3-Cushion
SHARM EL SHEIKH - That one swallow hasn't made a summer for the new Vietnamese coming-man Duc Anh Chien Nguyen. The number two at the World championship three-cushion, only beaten by Torbjörn Blomdahl, knows again that he is also vulnerable in this capricious sports discipline. The rapid elimination in the World Cup prerounds in Sharm el Sheikh felt as a hard knock-out, handed out by Dutchman Barry van Beers with a final rush of 12 (40-17 in 21). The third player in the flight, Can Capak, ran away with the qualification. The front runners on this day shone with towering averages: Dinh Nai Ngo, another Vietnamese, scored 3,200 over two matches, Myung Woo Cho finished at 2,352 and Chang Hoon Seo 2,000. Dinh Nai Ngo and Turgay Orak played a magnificent match: 40-28 in 8 innings, averages 5,000 and 3,500.
Seven of the twelve group winners were Asians in the run-up to the group stage with 32, three out of three were best runners-up. This was the day of two Turks, Can Capak and Lütfi Cenet, Michael Nilsson, still in the race, certainly of Peter De Backer, who survived three match balls and miraculously slipped at 40-40 over the finish line. The Belgian may return to the arena with three strong Koreans in his Thursday group. Dustin Jäschke, the blonde and still youthful German, continued his race at the Red Sea with a win over Dion Nelin.
World's silver winner Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, beaten by Barry van Beers and later by Can Capak
Many eyes were on Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, the new kid and outsider who won silver at the most important tournament of the year. Because of his ranking, the Vietnamese had to start in the qualifications one more time to reach the main draw. His opponents were Barry van Beers and Can Capak. The Dutchman lost his first to Capak, who took a 22-12 lead with a run of 13 and finished 40-23 in 18.
Then, the Vietnamese silver winner entered the arena: first playing the loser in the first match (the Dutchman), in his second against Can Capak, the winner of the first session. Barry van Beers took revenge for his first loss and defeated Nguyen 40-17 in 21 after a wonderful final with 12. The Vietnamese also wasn't at his best against Capak, strongly came back in the final innings, but missed the draw on one carom and finished third and last in the group.
Roland Forthomme, a brilliant start, but than ran into one of the Kim's
How could Roland Forthomme in his first match, playing Bong-Chul Kim, lost his way after a mighty start to a very moderate match end? The Belgian opened with six and threw another 16 at the billiard in the sixth for a 24-11 lead. The seemed to be decided, but turned the other way around. Forthomme stopped scoring, made 4 points in the next 13 innings, but came close in the second last inning with five to 35-37. But after the Korean's five, Forthomme missed the equalizer. In his second appearance, the Belgian beat Cavusoglu, it was not enough for a place in next round.
Juntae Kim didn't need a third Houdini act to be in the last 32
Juntae Kim went for his third Houdini act in three days. The Korean after two rounds, first faced Bernard Baudoin, was offered no less than 40 innings for the win (40-29) and then ran into the feared obstacle called Antonio Montes. The margin turned out in favor of 'Mister good luck', who was the better at 40-26 in 21.
That included the hasty retreat of the Spanish armada. Antonio Montes and Andres Carrion left the World Cup, which unfortunately will miss Dani Sánchez. The non-Asians who joined the top 32 this Wednesday are Can Capak, Dustin Jäschke, Michael Nilsson, Lütfi Cenet and Peter De Backer.
The Egyptian Ihab Elmessery, who has two billiard playing sons (Mohamed, 24 and Ahmed, 21) started and finished his World Cup with striking ups and downs. In his first match facing Mietnamese Ma, there was a 20-0 on the scoreboard, and brave Ihab made some points at the end for 40-8 in 15 innings. The poor match was followed by a wonderful sequel to the big Korean talent, junior Myung-Woo Cho. The Egyptian architect suddenly played with some flair. The start showed another Elmessery. With a run of seven, he passed the young guy halfway, from 16-11 down to 18-11 on the lead. The break was at 20-20, but in the second part, Cho attacked to 40-26 in 18.
The day ranking:
1 Dinh Nai Ngo 4-3,200-10
2 Myung-Woo Cho 4-2,352-10
3 Chang Hoon Seo 4-2,000-10
4 Can Capak 4-1,818-13
5 Sung-Won Choi 4-1,777-12
6 Dustin Jäschke 4 -1,568-10
7 Michael Nilsson 4-1,454-6
8 Juntae Kim 4-1,311-6
9 Lütfi Cenet 3-2,000-10
10 Peter De Backer 3-1,230-7
11 Bong-Chul Kim 2-1,428-7
12 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 2-1,362-8
Peter De Backer, escape to victory
Lütfi Cenet, again in the main draw, chasing a new goal
Top 3 runners-up:
1 Wan Young Choi 3-1,230-6
2 Trung Hau Do Nguyen 3-1,052-6
3 Xuan Cuong Ma 2-2,387-7
The groups for tomorrow, Thursday, with eight groups of four, of which the two best move to the knockout with 16:
Poule A: Dick Jaspers, Xuan Cuong Ma, Myung Woo Cho, Guido Sacco
Poule B: Marco Zanetti, Dinh Nai Ngo, Trung Hau Do Nguyen, Riad Nady
Poule C: Tayfun Tasdemir, Wan Young Choi, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Hesham Saad
Poule D: Semih Sayginer, Jung-Han Heo, Chang Hoon Seo, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen
Poule E: Eddy Merckx, Bong-Chul Kim, Martin Horn, Can Capak
Poule F: Jae-Ho Cho, HaengJik Kim, Sung-Won Choi, Peter De Backer
Poule G: Quyet Chien Tran, Lütfi Cenet, Jérémy Bury, Dustin Jäschke
Poule H: Sameh Sidhom, Murat Naci Coklu, Michael Nilsson, Juntae Kim.