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Two casualties in the "group of death".

10/14/2015

Published by frits bakker

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© © Kozoom/Korea
Jae Guen Kim, the day winner

ISTANBUL - It must have been tough for Pierre Soumagne to play the second-best average of the day, and get sent home. And how will stylish Turkish player Yilmaz Özcan have felt, with his 1.450 average at the bottom of the ranking on day three of the Istanbul World Cup? With that performance, he could have been in the top-5 of the winners group. It was not just tough, also a bit unfair. Sometimes the draw is simply not your friend.

Pierre Soumagne and Yilmaz Özcan were in a flight with young Pan-American champion Jose Juan Garcia, who drew with Özcan in his first match, but scored 30-23 in 15 innings in the decider against the Frenchman. It gave him the group win, which he fully deserved, with three points and 1.578, ahead of Soumagne with two points and 1.656. Özcan was third with one point and 1.450. This level was not matched in any of the other groups. Korean Jae Guen Kim was the only player to do better than Soumagne, with his four points and 1.764.

Fourteen more players remained unbeaten and rightfully booked a place in the next round. But just to give an example: one of those fourteen was Greek Dionisis Tsokontas, who had a good win (30 in 19) but also an agonizing 30-29 in 43. The Turkish supremacy on this third day was visible, with seven players amongst the best sixteen, and Ahmet Bayatli (5 points, 1.578), Ahmet Alp (4, 1.578), Murat Celik (4, 1.428) Mehmet Goren (4.1.395) and Can Capak (4, 1.333) in the top ten.

The Koreans went to the last qualification round with three players, and were joined by Carlos Crespo (Spain), Nalle Olsson (Sweden), Juan Jose Garcia (Colombia), Vinh Ly The (Vietnam), Jean Reverchon (France) and Dionisis Tsokontas (Greece). Spaniard Jose Maria Mas missed out on qualifying in his last match against Jean Reverchon. Both players had easily beaten Japanese Hiroshi Sasaki, so it was now mano a mano. The Spaniard was first to finish, after some tumult, because a doubtful point was assigned to Mas. Reverchon was furious, but took his revenge when he equalized with two and won his flight on average.

Carlos Crespo is amongst the better players in the early stages, as he was in Porto. He's left with one more obstacle to get into the main draw. Can Capak showed character and spirit in his match against Japanese Kiyota, and Ji Hun Ahn ended the hopes of tournament organizer Gokhan Salman, who can now focus on his work for the event. Therese Klompenhouwer, the ladies world champion, did not come anywhere near her own level. In the Guri World Cup her averages were still okay (14 in 15 and 25 in 18), but the Turkish adventure had no shine at all. She lost against Sang Heon Lee, 30-20 in 28 and against Ahmet Bayatli, 30-17 in 23 (0.725 over two matches).

Jae Guen Kim, the day winner

The day scores:

1 Jae Guen Kim 4-1.764-11

2 Ahmet Bayatli 4-1.578-9

3 Ahmet Alp 4-1.578-8 4 Carlos Crespo

4-1.538-10

5 Nalle Olsson 4-1.428-11

6 Murat Celik 4-1.428-8

7 Mehmet Goren 4-1.395-5

8 Ji Hun Ahn 4-1.363-6

9 Can Capak 4-1.333-13

10 Kwang Yeo Park 4-1.333-6

11 Selim Özden 4-1.333-6

12 Savas Bulut 4-1.333-6

13 Vinh Ly The 4-1.250o-10

14 Dionisis Tsokontas 4-0.967-4

15 Jose Juan Garcia 3-1.578-7

16 Jean Reverchon 3-1.500-6.  

The flight for the last qualification round: winners and three best nrs. to advance:

Group A: Carlos Crespo, Nalle Ollson, Jung Han Heo

Group B: Ahmet Alp, Murat Celik, Jean Paul de Bruijn

Group C: Ahmet Bayatli, Mehmet Goren, Quyet Chien Tran

Group D: Jae Guen Kim, Ji Hun Ahn, Jérémy Bury

Group E: Birol Uymaz, Can Capak, Eddy Leppens

Group F: Tolgahan Kiraz, Kwang Yeol Prk, Quoc Nguyen Nguyen

Group G: Kostas Papakonstantinou, Pedro Piedrabuena, Selim Özden

Group H: Javier Palazón, Savas Bulut Chi Yeon Cho

Group I: Arnim Kahofer, Vinh Ly The, Riad Nady

Group J: Nick Polychronopoulos, Murat Tüzül, Dionisis Tsokontas

Group K: Jose Juan Garcia, Christian Rudolph, Murat Naci Coklu

Group L: Anh Vu Duong, Jean Reverchon, Lütfi Cenet.

 

Ahmet Alp, one of the seven Turks in the top sixteen

Ahmet Bayatli, the number two on the third day

Jean Reverchon deserved his place in the next round in the equalizer

Gökhan Salman is out and can fully focus to the tournament

Jose Juan Garcia took the win in the group of death

 

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