04/24/2017
PORTO - The European Cup for club teams in Porto will have a strong line-up, even though a few of the world's best players are missing. The teams that feature Caudron, Jaspers and Zanetti did not survive the qualification stage, as it was played this weekend in five different European locations. The teams that qualified by right are the group winners: BC Deurne from Belgium, BK Gröndal from Denmark, CetSi Morangis from France, Buffalo.nl from the Netherlands and the Turks of Gunduz Spor. The other Danish team, BK Varde, ranked best second and advances thanks to their wonderful grand average of 1.652.
The Spaniards of Valencia missed out on the final in a miraculous way in Porcia. Dave Christiani needed one inning too much to beat Arnim Kahofer, and the resulting 7-1 brought BC Deurne on top of the podium after a thrilling fight with Green Planet Gold.
And in French Ronchin, two caroms decided over being qualified or outplayed in the match between BK Gröndal and Albert. Kurt Ceulemans was defeated by Tonny Carlsen (40-38). The Belgian had to score three times in the equalizer but missed his second by a miscue. The Danes finished as group winner ahead of French Albert.
The German group in Bottrop had an unexpected finish The superior BK Varde was defeated in the final round by the Turks of Gunduz Spor. The positions on top changed in the last session: Gunduz became group winner, BK Varde second. The Danes eventually finished best runner-up by average. The amazing 1.652 overall was more than enough for the qualification.
CetSi Morangis and Buffalo.nl were the more convincing group winners. The French, thanks to Eddy Merckx and Eddy Leppens, took the decisive victory over De Goeie Queue and won the other two matches unthreatened. Frédéric Caudron finished second with his team but did not get near the average of the best runner-up. Buffalo.nl performed a masterpiece in the last match in Athens by defeating BSK Union with the maximum 8-0. Even the Dutch encounter on centre court was won: Glenn Hofman bested Dick Jaspers 40-38 in 28 innings. Jeffrey Jorissen was the best winner in the last session: in 22 innings.
The final round is from 8 to 11 June with FC Porto and Turkish title defender Gaziantep as seeded teams. FC Porto will play with Dani Sánchez, and Torbjörn Blomdahl as the leading players. Gaziantepspor shows up with Tayfun Tasdemir, Murat Naci Coklu, Can Capak and Gökhan Salman.
Group Athens: Buffalo.nl is the best with 7 match points out of four games, followed by Barrage Club with 5 points and BSK Union also with 5 points. The best average was played by Buffalo with 1.103. FC Leca is fourth with 3 points, Lausanne last with zero points.
Group Bottrop: Gunduz Spor is the group winner with 5 match points and 18 game points, Varde BK is second with 4 points and also 18 game points. The highest average was recorded by Varde, 1.652. Bottroper BA finishes third with 1.235. Michael Nilsson and Brian Hansen lost in the last match against Gunduz vs Murat Celik and Tolgahan Kiraz in 38 and 37 innings. Best matches: Michael Nilsson's win in 10, Brian Hansen's wins in 12 and 14 innings.
Group Porcia: BC Deurne, Club Billard Valencia and Green Planet Gold end up with the same match points: four. The Belgians are the group winners by game points: Deurne 16, Valencia 15, Green Planet 14. The highest average is played by the Spaniards, 1.226. Highlights are Marco Zanetti's match against Claus Maurer (40-5 in 10) and Martin Horn against Claus Maurer (40-9 in 11). Jef Philipoom beats Martin Horn 40-35, Dave Christiani defeats Jérémy Bury 40-36.
Group Paiporta: CetSi celebrates the group win with the maximum of match points thanks to wins over De Goeie Queue, Paiporta and BC Zurich. The Belgians are defeated 6-2 with top performances for Eddy Merckx against Frédéric Caudron (14 innings) and Eddy Leppens against Jean Paul de Bruijn (13 innings). Leppens beats Sergio Jimenez in the match with Paiporta in 15 innings, Merckx is the better of Javier Palazón 40-38. Cetsi scores 1.440 on average, De Goeie Queue is second with 1.312, Paiporta third with 1.337.
Group Ronchin The final match is decisive for the group win: BK Gröndal and Albert play 4-4, with Tonny Carlsen's very important win over Kurt Ceulemans. Peter Ceulemans beats Dion Nelin 40-33 in 28, Cédric Melnytschenko loses to Brian Knudsen 40-30 despite a run of 12. BK Gröndal finishes 1.146 general. The group format for the final: Group A: Gaziantepspor BK Gröndal Buffalo.nl BC Deurne Group B: FC Porto CetSi Morangis Gunduz Spor Varde BK.
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