Müller, a famous brand in cycling. The one for Brenda, my wife, is still to come, so we can make trips together.''
When the weather is good, he assures us, the Merckx couple dares to make trips of 70/75 kilometres. The billiard cue will not be touched during these eight days. ''I am not sure, but I think the group with Marco Zanetti will be played at Kozoom that week, so I certainly will have a look.'' Two weeks later, Merckx leaves for Korea, just before that, he expects his Corona vaccination. ''We had a few COVID cases in our area, but we have been very careful.'' The two weeks of solitary confinement in his hotel room, the quarantine for the tournaments, he let it pass. ''I'm just adjusting to it, no matter how tough it will be. It's gonna be two weeks of watching Netflix, films and sports. I bought a super-sized iPad, so I can watch things on Belgian tv.''
Three players have qualified now for the Kozoom final rounds in September. Ruben Legazpi was the first, then Dick Jaspers and now Merckx joined the club. The Belgian's resistance was the most disappointing of all three sessions so far. Dave Christiani was no shadow of the player he can be when he can show his best form. ''I played badly, missed lots of makeable, open balls'', Christiani confessed. When the margin had grown to an unbridgeable gap, the motivation was gone.
Maxime Panaia, just under 1 average like Christiani, drew the positive conclusions from his Kozoom performance. The twenty-year-old Frenchman missed the finishing touch to win a few more sets. Eddy Merckx said afterwards: ''I have been thinking and comparing: when I was twenty, I also played 1on average.'' In other words: the development of the Frenchman is still in full swing.
The tension was gone on this third matchday. The Kozoom chatters in all languages were having a great time with Torbjörn Blomdahl as commentator, answering all kinds of questions. Two of his most striking statements to the many questions in a short summary:
''I would like to see what the level would be like if the diamonds were removed from the billiards.''
''The most ridiculous rule in billiards today is to give two points for a Bankshot, like the PBA.''
The Swede received many compliments on the chat at the end of the session for the way he analysed and answered the questions of the viewers with his huge knowledge.
The daily scores of the third session:
Day 1:
Merckx 5, Christiani 2, Panaia 1 (Merckx 1,610 on average)
After day 2:
Merckx 12, Christiani 3, Panaia 1 (Merckx 1,744)
After day 3:
Merckx 19, Christiani 4, Panaia 1 (Merckx 2,147)
The final ranking:
1 Merckx 19-1,813-10
2 Christiani 4-0,990-8
3 Panaia 1-0,927-6.
The next group starts on Tuesday 11th of May and finishes Thursday 13th of May. The players are Jérémy Bury, Jakob Haack Sörensen and Peter De Backer. The commentator is Torbjörn Blomdahl.