Hofman and Forthomme empty-handed despite rocket start

04/26/2018

Published by frits bakker

Jae Ho Cho, head and shoulders the best in the ultimate qualifying round

ANTALYA - Glenn Hofman and Roland Forthomme started their match in a way that must have been close to unique in 3-cushion history. In Antalya's World Cup arena, the young Dutchman started with a run of 9 from the spots, only to see his opponent answer with a 13. The always heavily charged Dutch / Belgian encounter lost most of its magic later on, in terms of average: 40-40 in 24. As both Hofman and Forthomme were beaten by Javier Palazón (32 and 23 innings), the Spaniard comfortably won the group. Had there ever been a first inning of this quality? Those in the know instantly referred to Merckx-Caudron, last week in the Belgian league, where Merckx ran 10 and Caudron answered with 12: another example of 22 points in a single inning. The best opening on record dates back to 2006, when Tonny Carlsen ran 27 from the spots against Dick Jaspers.

At the end of the qualifying round, Glenn Hofman and Roland Forthomme were empty-handed, they missed out on the main draw. It was the Korean star Jae Ho Cho who had the best score: two matches in 15 innings (against Incekara and Akkaya), a 2.666 average with a high run of eleven. Vietnamese Dinh Nai Ngo was not far behind with 4 points and 1.904, Dong Koong Kang had 4 points and 1.777, a score shared with Eddy Leppens. Savas Bulut and Muammer Rahmet also survived the final qualification round, placing 9^th and 10^th. Martin Horn, after losing his first match, was the last of the winners to survive with 2 points and 1.681.

The battle for the 16 spots in the main draw was exciting all day long. Along with the 12 flight winners (four Koreans, three Turks, two Vietnamese, one Belgian, one Spaniard and a German), Can Capak, Anh Vu Duong, Jean Paul de Bruijn and Adnan Yüksel made it as best numbers 2. Jae-Ho Cho was a joy to behold, in the way he won both his matches. Quyet Chien Tran could only distance himself from Jean Paul de Bruijn late in the match, but the Dutchman got in though the back door. Dong-Koong Kang was solid and unchallenged in his two performances, and Savas Bulut got the better of a feared Vietnamese fighter, Minh Cam Ma, outscoring him 40-20 in 26.

Martin Horn made up for his disappointing start against Savas Gungor (34-40) with a superior 40-26 in 16 against Anh Vu Duong. Eddy Leppens edged Adnan Yüksel in the group decider, 40-37 in 30, Muammer Rahmet surprised Tonny Carlsen and David Martinez to end on four points and 1.355, and Lütfi Cenet ended the ambitions of In-Won Kang: 40-38 in 29. Javier Palazón won the tricky group with Glenn Hofman and Roland Forthomme. The Belgian produced the high run: 13.

Jae-Guen Kim beat Birol Uymaz and Xuan Cuong Ma, Hyung Kon Kim got the better of Ji Hun Ahn and Riad Nady, Dinh Nai Ngo made a strong impression against Can Capak (40-27 in 17), which left the Turk as the best of the runners-up with a 2.161 average and 2 points. Hyung Bum Hwang, star of Wednesday's matches, could not keep up the level and was sent home without a win and 1.256.

The ranking of the group winners:
1 Jae-Ho Cho 4-2.666-11
2 Dinh Nai Ngo 4-1.904-7
3 Dong-Koong Kang 4-1.777-10
4 Eddy Leppens 4-1.777-7
5 Quyet Chien Tran 4-1.739-9
6 Lütfi Cenet 4-1.666-9
7 Javier Palazón 4-1.454-9
8 Jae-Guen Kim 4-1.428-6
9 Savas Bulut 4-1.403-7
10 Muammer Rahmet 4-1.355-7
11 Hyung-Kon Kim 4-1.212-8
12 Martin Horn 2-1.681-8

The four runners-up to qualify:
1 Can Capak 2-2.161-8
2 Anh Vu Duong 2-1.534-8
3 Jean Paul de Bruijn 2-1.333-7
4 Adnan Yüksel 2-1.241-6.

The main draw placed Frédéric Caudron, the world number one, with American wildcard Hugo Patino. Eddy Leppens will play Sameh Sidhom, Dani Sánchez drew the surprise Muammer Rahmet and Marco Zanetti meets Savas Bulut.

Dick Jaspers will play his first round against Lütfi Cenet, Jae-Ho Cho meets Jean Paul de Bruijn, Murat Naci Coklu will play his countryman Can Capak, Dong-Koong Kang is up against Jae-Guen Kim, Sung-Won Choi has wildcard Semih Sayginer and Eddy Merckx plays Javier Palazón.

De volledige loting voor het hoofdtoernooi, vrijdag:

12.00 uur Turkse tijd (11.00 uur Europa)

Caudron-Patino
Heo-Horn
Ngo-Tasdemir
Leppens-Sidhom

14.00:
Bury-Tran
Sánchez-Rahmet
Polychronopoulos-Duong
Zanetti-Bulut

16.00:
Jaspers-Cenet
Nguyen-HK Kim
HJ Kim-Yüksel
Cho-De Bruijn

18.00:
Coklu-Capak
Kang-JG Kim
Choi-Sayginer
Merckx-Palazón.