VIERSEN - The Turkish team with stars Murat Naci Coklu and Lütfi Cenet has won the world three cushion for national teams title. It happened in the arena of the Festhalle, in front of 250 spectators. The victory went to Turkey one of the best billiard countries in the world. Turkey was superior in the final match against the Netherlands winning 40-22 in 17 innings. The two winners were overwhelmed by emotions during the ceremony at the podium. ''It is such a great honour to play for our country and for the flag. We will be received as champions in Turkey.''
The four nation teams on the podium, Turkey, the Netherlands, Belgium and South Korea, are the countries that lead the ranking of the last five years at this championship. In the run-up to the final, the Turkish team was the better of the reigning champion South Korea in an exciting fight. The Dutch defeated the Belgians in the fascinating clash between the two countries. The World title went to Turkey for the fifth time in history. Murat Naci Coklu and Lütfi Cenet played in this line-up for the first time.
The final was a one-way match, controlled by the Turks from the first innings. The later winners took a big lead with runs of 6, in the middle parts with 5 and 8 and finally in the last part with 6. Murat Naci Coklu: "We just came from the great fight with Korea in a match that could go two ways at the end. Lütfi Cenet, "The game with the Netherlands missed that tension because we ran away very far and could finish it off without pressure.'' Dick Jaspers, ''We had to put up hard fights through the tournament, unfortunately, didn't work out in the final.'' Raymond Burgman, "Anyway, we can still look back on a great performance, and be proud of this World's silver.''
The match in the first semi-final, a classic between the Netherlands and Belgium, turned into a dream scenario for the Dutch. Dick Jaspers and Raimond Burgman realized a little miracle with the Orange team in the Derby of the Low Lands. The Dutch reached the final by winning 40-37 in 26 after the come-back from being down 17-0 in eight innings. The survival race after the stop gave the match an unexpected winner.
Dick Jaspers later commented on the start of the match, "We had to be at the table at ten, that's not a usual time for billiards. We faced a cold start with difficult positions and the Belgians played very strong in the first part." Raimond Burgman, "then you look at the score and we are 17-0 behind. That's a tough mission, but we know that we have been a strong team for 30 years when we have to play together. And we are both huge fighters.''
The Dutch, after trailing 17-0, came back to 20-12, came close at 23-20 and took the lead for the first time with a run of 12 making the score 36-33. The match went into an exciting final at 37-37. The Netherlands showed nerves of steel in the last innings. The Orange team finished 40-37 and reached the final again after three wins at this World championship: twice with Jaspers/Burgman, once with Jaspers/Jean van Erp.
The Turks won the thriller in the other semi-final against South Korea in a nerve-racking finish. The match went up and down until the final stage: Turkey led 13-10 after a run of 7, the Koreans took it over and led 28-20 after ten innings. The thrilling end of the match started at 38-38, continued at 39-39. Then, the Turks made the final 1 in the 20th: 40-39. Jae-Ho Cho went to the break to equalize, but played "too short" and missed.
The Koreans went down under the pressure, being so close to another title. In the last two World championships the golden medal went to the Asian powerhouse: first in 2017 with Sung-Won Choi and Jae-Guen Kim and last year with Sung-Won Choi and Dong-Koong Kang.
The World championship for nations, for the last time with the Scotch Double system, had a few highlights: among others the match between Colombia and Turkey in the pre-rounds (40-38 in 16) and later in the knock-outs the Netherlands-Belgium and the exciting finish in the match between Turkey and Korea (40-39). The atmospheric room in the Festhalle was moderately filled on the first days and missed the fans of the Germans. The home team could not make it on its way to the knockouts. On the final day the room was filled with around 250 spectators.
