3-Cushion
GURI - With a spectacular final rush, Marco Zanetti and Dong-Koong Kang passed the finish line on the second day at the Survival Masters. Two runs of ten closed the day of second chances with three groups of four players. Marco Zanetti scored the best with 120 points, Dong-Koong Kang was the best runner-up with 104 points. The Italian and the Korean advance to the second phase joining the two other group winners Dick Jaspers and Jung-Han Heo.
These four players join the twelve players who qualified for the main tournament on the first day. Tomorrow, Saturday, the sixteen finalists start the second group stage with four groups of four players, of whom the best two of each group qualify for the semi-finals.
The schedule and times (Korean time):
Group A (14.00):
Eddy Merckx
Murat Naci Coklu
Semih Sayginer
Dong-Koong Kang
Group B (16.00):
Dinh Nai Ngo
Chi Yeon Cho
Frédéric Caudron
Jung-Han Heo
Group C (18.00):
Nikos Polychronopoulos
Torbjörn Blomdahl
Quyet Chien Tran
Dick Jaspers
Group D (20.00):
HaengJik Kim
Jae-Ho Cho
Tonny Carlsen
Marco Zanetti
The second chances groups:
Group A:
From the start Nguyen Quoc Nguyen took the lead by a run of 10 in the second inning. Dick Jaspers raised his score before the break with runs of 5 and 7. The Dutchman brought the group win over the line by another run of 7. Nguyen missed in his last shot, Jaspers finished with a 20-point lead. Sung-Won Choi and Dani Sánchez, who was unrecognizable in this tournament with a best run of 3 in 32 innings, were eliminated.
The ranking:
1 Dick Jaspers 92-2.142-7
2 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 72-1.785-10
3 Sung-Won Choi 64-1.642-7
4 Dani Sánchez 12-0.714-3
Dick Jaspers
Group B:
Jung-Han Heo and Eddy Leppens battled it out for the group win until the last inning. The Korean led after a run of ten 54-34 during the break, when Leppens ended with eight just before the stop. Seung-Il Jeong played in the second part, with moderate scores for all four, a minor role in that fight, but Heo remained on top and defeated Leppens by eight points. The Belgian missed his last. He should have scored twice to keep chances as the best second. Tayfun Tasdemir, like Dani Sánchez, couldn't show the form to shine. The Turk averaged 0.850 in two days.
The ranking:
1 Jung-Han Heo 76-1.315-10
2 Eddy Leppens 68-1.210-8
3 Seung-Il Jeong 56-1.052-4
4 Tayfun Tasdemir 40-0.842-3
Jung-Han Heo
Group C:
The number one, Marco Zanetti, closed the day with the best score of 120. Dong-Koong Kang, who led until the last inning, was beaten in the final sprint by Zanetti. The Italian and the Korean were far too strong for their opponents Lee and Sidhom. At the stop, Zanetti and Kang were at 52, the second part started with 80-80. The last inning was spectacular: Kang finished his match with a run of 10, Zanetti, playing for the group win, also finished with 10.
The ranking:
1 Marco Zanetti 120-3.153-10
2 Dong-Koong Kang 104-2.846-10
3 Hong-Gi Lee 12-1.076-6
4 Sameh Sidhom 4-0.923-3.
Marco Zanetti
Dong-Koong Kang