|
Belgian superstar Frederic Collignon, who has dominated the world of foosball for
the past decade, retained the World Singles title at the 2nd ITSF World
Championships. Collignon found retaining the title
a much tougher task than his triumph in 2004, with his quarter final
(Pappas), semi-final (Spredeman) and final matches
all going to the final table.
Local heroine Samantha Di Paolo confirmed her
status as the best woman foosball player in the World by taking the inaugural
ITSF World Championship at St Vincent in Italy.
The tournament brought together 32 if the top men and 7 of the top women in
the World in a playoff on all official tables. The qualification round saw
each player play 7 matches to seed the knockout draw.
The qualification matches kicked off on Saturday with each player taking on
seven opponents, each match comprising one game to 6 goals on three different
tables (21 games in total). The top 8 seeds were kept apart in the draw.
At the end of qualification the top 6 men were:
1 Frederic Collignon (BEL) 19-2
2 Jamal Allalou (MOR) 18-3
3 Robert Atha (UK) 17-4
4 Wolfgang Reszler (AUT) 17-4
5 Tony Spredeman (USA) 17-4
6 Tom van der Cauter
(BEL) 16-5
The top 4 women qualifiers were
1 Moya Tielens (CAN) 15-3
2 Stayce Fowler (USA) 11-7
3 Samantha di Paolo (ITA) 10-8
4 Verena Rohrer (AUT) 10-8
The knockout stage draws players in a single-KO, seeded by qualification
position.
The ITSF General Assembly unanimously approved the introduction of common
rules for all tables, with the Rules Commission reaching broad consensus on
all contentious areas, and the GA approved the tournament structure for 2006.
Last 16
Collignon (bt Miasnikov B 2-0, T 2-0)
vs
Ariganello (bt Cloney E2-0, T 0-2, G 2-1)
Mares (bt Di Vicino R 2-1, T 2-0)
vs
Pappas (bt Gonçalves T
2-0, E 2-1)
Spredeman (bt Bali T 2-0,
G 1-2, E 2-0)
vs
Meckes (bt Ludwig B 2-1,
T 0-2, E 2-0)
Prisi (bt Habets E 2-1, G 0-2, E 2-0)
vs
Reszler (bt Eskildsen B 2-0, T 2-0)
Atha (bt Gurung T 2-0, T 2-0)
vs
Sielski (bt Yanchuk E 2-0, B 1-2, T 2-0)
Bentivoglio (bt Saban G 2-0, E 2-1)
vs
van der Cauter (bt Kojima T 0-2, E 2-0, B 2-0)
Carletta (bt Vanous E 2-0, T 2-1)
vs
Fritsche (bt Zavoral T 2-0, G 2-0)
Soto (bt Manganiello B
2-1, T 2-0)
vs
Allalou (bt Khusal G 2-0, B 2-0)
Quarter Finals
Collignon (bt Ariganello B 2-1, E 2-0)
vs
Pappas (bt Mares T 2-1, G 2-1)
Spredeman (bt Meckes B 0-2, T 2-0, G 2-0)
vs
Prisi (bt Reszler E 2-0, T 0-2, B 2-0)
Atha (bt Sielski E 2-1, T 2-1)
vs
van der Cauter (bt Bentivoglio B 2-1, G 2-0)
Fritsche (bt Carletta T 2-0, B 0-2, G 2-1)
vs
Allalou (bt Soto G 2-0, T
2-0)
Womens Semi-Finals
Tielens (bye)
vs
Rohrer (bt Bambenek T
1-2, G 2-0, B 2-0)
Di Paolo (bt Jacquot E 2-0, B 2-0)
vs
Fowler (bt Mento R 2-1, T
2-0)
The first semi-final pitted Canada's Moya Tielens against Verena Rohrer
of Austria. Tielens took the first set comfortably
6-1 6-3 on her native Tornado table, with Rohrer repaying the compliment on
her native Garlando 6-5 6-1. The drawn table for
the final set was the Jupiter Eurosoccer, with Tielens progressing to the final 2-0 in a close-fought
match 6-4 6-4.
