Top five make an early exit

10/28/2017

Published by frits bakker

Torbjörn Blomdahl, beating the world's number one Dani Sánchez in the quarter finals

LA BAULE - The four semifinalists in the La Baule World Cup are seasoned former world champions from Europe (Blomdahl and Caudron), a 20 year old prodigy from Korea (Myung Woo Cho) and a 38 year old revelation from Vietnam (Xuan Cuong Ma). Europe and Asia will battle it out twice: at 11.00 Blomdahl will play Ma, at 13.00 Caudron meets Cho. The top-five of the world ranking are all out. Dani Sánchez, Dick Jaspers, Haeng-Jik Kim and Murat Naci Coklu were eliminated on the second day of play. Marco Zanetti did not survive the first round. The best winner on Saturday was Frédéric Caudron in his match against Jean Paul de Bruijn (12 innings, 3.333 average). Torbjörn Blomdahl and this event's stuntman, Xuan Cuong Ma, colored the first quarterfinals with wins in 13 innings (3.076).

Torbjörn Blomdahl booked good progress on the ranking when he beat Dani Sánchez. The Swede can make a jump back into the top five. Dani Sánchez will stay in the lead, and Haeng-Jik Kim, winner of the two previous World Cups, will overtake Jaspers to become the nr. 2.

The penultimate day was a feast of spectacular averages and high runs. Most surprising was the elimination of Dani Sánchez and Haeng-Jik Kim. Xuan Cuong Ma proved to be no flash in the pan, after his win over Marco Zanetti on the opening day. On Saturday, he was the man who sent home two of Korea's finest: Sung-Won Choi and Dong-Koong Kang.

On this late Saturday afternoon, Dani Sánchez was kicked off the podium by Blomdahl. The Spaniard had looked tired for the past two days, even if he managed to survive two rounds. But he was never in the match against Blomdahl. The Swede drew first blood with early runs to give him a 15-3 lead after 4 innings. Sánchez made something of a comeback to 20-15, but from 28-16 the Swede ran a decisive 12: (40-18 in 13).

Xuan Cuong Ma started like a rocket against Dong-Koong Kang with three consecutive runs: 8, 6 and 6. Kang could not recover from 26-8, and Ma finished the job at 40-15 in 13.

Frédéric Caudron was put on the back foot by Can Capak who had an 8-2 lead, later 13-9. But the Belgian showed fine form as he had earlier in the day against de Bruijn. His finish was dominant: 40-29 in 25. Myung-Woo Cho was the better man against Tran, whom he lead 18-9 (run of 9), 24-14 (after 12) and a quick finish at 40-32 in 21 innings.

The second afternoon session had the highest level we've seen so far: five of eight players well over 2 average. Frédéric Caudron defeated his teammate Jean Paul de Bruijn 40-28 in 12 innings (3.333) and a run of 15, Myung-Woo Cho and Can Capak used up 16 and 17 innings against Birol Uymaz (40-14) and Chi Yeon Cho (40-34).

It was the round that saw the elimination of Dick Jaspers by Quyet Chien Tran, with 40-35 in 23 as the final result. The Dutch number 2 player in the world dominated the first half, ran a 12 to lead 28-16 in 9 innings, and the wheels came off. ,,I don't know what happened, but from that moment on I played miserably. You get punished hard if you do, there is no excuse.'' The tiny Vietnamese guy was not even at his very best, but two little sprints of 6 were enough to give him the win.

Frédéric Caudron and Jean Paul de Bruijn, both players in the La Baule league team, wasted no time in their match. It was classy all the way, after Caudron's opening run of 15 to give him a 23-9 lead after 6 innings. The Dutchman played as well as he could have hoped: runs of 5 and 9 brought him back to 23-29. Caudron was not affected, he needed just four more innings to win: 40-29 in 12.

In the midst of that afternoon session, the score boards showed the current level of play in the World Cups. Can Capak averaged 3.667, Frédéric Caudron 3.625, Chi Yeon Cho 3.333, Dick Jaspers 3.111, Jean Paul de Bruijn 2,875 and Myung-Woo Cho 2.615. In addition, Caudron had already run a 15, Jaspers a 12, Cho a 12 and Capak an 11.

Myung-Woo Cho, who lucked out against Jung Han Heo when the referee incorrectly used French miscue rules instead of UMB rules (French rules have since been adjusted), demolished Birol Uymaz from the get-go. The 20-year old Korean promise had a 16-1 lead after 3 innings, 21-1 after 4 and 30-1 after 8. It took a while before the "coup de grace", but that came at 40-14 in 16.

Can Capak had a slow start against Chi Yeon Choi (17-11 behind after 5), but he took matters into his won hands with a run of 12 and had the better finish: 40-34 in 18.

In the first session of the Saturday, Haeng-Jik Kim lost in a Korean giants battle against Dong-Koong Kang. That clash was a joy to behold: Kim first attacked from 13-12 with a run of 11 (10th inning). He made it 32-16 in 14, then missed four times in a row to let his opponent back in. At 34-37 Kim had the finish line in sight. He ran 5 but missed an easy short angle for the match. ,,I made a big mistake'', he later admitted. ,,The table had changed a bit, and I misjudged the position.'' Dong-Koong Kang said "thank you" and quickly ran a 3.

Dani Sánchez saved his skin again, in a mediocre match just like he did on opening day. Last year's final in La Baule (Sánchez - Coklu) was no joy for Dani. He was trailing 12-3 in 5, 20-5 in 10. His explanation was no different this time around: tired, no focus. But again Sánchez escaped. He clawed his way into the match and edged it from 38-37. ,,The only reason I won twice, is because my opponents were even worse'', he said with a smile.

Xuan Cuong Ma, who had kicked out Marco Zanetti on Friday, put another notch on his belt today. The Vietnamese player now outclassed former world champion Sung-Won Choi: 40-26 in 25. Torbjörn Blomdahl had an easy win over the New York champ Jae-Ho Cho: 40-26 in 19.

Semifinals on Sunday:

11.00: Blomdahl-Ma

13.00: Caudron-Cho

Final at 16.00.