3-Cushion
CAIRO - The top ten in the world has only one player left for the final day of the three cushion World championship in Cairo. Dick Jaspers will take a shot at the title in the final battle with four players on Saturday. All the other top ten players, led by Frédéric Caudron, the dethroned world champion, were thrown to the lions in the pre-round stage. Two former champions are still in the tournament: Dick Jaspers as triple champion, Semih Sayginer with one world title. The two European giants, who played each other in this years World Cup final in Blankenberge, meet up in the semi-finals, the other match for a place in the final goes between Jérémy Bury and the only Vietnamese left, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen.
The new world champion can storm the rankings after the roller coaster days in Cairo. Dick Jaspers is with his fifth place the best ranked player of the four in the finals, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen is the number 14, Semih Sayginer at 15 and Jérémy Bury at 20. The come-back of the French player is the main surprise. After his glory year in 2016, with successive victories in the Open Verhoeven in New York and the World Cup in Guri, Bury could rarely shine.
The match against Quyet Chien Tran evoked a wonderful memory. It was the player he defeated in the World Cup final in Korea. Two times 'a six' before the break paved the way for Bury (32-16), in the final phase the Frenchman suffered a short setback. Tran came back to 38-36, got another chance in the equalizer at 40-36, but Bury was the deserved winner: 40-37 in 21. The two Vietnamese in the other match played a one-way fight with Nguyen Quoc Nguyen in the main role. For Ma was his last appearance a torture, which he finished 40-16 down in 20 innings.
Semih Sayginer, the world champion of 2003 in Valladolid, gives his march to the world top fifteen years later more glamour. The last jump to the podium made an end to Tonny Carlsen's race. The Dane, who regained the sympathy of many billiard lovers after his metamorphosis, had to say farewell. The start of his match against Sayginer was promising with a run of 11, yielding 22-7 in five at the break. In the second part, Carlsen lost his way with five 'ones' in eleven innings. Semih ran away and finished 40-34 in 24.
Dick Jaspers started his first attack against Tayfun Tasdemir with a 7 in the fifth inning and a 15-4 margin. The match faltered in the middle part and after 23-20 in 12. Jaspers, with his never-give-up character, got it on the road again and won 40-30 in 21. The bookmakers are in favour of the Dutchman with his huge averages in this tournament.
The definitive breakthrough of the Vietnamese at a World championship ran parallel with the elimination of great champions. Dick Jaspers and Semih Sayginer are still in the race for a new world title. Torbjörn Blomdahl (5 titles), Dani Sánchez (4), Frédéric Caudron (3), Eddy Merckx (2), Marco Zanetti (2), Filippos Kasidokostas (1) and Sung-Won Choi (1) remain on that number for now. The wear and tear was already shown in the first knock-outs and continued in the second round, in which five of the eight matches finished with an over two average winner and where Minh Cam Ma was the killer for Blomdahl 40-13 in 13 innings.
This Vietnamese is of course not unknown on the global stage and is at his best in World championships. Ma reached the semi-finals in Santa Cruz last year, played a draw in his match against Eddy Merckx (40-40), but lost 3-2 in the shoot-out. The sequel is known: Caudron and Merckx played the final, Caudron became world champion. At Cairo's championship, Ma was relentless for Blomdahl, who looked to be back on his way, but couldn't impress at all playing the Vietnamese. The smooth start, with an 28-8 lead, killed the match. The Swede couldn't fight back and was sentenced 40-13.
The other two Vietnamese in that round also excelled with big runs. Quyet Chien Tran hit the gap with Robinson Morales with a run of 12 that brought him up to 34-15 in the 14th and later to 40-18 in 18. Nguyen Quoc Nguyen struggled a bit longer with the last Korean, Jung-Han Heo , who had a better start with 20-10. The Asian champion was back at 24-23 and closed the match with seven at 34-33 in 29.
Dick Jaspers had to put up his first real fight to defeat Ruben Legazpi. The Spaniard ran to a lead after 12, 27-19, Jaspers found his rhythm on time and scored two times 5 to finish: 40-35 in 19. Tonny Carlsen was the best in that round with an attack shortly before the break (22-9) and a victory over Ngo 40-26 in 17. Eddy Leppens was the last of three Belgians to be out in his second match at this tournament against Semih Sayginer. Leppens won the first, Sayginer was the strongest in the knock-out with 40-35 in 27 innings. Tayfun Tasdemir outplayed the only remaining home player. He defeated Sameh Sidhom, who was very strong in his previous appearance, 40-29 in 25.
The matches for the semi-finals, Saturday:
14.00: Jaspers-Sayginer
16.00: Nguyen-Bury
Final at 7pm.
Jérémy Bury outplayed Caudron and is in the semi finals after victory over Tran
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen defeated Ma and faces Jérémy Bury in the semis
Dick Jaspers playing Semih Sayginer tomorrow in the semi finals
Semih Sayginer, one of two former champions on the final day