ANDERNOS - How terrible for my nerves, Michael Nilsson sighed at the end of the exciting last sets. The climax in Group B in the Kozoom Challenge preliminaries, on Thursday at Kozoom's studio in Andernos, brought the Swede to the top of the ranking, one stein more than Rui Costa, the Portuguese warrior who had competed for the top spot for three days. Dion Nelin, not really in his best form, was the final decider with two sets won towards the finish, allowing Michael Nilsson to qualify as the group winner with 7 sets won ahead of Rui Costa 6. The world champion Dick Jaspers had qualified much earlier in Group A, where he met Therese Klompenhouwer and Alessio D'Agata as opponents (14, 3 and 1 won sets).
Dick Jaspers and Michael Nilsson are the first finalists for the Kozoom Challenge. The Swede was happy for that victory afterwards, because he had to fight for it from start to finish with Rui Costa and in the latter part Dion Nelin. The Portuguese succumbed to the tension in hindsight when he only managed to win the first of the last six sets and twice failed at 10-9 against Nilsson and 10-0 against Nelin. As the result, his lead disappeared like snow in the sun.
Michael Nilsson was not at his best as well in the end, but was saved by Dion Nelin, the player who was almost hopeless for the group win, but in the last sets won twice with 10 in 5 and 10 in 3 innings. Therefore, his Scandinavian colleague ended up on top with 7 to 6 set wins.
''I have been nervous in all 18 sets, it was crazy'', Michael Nilsson confessed later. ''You can't do anything to control the match with three at the billiard. I felt pressure in every inning to make a point and I was lucky with Dion's help in the end. Suddenly, when he was down, he played fantastic.''
Michael Nilsson won two on the third day (10 in 3, 10 in 6), Rui Costa could not score after the first day win (10 in 6) and missed two more set balls. Dion Nelin was the best man on the decisive day with three set wins after two poor days. It was not enough to make up the margin on his two rivals.
Dick Jaspers continued on the third day where he had started these preliminaries. The Dutchman ended up with 14 set wins out of 18, Therese Klompenhouwer won three sets, Alessio D'Agata won one when he was three sets from the end: with a 10 in six innings.
For Jaspers, the final average was 2,695, a great performance with two sets in one innings. He won sets 1, 2, 4 and 5 on the last day, Therese grabbed the last set with 10 in 5. It was already predicted that there would be little tension for the top spot in this Group A, in the end the difference in average was considerable: 2,695 for Jaspers, 1,370 for Therese, who had a small relapse on the last day.
The rankings in the two groups:
Group A:
1 Dick Jaspers 14-159-59-2.695-10
2 Therese Klompenhouwer 3-74-54-1.370-8
3 Alessio D'Agata 1-54-54-1.000-5
Group B:
1 Michael Nilsson 7-119-74-1.625-8
2 Rui Costa 6-119-74-1.608-8
3 Dion Nelin 5-109-74-1.473-8
The podium in Group B with Michael Nilsson (r), Rui Costa and Dion Nelin
Dick Jaspers (right) the comfortable winner ahead of Therese Klompenhouwer and Alessio D'Agata