ANKARA - The European three cushion championships in Ankara will continue after the nations tournament today, Thursday, with the invidual championship. Torbjörn Blomdahl is the title holder. The tournament starts with the qualifications, for which 16 groups of three players have been invited. They will play for 16 places in the main event with 32. Sixteen players are seeded and don’t need to play qualifiers.
The main draw will start on Friday with the sixteen seeded players according to the European ranking:
Torbjorn Blomdahl (title holder)
Martin Horn
Dick Jaspers
Nikos Polychronopoulos
Marco Zanetti
Peter Ceulemans
Tayfun Tasdemir
Jérémy Bury
Eddy Merckx
Ruben Legazpi
Jean Paul De Bruijn
Berkay Karakurt
Roland Forthomme
Jeffrey Jorissen
Glenn Hofman
Rui Manuel Costa
The European individual championship shows one lady in the qualifiers for the first time. Karina Jetten from the Netherlands received a wildcard from the CEB. Therese Klompenhouwer was also offered a wildcard, but she cancelled. Three juniors with a wildcard for the qualifiers are Amir Ibgraimov, Seymen Ozbas and Denizcan Akkoca.
The 48 players in the qualifying groups opening the tournament on Thursday from 10am (9am in Western Europe):
Group A: Tolgahan Kiraz, Karl Makik, Thomas Broux
Group B: Radek Novak, Jarno Ahola, Carlos Crespo
Group C: Jose Miguel Soares, Sergio Jimenez, Erkan Akti
Group D: Cetin Behzat, Manfred Müller, Burhan Genec
Group E: Kostas Kokkoris, Nalle Ollson, Timo Hjort
Group F: Mikaël Devogelaere, Allan Schröder, Denizcan Akkoca
Group G: David Pennör, Cédric Melnytschenko, Karina Jetten
Group H: Ruben Fernandez, Kenan Canturk, Ratcha Alievski
Group I: Brian Knudsen, Jean van Erp, Alessio D'Agata
Group J: Yilmaz Özcan, Jorge Costa, Sebastian Meling
Group K: Sauli Solhagen, Amir Ibraimov, Jo Bjørnstadt
Group L: Tom Löwe, Martin Bohac, Kostas Papakonstantinou
Group M: Dimitrios Seleventas, Ufuk Kapusiz, Gabor Steiner
Group N: Arnim Kahofer, Barry van Beerst, Seymen Ozbas
Group O: Ronny Lindemann, Maxime Panaia, Paul Wallerand
Group P: Adrien Tachoire, Vangelis Moulos, Carlos Anguita.
The main tournament with 32 starts at 12.30 (11.30 Western Europe) on Friday with sessions of four games (knockout).
The first eight matches, including Denizcan Akkoca, Sergio Jimenez, Carlos Crespo and Karina Jetten against Cédric Melnytschenko opened the European Championships at 10.00 (9.00 West Europe). All matches can be seen live on Kozoom.
Swedish player David Pennör at the new start in Ankara
