Marco Zanetti has a successor in Italy

IZMIR - The Italian billiard, not richly endowed by good players in the carom disciplines, has a new talent in sight. 18-year-old Alessio d'Agata from Catania in Sicily, a pupil of Marco Zanetti, took the spotlights on the first day of the Junior World championships in Izmir with an amazing match. The young Italian defeated one of the two Koreans, 25-9 in 11 innings, 2.273 average. That made him the best player in the first sessions. Carlos Anguita, the reigning champion, provided another highlight with a run of sixteen.

The history books don't indicate whether that is the best run ever for a junior in an official tournament. Carlos Anguita: ,,The people here say that it is a world record, but nobody knows for sure.'' The Spaniard couln't start the tournament with a spectacular match. He defeated Danish Jensen 25-18 in 24 and even trailed 16-5 when he launched the attack in the 17th inning. Myung-Woo Cho, the Korean star in this field, started with a win over Colombian Ocampo: 25-12 in 15 innings (1.667).

Alessio d'Agata, who turned 18 in July, is no stranger in the billiards world. At the European championship under 17 in Brandenburg he was second at the small table behind Maxime Panaia. He started his career at the age of 11 when his father Giuseppe discovered his talent. Paolo Niceforo (53), the chairman of the Catania Master Club, trained young d'Agata since then every day. In his first year D'Agata reached the final of the Italian championship, in which he lost to Zanetti. That means that D'Agata, who visits the nautical high school, will be allowed to play with his master at the World championships for nation teams in Viersen. He is also the second participant at the World championship in Cairo next month.

Santo Viglianesi, a well-known artistic player, explains: ,,Alessio won the Italian junior championship four times and is visiting Zanetti for training sessions since last year. The progress in quality can be clearly seen. I myself have done my best to give him some advice. We also spoke with Pierluigi Longoni, who made it possible to play with a top cue, the last model produced by Zanetti.''

The young Italian continues in his group with Stef van Hees, the Belgian who won his first match against the Spaniard Mario Mercador: 25-19 in 31. Joey de Kok from the Netherlands had an excellent start against the Colombian Vasquez (15-3 in 9 innings) and finished unchallenged with 25-14 in 26. The other game in that group went to Shota Funaki, who beat Turk Güngor 25-22 in 33 innings.

Myung-Woo Cho leads in his group ahead of Gwendal Maréchal. The Frenchman defeated Alperen Cebeoglu from Turkey 25-18 in 26. Maxime Panaia bested in the group of Carlos Anguita the Danish player Björn Mikkel Jensen 25-19 in 22.

The second session confronts the winners from the first matches.

The young Italian d'Agata, cheered by his coach in Izmir

Dutchman Joey de Kok, another good starter at the World championship