MILAN - Marco Zanetti has conquered his 24th Italian title in three cushion in Milan. The tournament was played simultaneously with the World championship 5 pins at the Auditorium of the Piaza di Lombardia, where the matches were broadcast live by Italian television on the final day. ,,This is a special title for me'', Zanetti said after the ceremony. ,,I am the Italian champion for the 24th time, I won the final in 24 innings and my companion Martina was born on the 24th.''
Marco Zanetti remained unbeaten in a series of seven matches and defeated Fabio Cortese in the final 40-17 in 24 innings. The highest run in the tournament was made by Zanetti: 14. His best matches he played in the knockout stage against Domenico Giacalone and Rosario Brillante: forty in fourteen innings.
In the preliminaries Zanetti triumphed against Antonio D'Aniello (30 in 18), Ugo Barresi (30 in 18) and Antonio Orru (30 in 22). Rosario Brillante was his opponent in the quarterfinals, Pippo Criscino in the semi-finals (40-18 in 22) and Fabrizio Cortese in the final.
The number two on stage, Fabrizio Cortese, lost in the preliminaries only to Pippo Criscino 30-13 in 24. He played his best match against Raffaele Di Capua in 17 innings.
With thirty ranking points for the national title, Marco Zanetti remains seventh in the world ranking.
The final results with the top eight of 32 players in total (match points, average, high series):
1 Marco Zanetti 14-1.894-14
2 Fabrizio Cortese 10-0.942-7
3 Savatore Vispo 10-0.907-9
4 Pippo Criscino 10-0.886-9
5 Emilio Sciacca 8-0.937-7
6 Antonio Oddo 8-0.828-6
7 Innocenzo Rameta 8-0.712-7
8 Rosario Brillante 7-0.560-5.
