3-Cushion
NEW YORK - The qualifications of the Verhoeven Open are coming up to the decisive round today with five undefeated players: Alan Jensen, Luis Aveiga, Gerhard Kostistansky, Harry Pena and Eddy Leppens gathered twelve match points in six matches. Today, the prelims close with four matches in each of eight groups.
Luis Aveiga was the star player last night with a win against the world champion Eddy Merckx (25-20 in 13). Therese Klompenhouwer is outplayed with three losses. Those are the most striking results of the second day.
Today, after completing the preliminaries, the four seeded players will enter the tournament at 15.00: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Frédéric Caudron, Raymond Ceulemans and Semih Sayginer.
The summary of the eight groups with one match to play:
Group A:
The Dane Alan Jensen is undefeated with twelve match points and only meeets Hugo Flores in the final session. For second place in the group Miguel Torres (a loss against Jensen) has already advanced for next round.
Group B:
Luis Aveiga and Eddy Merckx are the numbers one and two in the group, the South American with the maximum match points and 1.351 average, Merckx with a loss (Aveiga) and 1.959. Six other players are outplayed.
Group C:
Three players compete for two places in the final round today. Gerhard Kostistansky (1.230 average) is the only unbeaten player. Both Roland Forthomme (1.756) and Mazin Shooni (1.063) suffered one loss. The Belgian is facing Kostistansky, Sooni playes against Charles DeLorme today.
Group D:
Hugo Patino has advanced with one loss. Otto Hildenbran and Young Ha Choi vying for second place. Choi (0.798) with a better average than Hildenbran with 0.622.
Group E:
Pedro Piedrabuena and Julian Torres, both with one loss, are qualified for the next round. The Pan American champion recovered after a weak start and won all his matches. He has 1.458 on average after six games, Torres is second with 1.208. Therese Klompenhouwer lost to Piedrabuena (25-15 in 11), Julian Torres (25-14 in 13) and Michael Kang (25-12 in 18) and has been eliminated.
Group F:
Harry Pena won all his maches and averaged 0.838. Javier Teran (1.060) and Daniel Reyes (0.966) both lost one match. The top billing today is the match between Teran and Pena.
Group G:
Sameh Sidhom (1.404) and Mike Chen (0.719) gathered ten points out of six, only Joel Switala and Sang Jin Lee (8 match points) are a threat for second place.
Group H:
Eddy Leppens won all his matched and advanced for the first final round with 1.667 average. The Belgian finished his matches in 11, 14, twice 15, 16 and 19 innings. Cris Bastos and Carlos Palafox are vying for second place.