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The referee, the time clock, Zanetti and Caudron

02/06/2016

Published by frits bakker

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© © Kozoom/Korea
Frédéric Caudron and Marco Zanetti, former Agipi teammates, before the start of their match

BURSA - The incident in the match between Frédéric Caudron and Marco Zanetti marked the atmosphere for a while in the arena and at the table on the early Saturday morningl. What had happened, actually, at the start of the second day in the Bursa World Cup? Why did the Italian react so agitated, why did he want to discuss the matter with the sports director and how crucial was the intervention for the match?

The much discussed incident in short: Zanetti made a time violation in the seventh inning on a 15-11 score for the Belgian and was sent to his chair by the referee. The main question was, of course, did Zanetti deliver his stroke within the playing time of forty seconds or didn't he?

Caudron gave his point of view after the match: ,,Zanetti's clock had run out, according to the two referees. The problem is that there is no sound from the PC. I myself could not see it, because where we sit, we can not see the scoreboard. So, I have not interfered with the discussion. For sure not with Zanetti, who tried everything to turn it into an argument: he called for the sports director, but Barki came in when the balls were already on the spots. So, I just went on with the match and played.''

The Belgian was allowed, as instructed by the rules, to start from the spots and he scored four points, building up his margin to 19-12. But as so often, when it is exciting and when he feels provoked, Zanetti fought back like a lion. He even managed to catch up with his opponent and could finish after a run of four (at 35-37) with an easy bank shot. But he missed the corner position and Caudron answered efficiently to win the match with a final three: 40-39 in 20. Not for the first time the two Agipi team mates challenged in a knife-edge clash of high class and character. Who does not remember the legendary match at the European championships in Brandenburg, in which Caudron equaled the high run world record (28) and Zanetti finally took the game.

The home crowd hero Semih Saygıner was knocked out by the player who made the most powerful impression in the first two sessions. Torbjörn Blomdahl feels at home at the Platinum tables. ,,They have improved the tables and the rails'', he explained. ,,I feel very strong so far.'' His match against Sayginer balanced until 30-30 in 15, after the Turkish prince had picked up a 20-11 and 27-16 backlog. ,,My start was good and I could score again very well at the end'', said Blomdah, who won 40-31 in 19. ,,It was a rather difficult match because Semih played very strongly with the support of his home crowd.''

The upper part of the schedule of sixteen players got the better of the other four matches. Eddy Merckx played the best match in the early session of the day with a victory over Jung Han Heo: 40-25 in 16 innings (2.500). Thus he eliminated another one of the prominent Koreans. Merckx looks strong, stable and seems unafraid of anyone so far, as he is in his best days.

Two of his compatriots, Forthomme and Leppens fought together to continue in the tournament. The victory went to Forthomme, pretty easy, because Leppens was a distant shadow of the player from the last qualifications: 40-23 in 24.

The best of all Turks, Tayfun Tasdemir, passed the round smoothly and bested the tame, former world champion Sung-Won Choi with a big margin: after 30-9 in 12 he ended up 40-17 in 17 on the final table. The crowd luckily has one player to cheer for in the next round. Hyung Bum Hwang, the third of four Koreans in this round, was literally silenced by Dick Jaspers (40-16 in 21). Only Dong Koong Kang was left of the Asians with an easy victory over the weak Nikos Polychronopoulos: 40-15 in 22.

Pedro Piedrabuena and Sameh Sidhom closed the session with a marathon match in which the American eventually took the win after a 9-run, followed by seven matchballs (40-38 in 43).

Torbjörn Blomdahl outplayed the home crowd hero Semih Sayginer

The matches for the quarters at 18.00 (Turkish time):

Blomdahl-Caudron
Tasdemir-Merckx
Jaspers-Forthomme
Kang-Piedrabuena.

Tayfun Tasdemir, the best and only Turk left in the World Cup

Roland Forthomme won the Belgian clash against Eddy Leppens

Dick Jaspers had a walk-over against Korean Hwang

Eddy Merckx, the best of all winners in this session: 2.500 against Jung Han Heo

Pedro Piedrabuena receives the compliments of his opponent Sameh Sidhom

Dong Koong Kang, the last Korean player in the field of eight.

 

 

 

 

 

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