3-Cushion
ISTANBUL - The final day of qualification for the Istanbul World Cup ended with an imposing Murat Naci Coklu topping the chart (2.500 average), two Vietnamese in the top-3 (Quoc Nguyen Nguyen and Quiyet Chien Tran) and Juan Jose Garcia, Lütfi Cenet and Jae Guen Kim amongst the victims. The technically skilled Turk won his matches in 17 and 15 innings, sending home the Panamerican champion Garcia in the process.
Ahmet Bayatli (Turkey) played the best match of the day, beating Mehmet Goren 40-12 in 13, then losing his second match 40-25 in 20 to Quyet Chien Tran. Bayatli's name may not be familiar yet, he did make it into the main draw as the best nrs. 2, with an average of 1.969. The other reserves who made it were Carlos Crespo (1.619) and Jean Paul de Bruijn (1.509). The Dutchman had to sit and sweat at the end of the day, because Lütfi Cenet would have overtaken him with a draw against Anh Vu Duong. The Vietnamese player won that close match by three points.
Murat Naci Coklu was the best qualifier of the four days by far, and the first player to average over 2 in the pre-tournament. Vietnam sent four of their players into the main draw, Turkey two, and then there were a Bellgian, a Spaniard, a Korean, a Frenchman, an American and a Greek to proceed. A summary of the last flight stage:
Group A: Korean Jung Han Heo beats Nalle Olsson and Carlos Crespo doing 1.632. The Spaiard has a nice 1.619 and goes through as a reserve.
Group B: Ahmet Alp beats Jean Paul de Bruijn in the deciding match, having trouble to get across the line. The Dutchamn had a fine first match, and is saved by his average (1.509 which gets him into the last 32 as one of the best nrs. 3.
Group C: Quyet Chien Tran comes out on top, in spite of Ahmet Bayatli's sensational first match. The Turk goes through as best nr. 2.
Group D: Jérémy Bury starts with a loss against Ji Hun Ahn (40-34 in 36) but recovers in his second match against Jae Guen Kim (40-15 in 18), which gives him the group win.
Group E: Eddy Leppens wins a close first match against Can Capak (40-38 in 28), then has no problems securing the group win in his second match against Birol Uymaz (40-23 in 29).
Group F: Quoc Nguyen Nguyen gets the better of Tolgahan Kiraz (40-28 in 26) and records an even more impressive second win when he beats Kwang Yeol Park (40-24 in 17).
Group G: Pedro Piedrabuena starts off slow against Kostas Papakonstantinou (40-40 in 31), but speeds up when he faces Selim Özdem: 40-30 in 24.
Group H: Javier Palazón is undefeated in this flight that has one extraordinary match. Chi Yeon Cho is behind 16-37 to Savas Bulut when the match is halted for quite a while, due to a technical mishap and the score needs to be checked. Eventually, they draw. Palazón beats the Korean in the decider: 40-23 in 27.
Group I: Two victories for Vinh Ly The, and a smooth trip into the main draw for the Vietnamese, with Arnim Kahofer coming in second.
Group J: Nick Polychronopoulos beats his countryman Dionisis Tsokantas 40-33 in 28, then Murat Tüzül 40-22 in 22.
Group K: Murat Naci Coklu ends the hopes of Jose Juan Garcia, who impressed in Guri when he sent Torbjörn Blomdahl home. Coklu shines with wins in 17 and 15 innings, showing great form.
Group L: Anh Vu Duong from Vietnam has a tough fight against Lütfi Cenet, but wins 40-37 in 32 to win his group undefeated with a 1.355 average, ahead of Cenet and Reverchon.
Vietnamese Quoc Nguyen Nguyen
Two Greeks, Polychronopoulos (r) and Tsokantas
Thursday's top 12::
1 Murat Naci Coklu 4-2.500-9
2 Quoc Nguyen Nguyen 4-1.860-9
3 Quyet Chien Tran 4-1.777-6
4 Jung Han Heo 4-1.632-11
5 Nikos Polychronopoulos 4-1.481-10
6 Eddy Leppens 4-1.403-7
7 Vinh Ly The 4-1.403-7
8 Anh Vu Duong 4-1.355-8
9 Ahmet Alp 4-1.355-6
10 Javier Palazón 4-1.333-8
11 Pedro Piedrabuena 3-1.454-12
12 Jérémy Bury 2-1.370-9
Best second place finishers: 1 Ahmet Bayatali 2-1.969-9 2 Carlos Crespo 2-1.619-10 3 Jean Paul de Bruijn 2-1.509-8.
The draw for the main tournament (with one mutation due to Sayginer's match on Turkish television):
Turkish time:
Blomdahl-De Bruijn (12.00)
Bayatli-Forthomme (16.00)
Heo-Palazón (12.00)
Duong-Sánchez (12.00)
Cho-Alp (14.00)
Aveiga-Nguyen Nguyen (14.00)
Hwang-Ly (14.00)
Leppens-Merckx (14.00)
Choi-Ma (16.00)
Sayginer-Tran (12.00)
Coklu-Polychronopoulos (16.00)
Henry-Tasdemir (16.00)
Zanetti-Crespo (18.00)
Piedrabuena-Sidhom (18.00)
Caudron-Yüksel (18.00)
Jaspers-Bury (18.00).
Ahmet Bayatli played an amazing first match in 13 innings
Birol Uymaz
Jérémy Bury
Selim Özden
Jean Paul de Bruijn, third best in the run-up group