3-Cushion
ISTANBUL - Suppose you've won the German Masters, ahead of Thorsten Frings, Martin Horn and Stefan Galla. You are a 23-year old talent, and you travel to the Istanbul World Cup, to make your mark on the international stage. You have a bleak opening match against the unknown Spaniard Alberto Gomez Sanchez (losing 30-24 in 31) and then you get pummeled by an Austrian who comes out of retirement.
That's what happened to Dustin Jäschke, who will realize that "one swallow does not a summer make", and naturally will leave Istanbul with a bitter taste in his mouth. The young German left in a hurry, after he got punished 30-9 in 17 innings, by veteran Gerhard Kostistansky.
Gone were the chances of the German hope, on his first day of a World Cup that has not had a start as spectacular as the two previous ones, in Ho Chi Minh and Guri. The level of play is significantly lower, on the opening days. No averages in the 2.000 region for the first 32 group winners in Istanbul, which was not uncommon for the Vietnamese and Korean locals.
The good news, on day two?
X Can Capak's first match against Kaptan Bayramoglu (30-11 in 13), followed by a second, laborsome draw between the Turk and German Cengiz Karaca.
X Murak Celik had a great start against Bora Yayalar in sixteen innings, and he booked his place in the next round when he beat his German namesake Hakan Celik in 23 innings.
X Gerhard Kostistansky is still in the race, he has survived two days now. X Nalle Olsson beat Monday's best winner Sezgin Adiguzeloglu in the deciding match, 30-26 in 24.
X Yilmaz Özcan could have used the back end of his cue, and still would have beaten Juan Manuel Casal (0.342) and Hamed Mohsen (0.308).
X Flight E brought two Turks to the table, and they were a good match. Yavuz Güngördü (highest average of the day) and Hakan Incekara drew (30-30 in 19), the average deciding about the group win: 1.621 for Güngördü, 1.578 for Incekara.
X Jeon Wan Lim, who came second in his flight, had the day's high run with a 13. Taskin Er and Ji Hu Ahn both ran a 10. X Two Spaniards, Jose Maria Mas and Carlos Crespo, finished in the day's top-5.
A few remarkable groups for tomorrow:
Flight D: Jae Guen Kim, Ra Hee Kim, Gerhard Kostistansky
Flight H: Jose Juan Garcia, Pierre Soumagnre, Yilmaz Özcan
Flight L: Emrullah Basegmez, Mehmet Goren, Raymon Groot
Flight O: (Gökhan Salman, Bülent Özdemir, Ji Hun Ahn.
Murat Celik, the day winner
The day ranking for Tuesday:
1 Murat Celik 4-1.578-6
2 Jose Maria Mas 4-1.395-8
3 Selim Özden 4-1.363-7
4 Gerhard Kostistansky 4-1.224-7
5 Carlos Crespo 4-1.132-7
6 Salih Tekeli 4-1.132-6
7 Nalle Olsson 4-1.111-7
8 Yilmaz Özcan 4-1.052-5
9 Björn Lohmander 4-1.000-8
10 Manol Minaoglu 4-0.952-8
11 Oh Bok Cho 4-0.952-8
12 Raymon Groot 4-0.869-7
13 Yavuz Güngördü 3-1.621-6
14 Can Capak 3-1.578-7
15 Ji Hun Ahn 3-1.276-10
16 Sang Heon Lee 3-1.176-6.
Top three reserves:
1 Hakan Incekara 3-1.578-7
2 Cengiz Karaka 3-1.250-8
3 Umut Ray 3-1.111-7.
,,She has a phone, where is mine?''
Time for a short break for the referees
Nalle Olsson bested the first day's winner
Carlos Crespo finished in the top five
Dustin Jäschke was out after his first appearance
Czech player Jan Hudak focused on the position
Ji Hun Ahn from Korea