Dani Sánchez... and suddenly there is top form

30-03-2017

Gepubliceerd door frits bakker

Dani Sánchez in a flow during his run of 17 leading to 35-1 in 6 innings

LUXOR - Whoever wants to break Eddy Merckx' fantastic world record (50 caroms in six innings), will not only need form, high-class, flair, cleverness, but also a bit of luck. That was once again proved when Dani Sánchez, today in Luxor's World Cup, launched his match against the Egyptian Riad Nady and seemed to be on his way to a world class match: 35-1 in six innings. Four misses later, a more or less 'normal' score was written on the board, 40-6 in 11 innings.

What is form in three cushion... and how quick opportunities can turn around. Eddy Merckx, the winner of last year's World Cup in Luxor, had a promising warm up with a win over Frédéric Caudron in France last week, but was already thrown out by the Korean super talent Myung-Woo Cho in the first round. Nguyen Quoc Nguyen arrived with a pocket ful of confidence at the World Cup in Luxor after he took the Asian title last week. In his first appearance, the Vietnamese went out with two losses.

Semih Sayginer said it so poignantly after his first victory against Torbjörn Blomdahl after three losses in the last World Cups: ,,I looked closely at Dani Sánchez, but I already knew: one day it's peanuts to score 35 points in six innings, the other day it's so hard to score one point in ten innings.'' So bizarre three cushion can be at this level.

Top form can suddenly come, unexpectedly, then quicly disappear. Every well known billiard player knows that. Dani Sánchez: ,,I came here with not so much confidence, because I didn't play that well for a couple of weeks. But suddenly, the good things came together: feeling, shape, good positions... I had the feeling that I could not miss in the first six innings and thought I could finish the match.'' The Egyptian Riad Nady, with a wildcard in the World Cup, probably preferred to jump in the Nile in stead of staying in the billiard room with the 35-1 on the scoreboard.

The Vietnamese Quyet Chien Tran also had such a smooth start against Jean Paul de Bruijn: 24-1 in six innings. He couldn't miss, until the match turned upside down and the Dutchman could come pretty close. Haeng-Jik Kim was another example: 26-6 against the Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma, who later even seemed to draw in the equalizer, but he missed an easy shot after nine points (40-36 in 18). And Marco Zanetti almost played the poor Costa Rican wildcard holder Erick Tellez to a nightmare at 23-7 in 7 innings, also showing that not only form, but also luck with the positions may determine the winner. The Italian, after a long slump, even needed 32 innings for the final win and Tellez was only three points down after the 9 from the break: 40-37 in 32.

The match between Semih Sayginer and Torbjörn Blomdahl did not reach the high level that was expected. The prestigious bump was marked by a slow start (22-14 in 18) and then fell to Sayginer's side, despite the small run (top run 4) and a period of low scoring. The Turk was not really effective in the last part, but met no resistance from Blomdahl, who remained well below one average: 40-24 in 30.

The Belgian clash between Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Leppens went on to an exciting end with, after 31-30 in between, rapidly changing chances in the last stage. Leppens finished first with two. Caudron's point from the spots was not good enough to make three for the draw (40-38 in 27).

Dick Jaspers made a quick end to the illusions of Birol Uymaz (40-19 in 17), Quyet Chien Tran and Myung Woo Cho were quick winners against Jean Paul de Bruijn and Eddy Merckx (16 innings). Can Capak had a strong comeback after 28-16 against Jae Ho Cho and levelled the score at the end (40-40 in 21). In the shoot-out, the Turk triumphed 2-1. Tayfun Tasdemir showed his fighting spirit until the bitter end against Choong-Bok Lee and was rewarded. The equalizer with five led to the shoot-out. The Korean started with one, Tasdemir scored twice and passed the finish line as the winner.

The next round is characterized by two national encounters. Jae Guen Kim plays against Haeng-Jik Kim, Semih Saygıner against Can Capak. Marco Zanetti against Jérémy Bury, the match between the two former Agipi teammates, is always a fraught race. Dani Sánchez against Murat Naci Coklu is the match that was the final last year at the World Cup in La Baule.

The matches for the eighth finals:
Jaspers-Choi
Kim Jae Guen-Kim Haeng-Jik
Tran-Cho
Capak-Sayginer
Sánchez-Coklu
Polychronopoulos-Heo
Zanetti-Bury
Leppens-Tasdemir.