VIERSEN - On the second day of the World team championship in Viersen, four of eight teams have already advanced for the final rounds. The Belgians Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Merckx outplayed nine-time world champion Sweden in their group. The Netherlands finished on top in Group B ahead of Korea and Vietnam, Denmark defeated France and Turkey survived its group stage after a poor tournament start.
Torbjörn Blomdahl, captain of the illustrious, gold- crowned Swedish team with Michael Nilsson, had to leave the tournament after two brilliant matches in the group with the world champions Merckx and Caudron and Austria.
Two wins, over Arnim Kahofer and Eddy Merckx, yielded Blomdahl averages of 2.500 and 2.857 (overall 2.666 ), however he missed the qualification because the two Belgians made a gorgeous start against Austria with a new world record team average. And thanks to Frédéric Caudron, who beat Michael Nilsson 40-23 in 19 after Blomdahl's win against Merckx (40-23 in 14), the Belgians finished number one in the group.
The best players over two days showed up in that group:
Eddy Merckx 2.739
Torbjörn Blomdahl 2.666
Frédéric Caudron 2.500.
The Dutch team needed a big fight to survive in their match with Korea. The orange beat Vietnam in the early afternoon and now needed at least a draw. Barry van Beers, who played an excellent match against the Vietnamese team, now lost against world top player Kyung-Roul Kim.
Therefor Dick Jaspers, the triple world champion, was put under pressure. He cleared the job against Choong Bok Lee when a handfull misses bunched together in the last innings: 40-32 in 30 innings.
Denmark won the group with France as a strong contender, with excellent Tonni Carlsen, who ruled supreme and beat Jérémy Bury 40-34 and even played 3.076 in his first match against Finland. The French were outclassed by Denmark, as Pierre Soumagne also lost, against Michael Lohse (40-29).
The Turks started with a hopeless defeat against Japan in the early hours of the second day. Japan was beaten by America 2-0, but Mazin Shooni and Hugo Patino could not continue on that level against Turkey, that won 2-0 and went on to the final round on average.
Tomorrow (Saturday) starts the day with the battle for the remaining four places.
In Goup A, the Belgian A team with Roland Forthomme and Eddy Leppens struggles with Italy for the group win.
In Group B, the Czech Republic has finished with two points out of two matches after they tied against Germany A, in which match Martin Bohac's win over Martin Horn (40-39 in 39) was a huge surprise. Steffan Galla won the other match, which means Germany and Egypt both play the decisive match.
In Group C, Korea A with Jae Ho Cho (40 in 21 innings against Venezuela) and Jung Han Heo are the favorite in the final match vs Switzerland.
Spain and Germany B both won 2-0 against Portugal in Group D. They battle for the group win.