ANTALYA – The sorting on the first day at the European three-cushion championship showed a gap between top players and outsiders. The real sensations lacked on the day of first knock-outs, the round with 32 players. Eddy Merckx and Torbjörn Blomdahl had a walkover. The Belgian knocked out his Turkish opponent Turgay Orak 50-17 in 17, the Swede was ruthless against poor Swiss Cetin Behzat 50-6 in 22 innings. The next round with the top 16 will see Frédéric Caudron face Peter Ceulemans, and Torbjörn Blomdahl face Glenn Hofman, among others.
Reigning champion Martin Horn kicked off his tournament against Daniel Sainz-Pardo with a comfortable 50-32 victory in 27 innings. Peter Ceulemans dispatched Thomas Andersen 50-34 in 29 after the Dane had started with a commanding victory over women's champion Therese Klompenhouwer. Tayfun Tasdemir quickly could put his cue down after his victory against Lucas Egert (50-8 in 23), and Berkay Karakurt quickly shattered Tommy Eberling's illusions (50-33 in 43).
The Belgians are the top-ranked nation after this stage, with Eddy Merckx, Frédéric Caudron, Roland Forthomme, and Peter Ceulemans among the top 16. The Turks follow with three players in the tournament, followed by the Dutch, Spanish and French with two. Germany, Sweden and Greece have one player left in the battle for the finals.
Sam van Etten defeated Tolgahan Kiraz, one of the seeded players, in the final stages: 50-47 in 35. Sergio Jimenez did the same with Arnim Kahofer, the all-round player, 50-47 in 41 innings. Birol Uymaz needed the longest match to defeat Rui Costa: 50-43 in 46.
Two runs of 12 marked this round, both made by players who were eliminated: Jean van Erp and Tolgahan Kiraz. The players with an 11 were Torbjörn Blomdahl, Peter Ceulemans, Frédéric Caudron, and Tayfun Tasdemir. With a 10 run, only Eddy Merckx, who had the best average 2.941 against Orak. Young players Dimitrios Seleventas, Daniel Sainz-Pardo, and Marcos Morales couldn't survive the first round, being eliminated by Roland Forthomme, Martin Horn, and Glenn Hofman.
The top 10 of the round of 32:
1 Eddy Merckx 2-2,941-10
2 Torbjörn Blomdahl 2-2,272-11
3 Tayfun Tasdemir 2-2,173-11
4 Ruben Legazi 2-2,083-7
5 Nick Polychronopoulos 2-1,923-8
6 Martin Horn 2-1,851-9
7 Frédéric Caudron 2-1,785-11
8 Jérémy Bury 2-1,785-9
9 Peter Ceulemans 2-1,724-11
10 Roland Forthomme 2-1,724-8
The round 16 matches at 7.00 Friday, Western European time (at 16 match tables simultaneously):
Horn-Uymaz
Hofman-Blomdahl
Ceulemans-Caudron
Jimenez-Bury
Tasdemir-Van Etten
Legazpi-Forthomme
Polychronopoulos-Karakurt
Merckx-Devogelaere.
Torbjörn Blomdahl, a walk-over with 50-5