3-Cushion
LUXOR - The punitive expedition in the Luxor World Cup, in which he put up three wins in a row over three Koreans, seems like the perfect distraction for Nikos Polychronopoulos. The Greek champion left his business in the billiards center for a break and distanced himself from the crisis in the Greek federation for a while.
The expectations were not that high, Nikos said when he arrived in Luxor. He almost couldn't find time to practice (,,maybe three, four hours per week''), but already for some days now, he demonstrates at the billiard table that his form and rhythm are not gone through those hectic weeks.
And now, after three performances in the main tournament, Nikos is still in the race. He successively defeated Kyung-Roul Kim, Sung-Won Choi and the small, promising boy, Hyung Bum Hwang in today's quarterfinals: 40-33, in 21 innings.
As a result, he will play tomorrow, on the final day, in the semi-final Frédéric Caudron, who defeated Jean Paul de Bruijn. The other semifinal is the match between Torbjörn Blomdahl and Choong-Bok Lee.
Nikos is back with a mission and shows his outstanding class to the Luxor audience. Flamboyant style, fast, furious, effective at decisive moments, in the beng-beng rhythm of a cool killer.
Twice he was a bit in danger, against Sung-Won Choi, who even came close at the end and against Hyung Bum Hwang, who hit back with a ten-run in the last innings. But he couldn't threat Poly at all.
And the crisis, was it out of his mind these days?
Nikos Polychronopoulos grabs for a cigarette, shortly after the match, the smile is back on his face after the tension in the match end and he says: ,,For us, the Greeks, it is very important that we come in line rapidly.''
,,I feel - even now we are here - we are all ready to work on something very new. We should be careful, to not shout it out loud, but there is a perspective. I know that everyone wants the two Greek top players, Filippos and me, will play together again. But all the other players shoud work towards the main goal.''
For now, the focus is at the billiard, where he faces the number one in the world tomorrow, Saturday: Frédéric Caudron. The Belgian walked simply over Jean Paul de Bruijn (40-17 in 20) and complained about severe headaches after the match. ,,I rarely felt this kind of pain during a match'', he said.
Two Koreans met in one of the quarterfinals with Choong-Bok Lee leading the entire match against Dong Koong Kang, who was forced to chase him. The purchase brought him only on five points at the end: 40-35 in eighteen innings.
Torbjörn Blomdahl fought himself, as he did in the previous round, in a mental battle to the semi-finals. Murat Naci Coklu did not want to surrender and balanced until 25-24 in 13, ultimately the class and routine of the Swede were decisive: 40-36 in 25.
The semifinal matches:
Frédéric Caudron - Nikos Polychronopoulos
Torbjörn Blomdahl - Choong-Bok Lee.