ANKARA – The White Caps Turnhout became the first Belgium club team to win a Continental Cup tournament after succeeded in both games in Group A in Ankara.

The Belgium champion started off well hammering host club Baskent Yildizlari Ankara from Turkey 16-1. They then met Estonia’s Tartu Kalev-Välk for the deciding game to win the event, which included only three teams after the withdrawal of the Israeli representative.

The game against Tartu began in the same fashion as the one against the Turks. The White Caps had a comfortable 5-0 lead after just 17 minutes of play before eventually defeating Tartu 5-2.

The White Caps enjoyed strong performances from some of their imports during the event. American forward Tommy Lange scored six goals, followed by fellow countryman and defender Ryan Warsofsky who chipped in four goals, and three goals from Valerijs Filimonovs, a former Latvian U20 national team player. Filimonovs most recently wore the jersey of Liepajas Metalurgs, the Latvian team that participates in the Belarusian league.

UPDATE: The tournament is currently under disciplinary review. The published scores and ranking are possibly subject to change.

The winner of the event advances to the second round, which will be played 21-23 October. It will play in Group B in Dunaujvaros against HYS The Hague (Netherlands), CH Jaca (Spain) and Dunaujvarosi Acelbikak (Hungary).

The same weekend Group C will be staged in Miercurea Ciuc, Romania, with Liepajas Metalurgs (Latvia), Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia), HSC Csikszereda (Romania) and Beibarys Atyrau (Kazakhstan).

MARTIN MERK