[<<] [>>] by Jonathan Lamb
13th August 2002 (International)

Don Gaunt beat Jonathan Lamb 2:1 in the finals of the 6th Belgian Open at Genval this weekend. The semi-finalists were John Davis from Luxembourg and Rutger Beijderwellen from the Netherlands: in all, seven different countries were represented at the Open, a record so far.

Although the weather was warm throughout, and gloriously sunny on the Sunday, there had been so much rain over the preceding week that waders were needed almost until the closing ceremony. Koen Heidbuchel and Taplow nevertheless managed with aplomb.

Rutger won the 'Metre of Ale' for performing the only triple of the 14-pt event, and Gianpietro Donati of Italy beat Charles-Eric Vilain XIIII of Belgium to win the Golf Plate, despite having had his mallet bent almost double by baggage handlers on the journey from Milan to Brussels.

Apart from a quite superlative dinner at the Chateau du Lac, and lunchtime miracles from Bob Appels and his team, the most spectacular point of the weekend was probably the two-ball end of the Beijderwellen-Lamb semi-final, with Rutger hitting a 25-yard roquet and later jumping a hoop to miss a 20-yarder by only a whisker.

Full results are below, with a c to indicate where players elected to go round and give contact rather than have a go for the metre of triple-brew. This seems to have paid off at a ratio of nine to four (but it's not so much fun, surely).

Block Play

Block 1

John Davis beat John Swabey 14:3, Kevin Garrad 14:1, Jean-Yves Guermont 14:0
Swabey beat Garrad 14:3
Garrad beat Guermont 14:3
Guermont beat Swabey 14:1

Block 2

Rutger Beijderwellen beat Bruno Eeman 14c:2, Guy Towlson 14c:9
Ian Price beat Beijderwellen 14:0, Towlson 14c:2
Eeman beat Price 14c:0
Towlson beat Eeman 14:5

Block 3

Don Gaunt beat Jonathan Lamb 14:1, Gianpietro Donati 14c:7c, Cynthia Street 14c:8
Lamb beat Donati 11:10c, Street 14:7
Donati beat Street 14:8

Block 4

Kevin Carter beat Charles-Eric Vilain XIIII 14:11, Mike Town 14:3, Bernard Witas 14:0
Vilain XIIII beat Town 14c:6, Witas 14:9
Town beat Witas 14:0

Quarter-Finals

Gaunt beat Guermont 14:2
Lamb beat Price 14:1
Davis beat Vilain XIIII 14c:5
Beijderwellen beat Carter 14c:8c

Semi-Finals

Gaunt beat Davis 14:1
Lamb beat Beijderwellen 12:11 (T)

Final

Gaunt beat Lamb 10:14, 14:7c, 14:10

Golf Plate

Block 1

Donati beat Price 7:3, Swabey 7:6, Witas 7:3
Price beat Witas 7:3
Witas beat Swabey 7:5
Swabey beat Price 7:5

Block 2

Vilain XIIII beat Towlson 7:2, Garrad 7:2, Elda Cairoli 7:2
Towlson beat Garrad 7:3, Cairoli 7:1
Garrad beat Cairoli 7:5

Block 3

Guermont beat Street 7:2, Town 7:6
Eeman beat Street 7:4, Guermont 7:2
Town beat Eeman 7:4, Street 7:4
Towlson beat Eeman for 'best second' semi-final place on peg shoot-out.
Lamb lost 6EUR to Carter at backgammon (IOU, Kevin)

Semi-Finals

Donati beat Towlson 7:0
Vilain XIIII beat Town 7:6

Final

Donati beat Vilain XIIII 7:3, 7:3