A crackling atmosphere prevailed again this Friday at the World Championships of Three-Cushion National Teams in the Viersen Festhalle in Germany. This was due in part to the German duo Martin Horn and Amir Ibraimov, who, after their opening victory yesterday against France, now had to face the duo from Vietnam.

Both singles developed into real thrillers, in which none of the players could truly pull away. As it had to happen, the decisions came in the final innings. While Horn narrowly lost to Quyet Chien Tran 38:40, youngster Ibraimov turned a 36:38 deficit into a 40:38 victory with strong nerves shortly afterward. The much more experienced Tran Thanh Tu Nguyen had no choice but to congratulate the German on this brilliant performance.

With one win and one draw so far, Team Germany now has excellent chances of reaching the quarterfinals on Saturday. For that, a draw against Mexico, which played to a draw against France today, is required.

Group C with defending champion the Netherlands has already concluded. With Dick Jaspers and Glenn Hofman in the lineup, they drew with Sweden in the morning before facing Belgium in the evening. Both Hofman and Jaspers quickly took the lead and maintained it until the end with a highly focused performance. Thus, just like Sweden, who played against Greece in parallel, they were able to prevail 4:0.

Sweden, for its part, took the lead through Torbjörn Blomdahl, followed by the next point from David Pennor. On the Greek side, Dimitrios Seleventas still had the chance to equalize against Pennor, but he missed the fortieth point by a hair’s breadth in the equalizing inning.

The Netherlands therefore finished this preliminary round group in first place, closely followed by the Swedish team. Both teams will be seen again in the quarterfinals from Saturday afternoon.

Also concluded is the group with the Spaniards leading after two matchdays. Sergio Jimenez and Ruben Legazpi faced the USA in the final group match and at times did not seem fully up to the mark. Pedro Piedrabuena and Raymon Groot, on the other hand, were fully motivated on the American side and knew how to seize the moment. Although they held back with large runs, the duo still managed to pull away from the Spaniards. Two clear match victories resulted in a decisive 4:0 final score, with which the USA even displaced the Spanish team from first place in the group.

In the duel between Korea and Egypt, a 2:2 draw was ultimately recorded on the match sheet, which was not enough for either team to advance. Türkiye, meanwhile, dominates Group A at will. Tayfun Tasdemir and Berkay Karakurt safely won today’s second match against Colombia 4:0. Tasdemir was always a few points ahead of Pedro Gonzalez and skillfully carried this lead over the finish line. His team partner Karakurt showed his full class in parallel against Huberney Catano, including a fantastic run of 13 points, and ultimately won 40:26 after twenty innings.

In the second match of this group, Jordan and Japan drew 2:2. The Japanese initially looked like the inferior team for a long time, but Takao Miyashita turned a seemingly lost match against Ahmed Al Ghababsheh into a victory.

Results of the second day:

Netherlands – Sweden 2:2
Greece – Belgium 0:4
Germany – Vietnam 2:2
Mexico – France 2:2
Türkiye – Colombia 4:0
Jordan – Japan 2:2
Spain – USA 0:4
Egypt – South Korea 2:2
Netherlands – Belgium 4:0
Greece – Sweden 0:4