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Ronaldino, a streetfighter who celebrates life

09/28/2017

Published by frits bakker

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© Kozoom
Roland Forthomme, rising from the ashes yet again

CHEONGJU CITY - Roland Forthomme's gesture to the crowd, after he had made the winning point, said it all. The inimitable Belgian, playing in the Korean World Cup, looked as if he said: "What do I know, I can't help it." The audience had just watched one of those all-or-nothing matches the big guy from Liege is famous for. before halftime: an amateur without a clue, in the second half: a stone-cold killer on a mission.. Jae-Guen Kim, world champion for Korea in the Viersen team event, had a comfortable lead, but was then steamrolled by one of 3-cushion's heavyweights.

Roland shrugged after that 40-35 in 27, surprised as he was about the way the match had unfolded. It was 35-26 to the Korean, he had no feel, no confidence and missed shots by a sea mile. Then, as so often, there was a turnaround in Forthomme's favor. His stroke was pin-point again, his face a grimace, no position could scare him. A reborn Forthomme showed his other face: a run of ten, across the finish line two innings later, fourteen points for him, zero for his opponent in the home stretch. His lows are low, his highs are high, that's how the crowd knows him, that's why his opponents fear him.

He is unable to come up with an explanation. Ask yourself, is  Roland Forthomme (pet name Rolandino) the player you would expect in that famous foursome (with Caudron, Ceulemans and Komori) that holds the high run world record of 28? Was he playing well in the past weeks? Not in the leagues, where could hardly win a match. And on the world ranking, he no longer holds a top spot.

But yet, he'll be in the main tournament tomorrow, the third Belgian to make it, next to Caudron and Merckx. He wants so badly to return to the pinnacle of the sport, and nobody will begrudge him that. Forthomme is a beautiful person, a street fighter who never gives up, a man who celebrates life more than any other top player. He may look angry when he's playing, but when he's on song, he is unstoppable. ..Small cigar, large pint, big heart, big deeds...

Roland was not amongst the top winners of the day, though.  Semih Sayginer (2.222 average), Choong-Bok Lee (2.105), Min Gu Kang (1.777), Chi Yeon Cho (1.739), Dinh Nai Ngo (1.702) and Hyung Kon Kim (1.702), a Turkish wizard and five Asians were the best. Sayginer was brilliant, using 16 and 20 innings for his two matches. Three other Turks, Tayfun Tasdemir, Birol Uymaz and Tolgahan Kiraz also won their groups, and Lūtfi Cenet made it through as one of the best runners-up.

It was a fascinating final qualification day, with many casualties:  Myung Woo Cho, Eddy Leppens, Dong Koong Kang, Jae Guen Kim, Hwang Hyung Bum, Javier Palazón, to name a few. It was tough day for Leppens. The Belgian had three chances to make his last point, but he missed and was punished by Birol Uymaz. Sung-Won Choi had a narrow escape against Thanh Tien Le (40-40), Tolgahan Kiraz got through on average, Forthomme, as we mentioned, made it thanks to his second wind.

The most remarkable matches: Lütfi Cenet drubbing Hyung Bum Hwang, a former top-10 player, 40-6 in 18, Choong-Bok Lee had a 13-inning match (best of the day) and Semih had a 16-inning match. Sung-Won Choi had to equalize with 3, and got through on his excellent (2.162) average.

The level of play was formidable: eleven of the best twelve players were over 1.500, as well as four of the numbers two in the group. Tolgahan Kiraz was the twelfth and last guy to sneak into the main draw. Two Vietnamese, a Turk and a Korean qualified as runner-up: Thanh Tien Le, Xuan Cuong Ma, Lütfi Cenet and Seung Jin Lee.

The top-12 of the final qualifying round:
1 Semih Sayginer 4-2.222-12
2 Choong-Bok Lee 4-2.105-9
3 Min Gu Kang 4-1.777-10
4 Chi Yeon Cho 4-1.739-10
5 Dinh Nai Ngo 4-1.702-9
6 Hyung-Kon Kim 4-1.702-9
7 Roland Forthomme 4-1.632-10
8 Tayfun Tasdemir 4-1.509-8
9 Sung-Won Choi 3-2.162-11
10 Birol Uymaz 3-1.777-9
11 Anh Vu Duong 3-1.250-7
12 Tolgahan Kiraz 2-1.520-9.

 

The draw for the main event, starting on Friday:

12.00:
Dani Sánchez-Seung-Jin Lee
Lütfi Cenet-Min-Gu Kang
Sameh Sidhom-Chi-Yeon Cho
Torbjörn Blomdahl-Birol Uymaz

14.00:
Jung-Han Heo-Roland Forthomme
Haeng-Jik Kim-Dinh Nai Ngo
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen-Jae-Ho Cho
Frédéric Caudron-Anh Vu Duong
16.00:
Marco Zanetti-Sung-Won Choi
Eddy Merckx-Thanh Tien Le
Murat Naci Coklu-Tayfun Tasdemir
Choong-Bok Lee-Riad Nady

18.00:
Nikos Polychronopoulos-Xuan Cuong Ma
Quyet Chien Tran-Tolgahan Kiraz
Semih Sayginer-In-Won Kang
Dick Jaspers-Hyung-Kon Kim.

 

 

Semih used only 16 and 20 innings for his two wins

Choong Bok Lee: best match of the day

Sung Won Choi: equalized with three

Tanh Tien Le

 

Sour grapes for Eddy: one point short

Tayfun is one of the six Turks in the main draw

Young Cho, is he he in a slump?

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