Host nation Germany started with a 2-0 win over the Czech Republic
into the World Championship, and it was German number one who
sets the records for this day. He won the first set in only three
innings without conceding any a single point; but his opponent
Martin Bohac of course only had two visits to the table. Twelve
innings in set two for Horn underlined again that he is in great
form.
Christian Rudolph won the first set without any problems by 15-7
but had to struggle in set 2. But at the end he also won in straight
sets, bringing the German set balance to 4-0. That means that
the runner-up spot in this flight is already secured, although
all their fans expecting them also to beat Greece on Friday.
Also Eddy Merckx from Belgium showed a strong performance, beating in-form Jérémy Bury from France by 15-11 in 9 innings and 15-7 in 7 innings. But Jérôme Barbeillon managed to equal for France after beating Belgian Roland Forthomme in the decider by 15-1. France kept his hopes for a quarter-final alive, but for Belgium a close win against Vietnam would be enough to qulify directly for the last eight because of their better set balance. But should they draw against the Asians Belgium would have to hope for their second chance in round robin stage two.
Defending champion Sweden won their first match at the World Team Championship in Viersen. Portugal could not challenge Torbjörn Blomdahl and Michael Nillsson. The Swedes, looking for their fifth title in a row, got the upper hand with a score line of 2-0 matches and 4-0 sets.
In the other match Korea got consolation for their 1-1 start against Egypt. The Asians defeated the Netherlands with 2-0 and also did not concede a set. While Korea now has a good chance to book their quarter-final place already in round robin stage one the Netherlands have to beat Egypt on Friday for not to drop out already in stage 1.
The whole day long two photo reporters regarded the tournament with their cameras and shot a lot of exciting images of players, the opening ceremony and the following matches. You can look on this galery on the website of the magazine.
7 pm: Two undisputed Wins at the End of Round One
There was no upset in the first matches of flight E and F. Japan against Switzerland and Denmark against Montenegro both scored easy wins. Ryuji Umeda and Tsuyoshi Suzuki did not concede one set. Rene Hendriksen, the Swiss number one, gave a real fight in the first set, but lost the second one clearly with a 7-15 margin. His team mate Torsten Daniellson had virtually no chance in the first set and had to settle for twelve points in the second.
It was hard work for Tonny Carlsen, number two in the Denish
team, in the first set. He required 23 innings to take the lead.
But Danilo Brajovic from Montenegro also could not challenge him
in the second set and lost 3-15. Dion Nelin dominated Milan Nedovic
clearly and secured two straight sets with a scoreline of 15-6
each. Denmark now has to play Turkey in the next round while Japan
challenges last year’s semi-finalist Spain.
5 pm: Germany's first opponent will be the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic surprised the audience at the World Team Championship 3-Cushion billiards in Viersen as they drew against Greece. The Greek team paid the price as they relinquished their top players Polychronopoulos and Kasidokostas, both of them being members of the top 20 of the World Ranking. Kostas Papakostantinou won in two straight sets versus Martin Bohac, but his partner Kostas Antonatos, who is playing in Viersen for the first time ever, was far below par. His average of only 0.280 by far is not enough to compete on this level and this also meant that the Czech team had the better average and thus plays host nation Germany first. Greece has to wait until Friday to find out whether they get a second chance by reaching round robin stage two.
In the other match France beat Vietnam easily by 2-0 matches with a clear set balance of 4-1. It was Ahn Vu Dong who won the only set for the Asians, taking one away from French top player Jérémy Bury. But Jérôme Barbeillon won in two straight sets. France will now play neighbour Belgium in the next match in this flight.
3 pm: Corea only drew against Egypt
Last year’s semi-finalist Korea only drew 1-1 against Egypt despite being the hot favourite. Also the sets were shared 3-3. World no. six Kim Kyung Roul won his first set very quickly 15-9, but Sameh Sidhom hit back in the second. In the third set the player from Egypt got the better edge and clinched set and match 15-14. On the other table Ihab El-Messery lost by 1-2 sets to Kang Dong Gung. As the Coreans played the better average they first have to play the 2008 runner-up Netherlands later this day.
In the other match Austria was without any chance versus Portugal. Andreas Effler and Andreas Kronlachner had a very bad start into the championship and lost 0-2 (1-4 sets) to Manuel Rui Costa and Manuel Oliveira. Therefore Portugal plays defending champion Sweden today at 6 pm local time (5 pm GMT), while the Austrians will meet Torbjorn Blomdahl and Michael Nilsson on Friday at 1 pm (12 am GMT).
Livestreams in better quality
First time you can look on two simultanous livestreams of the festival hall in Viersen. Youreventlive from Netherlands had installed four different cameras, two of them for the tables 1 and 2, the other cameras for the tables 3 and 4. After the tournament you can get DVD-films of these live recordings.
Festhalle Viersen will open its doors for the
20th world team championship for national teams in three cushion
billiards from 5th to 8th of march. The team of Sweden will be
favorite again, being title holder since 2005. Torbjörn Blomdahl
and Michael Nilsson try to defend their title fifth time in run.
Blomdahl himself allready stood in the world champion team eight
times.
Corea put titleholder Sweden at the edge of a lost match in semi-final
last year and has shown that the Swedish team is not unbeatable.
Germany will take part again with Martin Horn (Essen) and Christian Rudolph (Cologne), the champion team of 2002. Last year the only reached quarter-final. But this time they want to play the final day, too. So they have to arrive the semi-final at least.
18 teams of 18 nations will start in 6 preliminary
groups. The winners are qualified for semi-final directly. All
Second-places will meet in the intermediary round in two flights
playing round robin to find the best two "lucky losers"
to fill in the quartel-finals.
A service of the organizer German Billiard Union DBU , realised by DaRu Billard-Turnierservice