The second semi-final pitted America's
Tornado World Series Champion against Italy's Roberto- Sport World
Champion Samantha di Paolo. The first set was a 6-1
6-1 demolition by Di
Paolo on Bonzini, but Fowler took the Tornado set
from a game behind 5-6 6-5 6-3. The drawn table was Di
Paolo's native Roberto-Sport, but Fowler managed to take the first game 6-4,
and had a match ball in the second at 5-5 before Di
Paolo won the game on sweat ball. The final game saw Di
Paolo get off to a flyer 3-0 with quick reaction shot, before Fowler levelled at 3-3. Di Paolo then
turned on the style with three unanswered goals to progress to the final 6-3
Mens Semi-Finals
Collignon (bt Pappas B
2-0, T 0-2, R 2-0)
vs
Spredeman (bt Prisi B 0-2, T 2-0, G 2-1)
Atha
vs
Allalou (bt Fritsche E 2-0, G 2-1)
In the first semi-final Collignon-v-Spredeman, the
American star took the first match 2-1 on Tornado, his home table, before Collignon levelled the match on
Bonzini 2-0. The third table draw favoured Collignon with his
home Eurosoccer table. Collignon
narrowly won the opening game 6-5 before demolishing Spredeman
6-1 in the second to progress to the final.
The second semi-final pitted UK
star Rob Atha against Morocco's Jamal Allalou. Atha took the first
set on Tornado 2-1, then Allalou
levelled the match 2-1 on Bonzini,
but not before Atha took the second game on his
weakest table with a dazzling 5-bar display. The drawn table was
Roberto-Sport, where Atha took an early lead before
losing the first game 6-4. Atha turned on the style
in the second game blitzing his opponent 6-1. In the final game, Allalou sprinted to a 3-0 lead with the aid of some good
luck, Atha brought it back to 3-2 despite
struggling with his shot, but Allalou stretched his
lead eventually winning 6-3 to progress to the final.
Womens Final - Di
Paolo vs Tielens
The final between Tielens and Di
Paolo kicked off on Eurosoccer, with Di Paolo's front-pin game being more effective than Tielens' pull-shot series, despite Tielens
midfield superiority, the Italian winning in two straight games 6-2 6-3. Tielens was expected to dominate on Tornado but was
surprised by Di Paolo's all round game and speed of
reactions, losing the first game 6-5. The second game was nip and tuck, with Tielens finding herself 5-4 down and facing two match
balls, but fought back gutsily to win the second
6-5. In the third game Di Paolo opened up a 5-3
lead before Tielens levelled
at 5-5, before Di Paolo converted her shot on sweat
ball to take the title to start jubilant celebrations among the home crowd.
In the bronze medal play-off, Garlando champion Verena Rohrer triumphed over Tornado champion Stayce Fowler, taking the Tornado leg 6-2 4-6 6-4 with
her powerful midfield and snake shot, before taking the Garlando
leg comfortably 6-2 6-3.
Final Results - Womens Singles
World Champion - Samantha Di Paolo - Italy
Runner Up - Moya Tielens
(Canada)
3rd Place - Verena Rohrer (Austria)
4th Place - Stayce Fowler (USA)
Mens Final - Collignon-v-Allalou
The final saw Collignon comfortably take the first
set 6-2 6-3 on Roberto-sport, but Allalou dug in to
win on Bonzini in two tough-fought sweat-ball games
6-5 6-5. The drawn table was Eurosoccer,
with Collignon riding his luck to retain the title
of World Champion in two straight games 6-3 6-2.
Spredeman took the bronze medal from Atha 2-1 on Tornado and 2-0 on Eurosoccer
Final Results - Mens Singles
World Champion - Frederic Collignon (Belgium)
Runner-Up - Jamal Allalou (Morocco)
3rd Place
- Tony Spredeman (USA)
4th Place
- Rob Atha (UK)
|