Raimond Burgman is still in the game

SCHILTIGHEIM - The French player Jean Christoph Roux almost secured a place in the next qualifying round with his second victory of the day. Raimond Burgman and Roland Forthomme, both losers in the afternoon matches,  competed at the other table for one of the last chances.

Raimond Burgman saved his tournament with a magnificent final race. The Dutchman, who watched from his chair Forthomme making a run of twelve early in the match, repared the balance and finished with nine at 41-36.

,,I was a bit lucky with that,'' Burgman, modest as always, commented after the match, ,,because for sure it was the perfect moment to make the high run. But I must say, I played very good at the end.''

The Dutchman is performing for the first time in the Agipi arena, although he is a five time winner of the European Cup with two Dutch teams (Pelgrim and Crystal Kelly) with players like Torbjörn Blomdahl, Marco Zanetti, Raymond Ceulemans and Frans van Kuyk. ,,But all these titles we have won in other countries, not in Agipi.''

Roland Forthomme needs a little miracle now to be seeded, because of his second loss, in which he had a lot of barely missing points. He's walking on thin ice now. The Belgian has to beat Javier Palazón and Dion Nelin in his next matches to not be outplayed.

Jean Christoph Roux surprised with two solid game so far. He's on top of the group with the maximum match points.

In the late evening match, against Javier Palazón, the coldblooded Frenchman benefitted from an extremely sporting gesture of the Spaniard. When Roux passed the time frame at a crucial moment in the match, Palazón told the referee from his chair that something was wrong with the clock.

The Spaniard then, curiously, lost his rhythm, Roux could dominate the final phase and took the win 50-38 in 38 innings.

The Saturday matches start at 10.00 am with Group 2, in which Nikos Polygronopoulos the lead.

The matches are: Polychronopoulos-Ma, Eddy Leppens-Joao Ferreira.

Then at 14.00 playing in Group 1 is playing: Javier Palazón against Dion Nelin and Raimond Burgman against Jean Christoph Roux.