Korea versus Sweden and Netherlands versus Spain
Spain won versus Germany. Martin Horn had to watch a run of 10 points of Ricardo Garcia at the beginning of set 1. Christian Rudolph won the first set and after this the whole match went up and down for Spain as well as for Germany. Sanchez equalled, Horn too. Garcia got the next set, Rudolph too. But Sanchez made it all square again and Horn too. The decider went to Garcia with an advantage of only 53:50 in aggregate score. Rudolph had only 42:53 total points that time, so in set nr.5 Sanchez only had to make two points. The referee finished this set after a run of 3 by Sanchez and Spain reached the semi-final.
No chance for Greece.
While Germany is still playing versus Spain, the Netherlands have already won against Greece. Dick Jaspers won in straight 3 sets versus Filipos Kasidokostas. In Set no 1. Kasidokostas got the worst punishment: 15-0. Because of Raymond Burgman had won one set already the decision was made. The Dutch team had won, Greece could not equal in sets. The game between Burman and Nikos Polychronopoulos was finished by the referee at a score of 10-9.
Thriller between Sweden and Belgium.
Belgium almost kicked the defending champion out. In the beginning Torbjörn Blomdahl and partner Michael Nilsson were leading by 2-0 in sets. It seemed to be the usual short process, but Belgium came back into the match. Many Belgian fans supported their team. In the second set Eddy Leppens reached 14 points, but missed his only set ball. In sets 3 and 4, he had played brilliantly with a little help of lady luck. In 6 and 5 innings he won versus Blomdahl making it all square. Francis Forton did the same, he equalled in sets. All was open now, but Blomdahl started the final set with a run of 9 points. Leppens hit back with 6, but in the second inning this game was finished by 6 points from Blomdahl.
There was a chance for Belgium because Blomdahl and Leppens both made a total of 55 points in these five sets. Forton only had to win his decisive set and make one cannon more than Nilsson. Unfortunately for Forton Nilsson finished with a run of 5, winning this set and Sweden thus reached the semi-final after hard work.
The match between France and Korea started with great advantage for Korea. Both Kim Kyung Roul and Sung Won Choi were leading 2-0 when the French players Jérémy Bury and Jean-Christophe Roux begun to fight and won the third set. When Kim Kyung Roul finished set no. 4 Korea went in front and could not be caught anymore. France could not equal in sets, so the referee stopped the other game at a score of 10-10 between Sung Won Choi and Roux
3:30 p.m.
The quarter-final draw is done. At 4:30 France will meet Korea and defending champion Sweden will be challenged by Belgium. Later on at 7:30 host nation Germany will meet Spain and the Dutch team has to play versus Greece.
3:20 p.m.
In his best match ever at Viersen German Christian Rudolph beat Anh Vu Doung from Vietnam by 2-1 sets in great manner. Rudolph managed an average of 2.625 points per inning because he won two sets in four innings each and scored twelve points in seven innings in the set he lost.
Martin Horn seemed to be on the winning street all time during his match versus Chi Tranh Tran. The German had clinched the first set by 15-6 and had opened already a big lead in the second, when the Vietnamese managed a run of eight on a fluked initial point. But despite of the good luck of Tran Horn got over the line by a 15-13 score.
Sweden stayed on track to defend their title successfully. Torbjörn Blomdahl showed all his skills when beating Dion Nelin from Denmark by 15-3 and 15-6 in six and three innings, thus averaging 3.333. Tonny Carlsen had better chances versus Swedish Michael Nilsson, but Nillson hold on for a 15-10, 15-9 win. That means that European Champion and World Championship runner-up Denmark is on the way back home after the round robins, missing out the quarter-finals.
1:00 p.m.
Cenet allowed Quarter-final to lapse; Turkey misses Top Spot because of Time Limit
Because of the time limit Turkey missed out the quarter-final at the World Team Championship in Threecushion Billiards in Viersen, Germany. The chances for the Turks to clinch the top spot were great, as a draw against France would have been enough.
They seemed to be close to the draw required, when Lefti Cenet lead by 13-11 in the decider and was at the table. But Cenet thought, seconds were running down, Cenet went on thinking and suddenly a sound alarm signalled that the 50 seconds allowed had passed. Frenchmen Jérémy Bury went to the table and got the four points required for victory.
This defeat costed Turkey their quarter-final place. Spain benefitted from the error of Cenet and qualified for the last eight to their own surprise.
Before that the Netherlands had beaten Japan clearly and stayed on top of their group with a clear margin. The second team to qualify in this flight was Korea while four times World Champion Japan went out