05/01/2017
BRANDENBURG - Both Brandenburg finalists must have thought about the historic match they played in 2013. Caudron equaled the world record high run (28) that year, but Marco Zanetti won their semifinal, and later the European title. This time, they played the final, and their match was nothing like the one, four years earlier.
Zanetti was over the moon, and why shouldn't he be? In a one-sided final (40-14 in 11 innings), he had totally outgunned Frédéric Caudron. Up to that point, both had played a strong tournament. It could even be argued, that Caudron had the tougher draw on the last day, because he had to get past Dick Jaspers. Zanetti met the coming man from Spain, David Martinez. Their wins gave the spectators what they had hoped for: a repeat of 2013.
The new European champion was even surprised about the quality level of his play in this tournament, in this late stage in his career. His brilliant play in the final, with an almost unprecedented 29-1 lead after five innings (four runs of seven at that point), brought the crowd to their feet. Caudron had been excellent in the earlier rounds, and he had decisively beaten Dick Jaspers in the semi, two hours earlier, but he had no reply to Zanetti's demonstration of scoring ability. ,,I work hard, I practice to improve'', said the glowing Italian later. ,,This European title is the one I want to share with my fans and friends. I have played my best final ever, it feels fantastic.''
The Italian celebrations following the match were touching. The champion shook so many hands and was hugged from all sides, after he had made his victory lap around the table. A little later it sank in, how special this match against Caudron had again been. ,,If you know anything about billiards, you'll remember the EC in 2013, the historic match in which Caudron equaled the world record for high run (28), but I still won the match. This final is different, because it was never an actual race. I was out of the blocks very fast, scored heavily and my opponent could not keep up.''
The intermediate scores showed that: 15-1 after 3 innings, 29-4 after 5 innings, 39-11 after 10 innings and a final score of 40-14 in 11. It was Zanetti's second highlight of the week, following his formidable match against Murat Naci Coklu where he had a 30-10 lead after 5 innings and a run of 17, the high run of the tournament.
Several pre-tournament favorites were eliminated early. Martin Horn struggled in the qualifications, Torbjörn Blomdahl lost to Javier Palazon, Sanchez was surprised by Adnan Yüksel, Eddy Merckx went out against Leppens. Dick Jaspers remains the world's number 1 on the ranking after the European championship, two points ahead of Dani Sánchez. Third on the ranking is Frédéric Caudron.
The 20-year-old Spaniard Carlos Anguita from Los Naranjos won the three-cushion championship under 21 years. In the final he defeated Frenchman Adrien Tachoire 30-18 in 23 innings. For the reigning Spanish champion, it was the most wonderful title in his still young career. Two years ago he became third at the European championship.
The final ranking at the championship three cushion:
1 Marco Zanetti2 Frédéric Caudron
3 Dick Jaspers
4 David Martinez
5 Javier Palazón
6 Eddy Leppens
7 Adnan Yüksel
8 Nikos Polychronopoulos
9 Torbjörn Blomdahl
10 Christian Rudolph
11 Dani Sánchez
12 Eddy Merckx
13 Tonny Carlsen
14 Murat Naci Coklu
15 Jérémy Bury
16 Raimond Burgman.
The ranking in three cushion under 21: 1 Carlos Anguita (Spain) 1,153 2 Adrien Tachoire (France) 1,068 3 Tobias Bouerdick (Germany) 0.825 4 Mario Mercader (Spain) 0.675 5 Arda Güngör (Turkey) 0.875 6 Jean Haby (France) 0.769 7 Joey de Kok (Netherlands) 0.692 8 Tom Löwe (Germany) 0.558. The European title three cushion for club teams went to BC Oissel from France. The second place was for BC Horna from the Netherlands, third was BC De Coeck from Belgium. The Belgian Bryan Eelen grabbed the title in the free game under 17 years. In the final, he defeated Dutchman Leon Dudink 200-49 in 5. The top four: 1 Bryan Eelen (Belgium) 33.33 2 Leon Dudink (The Netherlands) 19.15 3 Enzo Riquart (France) 27.71 4 Yohann Alderbonn (France) 19.75.
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