3-Cushion
He has the reputation of a young, handsome boy, who often steals the hearts of female fans when he is at the table. But in his first performance, this afternoon, the Frenchman Pierre Soumagne was anything but a lady killer. He took a lead, indeed, against the Dutch lady Sylvia Eckel, in a fast set (15-2), but then he got lost. The win in the second set even almost was for Eckel, who plays no more than 0.300 average, but at the end Soumagne found back his feeling and took the set with 15-12.
The French talent tonight has to duel with Abdin Sallah, an Egyptian who in any case played a better average against Eckel.
Even more interesting is the battle between Wim van Cromvoirt and Ronny Lindemann. The Dutchman had an excellent start, even the best of all players so far. He captured the win against Salah Farouk with 15-4 15-4 and an average of 1.666. Tonight Ronny Lindemann will be his opponent.
Francis Forton provided himself in the group of death a good perspective by beating Arnim Kahofer 2-1. The Belgian made a run of nine and ended with 1.366. His opponent in the final match of this group is Ad Koorevaar, the winner of that match enters the next round.
Tonny Carlsen started with a lost set against Marcel van Berkel, but then recovered to 15-2 and 15-7, which brought him to an average of 1,200.