3-Cushion
ISTANBUL - The return of Gerard Kostistansky to the billiard arena in the Istanbul World Cup was quite remarkable, because he more or less announced his retirement last year. Twelve of the sixteen players who qualified on the first day for the next round came from the host country, some of these players wore a sign of mourning for the victims of the terrorist attack in Ankara.
The Istanbul World Cup was launched with the first preliminaries this Monday, the fifth edition in the series this year: four days of qualification rounds will leave sixteen players for the main draw on Thursday. Two Turks topped the day's list after the first skirmishes: Serzin Adiguzeloglu with four match points and 1.764, Yilmaz Özcan, an old acquaintance in the circuit, with four points and 1.666.
Sixteen players were group winners with two wins, thirteen players finished over one average, Selim Ozden, second reserve, showed up with the highest run: 9.
The Turkish field of seeded players was joined by the Austrian Gerhard Kostistasky (4 points, 1.052), German Orhan Erogul (4, 0.857), Vietnamese Chi Minh Truong (4, 0.769) and Cypriot Turgut Ozbay (4, 0.588).
Fuksan Senel, fourth on the day ranking, played a brilliant match, 30 in 10 innings with two runs of eight and a six. The first Korean, Sang Heon Lee, finished on top of the reserve list, but will return tomorrow. The Belgian Martin Spoormans and Dutchman Dave Christiani are placed in the groups for tomorrow, but have already announced not to come to Istanbul.
The best-known players who start the tournament on Tuesday are Can Capak, Dustin Jäschke, Carlos Crespo, Jose Maria Mas, Nalle Olsson, Herbert Szivacz and Hakan Incekara.
The day ranking on Monday:
1 Serzin Adiguzeloglu 4-1.764-5
2 Yilmaz Özcan 4-1.666-8
3 Salih Tekeli 4-1.276-8
4 Furkan Senel 4-1.224-8
5 Hakan Incekara 4-1.200-6
6 Tahir Alp 4-1.200-5
7 Kaptan Bayramoglu 4-1.200-5
8 Umut Ray 4-1.111-5
9 Bora Yayalar 4-1.090-7
10 Gerhard Kostistansky 4-1.052-4
11 Taskin Er 4-1.000-6
12 Fadil Ozdemir 4-1.000-5
13 Orhan Erogul 4-0.857-5
14 Arif Topaloglu 4-0.821-4
15 Chi Minh Truong 4-0.769-5
16 Turgut Ozbay 4-0.588-4.
The organizer's desk in the playing room
Gerhard Kostistansky is back in the billiardroom
Orhan Erogul is among the players for the next round
Kaptan Bayramoglu, one of the thirteen Turkish players in the top sixteen.