3-Cushion
CALI - The dazzling show, during the opening of the World Games in Cali, prefaced the entrance of a few thousand participating athletes behind the flag of their country the Pascual Guerrero stadium. ,,The atmosphere with 40.000 spectators was fantastic’’, reflected Glenn Hoffman, the youngest participant in the tournament cushion.
The Dutchman starts the tournament today, like Dick Jaspers, the title holder, who faces Javier Teran in today’s opening.
Four of eight matches in the 1/8 finals have been played, the four winners advanced to the quarterfinals. Marco Zanetti, Christian Rudolph, Murat Naci Coklu and Kyung-Roul Kim survived the first session.
The match between German champion Christian Rudolph and Belgian champion Forthomme turned out into a real thriller after 40-40 in the regular fight. The game, in which Forthomme made the highest day-run (10), was decided in overtime, after both players were equal to the finish in 26 innings and battled it out for the final win.
Christian Rudolph explained later: ,,What a thrill at the end. Roland makes a run of nine on a score of 33-29 and he finishes in the next inning. I have to make six points from the break. I make 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, very solid. The matchball misses the third ball, so I turn away from the table and think, it's over. But suddenly I hear a loud 'oooooh' behind me. Don't know what happened, but I scored the point.''
Forthomme starts the penalty shots with two, Rudolph responds with two. In the second race, Forthomme only scored once, Rudolph decides the match with two and advances for next round.
Marco Zanetti had a slow start in his match against Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma, with fourteen points in sixteen innings. ,,Finally the table became more natural and me too’’, said the Italian. He stayed focused right to the end, always had the upper hand and won 40-21 in 25 innings.
Murat Naci Coklu and Merlin Romero kept the balance until the break, Coklu was the better player at the end, Romero was severely punished for a few misses: 40-33 in 33 innings.
Kyung-Roul Kim, targeting a top position in Cali, did what was expected. He defeated Henry Diaz, who was close for some time, but couldn’t match with his solid playing opponent: 40-26 in 30.
Matches for today:
Dick Jaspers Javier Teran
Glenn Hoffman-O Takeshima
Sameh Sidhom-Carlos Campino
Eddy Merckx-Jack Taylor.