Eddy Merckx
Dick Jaspers 40, Torbjorn Blomdahl 20
Five-time Three-Cushion World Cup champion and three-time World Game medalist Dick Jaspers used a series of short breaks early followed by a couple of bigger ones later to put away longtime rival Torbjorn Blomdahl of Sweden, 40-20, to advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
“I played good defense in this match but Torbjorn didn’t play his best,” he said.
Jaspers took a 20-11 lead into the halftime intermission, then used a break of four points and nine points to take a commanding 36-16 advantage. Blomdahl was able to tack on a couple of points down the stretch but was unable to do much more. He also struggled to gain any kind of momentum throughout the match, scoring the occasional point then barely missing on the next one. He only ran more than two balls twice during the match.
“I tried to play really good positional shots and, every time, I missed by a millimeter,” said Blomdahl. “Everything was stopped then and he just ran away. And in the end, he defended well and I didn’t get many good chances.”
Eddy Merckx 40, Daniel Sanchez 38
Belgium’s Eddy Merckx and Spain’s Daniel Sanchez staged a back-and-forth match in the quarterfinals of the carom three-cushion competition Friday afternoon, with Merckx using two breaks of 10 points each to hold off the charging Spaniard 40-38.
Merckx first run came in the first half of the match, using a 10-point break to wipe away to erase an early deficit and take a 24-15 lead into the intermission. After tacking another point on after the break, Sanchez went on a run of his own, scoring 11 consecutive points to turn a 25-17 deficit into a 28-25 lead. With Sanchez clinging to a 33-30 advantage, Merckx went on to score eight of the next 13 points to tie the match at 38 each, then ticked off back-to-back points to seal the victory.
The Olympic Channel is live streaming The World Games and billiards will feature on July 16 and July 17 when the finals take place. A full streaming schedule and links are at https://www.theworldgames.
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