3-Cushion
SCHILTIGHEIM - They meet each other maybe ten times a year, Kyung-Roul Kim and Jae Ho Cho... and six to ten times Kim is the winner. In the Agipi Masters, it was upside down, this afternoon in the first round in Group B. Cho won 50-30 in 19 innings, it was the second match of four in less than 20 innings.
Murat Naci Coklu finished six innings above the bonus-border, because in the second half of his match against Nikos Polychronopoulos, the balls did not role as he wanted. The Turk, nonetheless, defeated his Greek neighbor 50-42 in 26 innings.
Dani Sánchez will show up tomorrow in this flight.
Kyung-Roul Kim and Jae Ho Cho are both part of the top three in Korea. In three ranking tournaments last year, Kim was the best in two, Cho in one. Kim is the number one of his country, Cho number three.
In last year's Agipi Masters, won by Torbjörn Blomdahl, Kim was in the final. He is therefor one of the main contenders for this year, but after his loss against Cho, he will need a tough job to qualifying for the final round with eight players.
Jae Ho Cho showed the best shape in the duel between the two rivals: the small, snappy Korean started with ten against his 'big brother', with whom he is performing regularly in Seoul tournaments.
Kim remained near by until 16 to 13, came up with a run to 20-17, but then played was outplayed by his opponent, who made the gap with three's and four's in the final part.