3-Cushion
LUXOR - The first hit of the day was a tough one. Greek champion Nikos Polychronopoulos, involved in the crisis in his country, known as one of the fastest players in the entire circuit, was the victim of an unexpected and sensible loss in the earliest session of the day.
His countryman Kostas Papakonstantinou, a former heavyweight who has lost a lot of weight, put the number one of the country in crisis on the rack in a pretty good match: 40-32 in 20 innings.
When 'Poly' then, in the next round, dismantled Murat Tüzül (40-25 in 24), he quickly calculated: ,,I have two match points, a good average (1.636), I can still be the group winner, but also one of the four best second to pass along.''
Four best second to advance? That was in the previous World Cups, not now. The World Cup in Luxor distributed five wildcards instead of four, which has to do with the entrance of the new African confederation.
Can Nikos Polychronopoulos, playing without the badge of IBT in Luxor, keep his focus on the billiard, after what happened behind the scenes in his country? The Greek billiard room manager said the night before his first appearance, he has barely practiced in the hectic months of the problems with the sponsor about participation at the World Cup in Viersen. The attempt to quickly establish a new Greek federation, is hopeful in any case.
,,I cannot speak about that, at this moment, because it is all too sensitive,'' he said after his second match, which he won. ,,We have to wait and see what will happen in the upcoming weeks. The main thing is that we are with good willing people now to solve the problems.''
The World Cup comes up to a hard struggle, on the last day of qualifications for players who may want to go to the main event through the back door. The rules for this tournament are changed slightly: twelve seeded players according to the world ranking and five wildcards make seventeen, which are supplemented by twelve group winners and three runners up: together 32.
Nicos Polychronopoulo was not the only one who didn't know that, also Eddy Leppens was amazed. The Belgian, nevertheless, do not have to worry for the time being after his victory in a moderate match against Peter De Backer (40-34 in 38), but should be later today, beat the Vietnamese outsider Quoc Nguyen Nguyen.
The best player in the first session was Jae Ho Cho, winner of the previous World Cup in Istanbul, with a match that bombarded him already to one of the favorites. The little guy, with his short steps around the table, started the match in a steady rhythm against the other Korean in the group Seo Hyun Min and eventually won 40-32 in 17 with a run of 14.
Murat Naci Coklu topped his opponent Ra Hee Kim with a better finish (40-38). The Korean lost his first match on one carom against Austrian Herbert Szivacz. Jean Paul de Bruijn and Tolgahan Kiraz compete in Group C for victory: both players defeated Yavuz Güngördü, 40-34 and 40-35.
Group D will be decided in a duel between Javier Teran and Roland Forthomme in the group in which Selim Özden remains without any points. Therese Klompenhouwer plays with two Koreans, of whom Choong-Bok Lee won the first clash between them. The Dutch lady lost to Jae Guen Kim.
Emrullah Basegmez made another stunt after his 9 innings win on Tuesday, the best match so far. The Turk defeated his countryman Savas Bulut in an exciting final 40-39. The second player on his way to the main event is Ruben Legazpi.