ANKARA – The best of Europe's top three-cushion teams showed some magnificent battles at the European championships in Ankara in the run-up to the finals. The billiard arena of the Turkish federation was full of excitement and spectacle early in the morning with the classic match between Netherlands and Belgium as the unprecedented thriller. The Dutch eventually won the derby, when Dick Jaspers and Eddy Merckx drew and Jean Paul de Bruijn won by 1 carom against Peter Ceulemans. The three other finalists are Turkey (Tasdemir/Karakurt), Greece 1 (Polychronopoulos/Kokkoris) and Greece 2 (Papakonstantinou/Seleventas), which won over Germany in the Scotch Double. Young Greek Seleventas was the match winner.
Four games between eight nation teams, four thrillers, as it was rarely seen at a European championship. Netherlands-Belgium was the absolute cracker in these European Championship quarter-finals with a scintillating end to the classic. Dick Jaspers finished first in his match against Eddy Merckx (40-29, but the Belgian leader miraculously fought back and levelled the match with a run of 11. The two other players from the teams were also in the final stages at that time. Jean Paul de Bruijn held a lead (39-34), but saw Peter Ceulemans level the score with a run. However, the ultimate carom, the 40th, disappeared narrowly behind the red ball after the run of six, allowing De Bruijn to finish with 1: 40-39.
The winner was the Netherlands, making the 80 caroms, while the Belgians were unfortunately sent home with 79.
The other Dutch team with Jean van Erp and Barry van Beers clashed with the strong Turks, Tayfun Tasdemir and Berkay Karakurt. The leader, Tasdemir, attacked his opponent very soon with a mighty run of 19 in the third inning. The match ended 40-24 in 14 innings. Berkay Karakurt had slightly more trouble with Barry van Beers, but won 40-36 in 16. The averages in this match were miraculous. Tasdemir played 2,857, Karakurt 2,500, Van Beers 2,250, Van Erp 1,714. Jean van Erp lamented: “We play 2 average together, but still we can go home.”'
The French were just unable to force a Scotch Double against the Greeks, as after Kostas Kokkoris win in his match against Mikaël Devogelaere (40-34 in 27), Jérémy Bury just failed to force the win against Nick Polychronopoulos. The Frenchman finished first at a score of 38-39, Polychronopoulos equalized with 1: 40-40. That left Greece victorious 3-1.
The second Greek team had to battle it out against defending champion Germany in the last encounter of this round. That match did end in a Scotch Double. Martin Horn beat Dimitrios Seleventas 40-28 in 30, Kostas Papakonstantinou was victorious over Ronny Lindemann 40-23 in 26.
In the shoot-out, the Scotch Double, first the score was 6-6, Germany took a lead 11-9, the Greeks got the finish in sight at 13-11, Papakonstantinou left impossible positions for Horn and Lindemann and Seleventas was the match winner 15-11.
Semi-finals at 13:00 (12:00 in Western Europe):
Netherlands-Turkey (Jaspers-Tasdemir, De Bruijn-Karakurt).
Greece 1-Greece 2 (Polychronopoulos-Papakonstantinou, Kokkoris-Seleventas).
The excellent Turkish team won the battle with Netherlands 2 in a high-class match: Berkay Karakurt, Barry van Beers, Tayfun Tasdemir, Jean van Erp
Het eerste Griekse team met Nick Polychronopoulos and Kostas Kokkoris was the better of France with Mikaël Devogelaere and Jérémy Bury
The Greek team with Dimitrios Seleventas and Kostas Papakonstantinou beat Germany with Martin Horn and Ronny Lindemann in the Scotch Double.