Dick Jaspers turns 50 during the draw

NEW YORK - Peter Ceulemans, Jose Juan Garcia and Semih Sayginer topped the ranking of the qualifiers to enter the draw for the semi-finals at the Verhoeven Open in New York. Andrés Lizarazo, the stuntman on the last day, was one of the sixteen group winners. Dutch star player Dick Jaspers celebrated his 50th birthday during the draw.

Michael Kang did the draw for the semi-finals in his Carom Café on Thursday night. The semi-finals will be played in four groups of ten players to 35 caroms. The top four from each group advance to the main tournament with sixteen in knockout matches.

The six seeded players were the group heads and numbers two in the new flights. Dick Jaspers celebrated his fiftieth anniversary during the draw, blew out the candles of his birthday cake and was overwhelmed by the happy birthday song of the players.

Huberney Catano was the best of the non-qualified players and was rewarded by a place among the 32 players for the next round. Jim Shovak won the auction with a bid of 2.800 euros.

The players from the qualification: Peter Ceulemans, Jose Juan Garcia, Semih Sayginer, Alexander Salazar, Murat Naci Coklu, Hugo Patino, Andrés Lizarazo, Ira Lee, Michael Kang, Luis Aveiga, Carlos Campino, Roland Forthomme, Miguel Torres, Manuel Riano, Pedro Piedrabuena en Young Gull Lee als poulewinnaars.

The numbers two:

Robinson Morales, Harry Reyes, Michael Hansen, Chris Bartzos, Lars Dunch, William Oh, Dan Johansen, Therese Klompenhouwer, Wesley de Jaeger, Young Ha Choi, Sameh Sidhom, Carlos Palafox, Tayfun Tasdemir, Kurt Ceulemans, Sruong Pheavy en Vinny Siemaszko.

The four groups fort he semi-finals:

Group A:
Torbjörn Blomdahl
Jose Juan Garcia
Semih Sayginer
Luis Aveiga
Carlos Campino
Harry Reyes
Michael Hansen
Young Ha Choi
Sameh Sidhom
Jim Shovak

Group B:
Dick Jaspers
Peter Ceulemans
Alexander Salazar
Michael Kang
Roland Forthomme
Robinson Morales
Chris Bartzos
Wesley de Jaeger
Carlos Palafox
Huberney Catano

Group C:
Eddy Merckx
Raymond Ceulemans
Murat Naci Coklu
Ira Lee
Miguel Torres
Young Gull Lee
Lars Dunch
Therese Klompenhouwer
Tayfun Tasdemir
Vinny Siemaszko

Group D:
Frédéric Caudron
Marco Zanetti
Hugo Patino
Andrés Lizarazo
Manuel Riano
Pedro Piedrabuena
William Oh
Dan Johansen
Kurt Ceulemans
Sruong Pheavy.