WEYWIESEN - He became champion in the bundesliga with his team on Sunday, tomorrow (Wednesday) Torbjörn Blomdahl has to go to hospital for surgery on an inguinal hernia. The Swede won the important final match with Weywiesen against BC International 8-0. The team (Torbjörn Blomdahl, Roland Forthomme, Thorsten Frings, Christian Rudolph) became champion of Germany for the second consecutive time ahead of BC Elversberg and BC International from Berlin. It is not yet certain whether BC Weywiesen's champion team will play in the same composition next season.
''We had to play 4-4 against Berlin on Sunday to take the title,'' said Blomdahl. ,,Thorsten and Christian had already taken care of that before the break.'' The two team players won over Cengiz Karaca and Norbert Roestel by 40 in 34 and 35 innings. Torbjörn Blomdahl then triumphed against Martin Horn when the title could already be celebrated (50-39 in 26) and Roland Forthomme beat Nikos Polychronopoulos (50-36 in 32).
Torbjörn Blomdahl is due to undergo surgery for an inguinal hernia at a hospital in Stuttgart tomorrow (Wednesday). That operation had already been planned in April during the European Championships in Antalya, but a strike at the hospital prevented it from taking place. ''The hernia didn't hurt me, but it has to be done,'' Blomdahl says, who does not see his World Cup participation in Ho Chi Minh (25-28 May) in jeopardy. ''I will normally recover in time.''
The champion team finished with 29 points out of 14 matches, four points ahead of BC Elversberg and five ahead of BC International. Fourth and fifth in the rankings were BCC Witten with 20 and BC Elfenbein with 19 points.
This Saturday, BC Weywiesen and BC International lost their second last match, keeping the tension in the title race. Weywiesen lost to Magdeburg 5-3, BC International to BCC Witten 5-3. In that match, Blomdahl won against Dion Nelin 50-27 in 29, Roland Forthomme lost to Radek Novak 50-30 in 27. For BC International, beaten for its last chance matchy, Martin Horn won against Jacob Haack Sörensen 50-35 in 33, Nikos Polychronopoulos lost to the returning Ronny Lindemann 50-31 in 29. BC Elversberg, the other rival, played a draw against Elfenbein on Saturday and won against BC Nied 6-2 on Sunday.
The team from Sankt Wendl won its last two matches with Dick Jaspers. The Dutch number one triumphed against Sameh Sidhom 50-39 in 25 on Saturday and Martin Spoormans on Sunday. The Belgian led throughout the first half (25-11) after Jaspers registered 13 zeros in 18 innings in the starting phase, but came back strongly in the closing stages to win 50-42 in 40.
The final ranking in the Bundesliga:
- Billard Center Weywiesen 14-29
- BC Elversberg 14-25
- BC International 14-24
- BCC Witten 14-20
- BC Elfenbein Hontrop 14-19
- BC Nied 14-13
- Sankt Wendel 14-12
- BC Magdeburg 14-11
Torbjörn Blomdahl, the title on Sunday, an operation three days later