3-Cushion
ANTALYA - The sessions at the World Cup have been halved from twelve to six tables on the last day before the main event in the World Cup. Twelve flights with three players battle for twelve spots: they will join the seeded players for the draw, tonight in the hotel where the World Cup is played.
The early morning matches were marked by some brother fights. On two tables four Turkish players met each other: Murat Tüzül against Mehmet Goren and Mahmut Ozdemir vs. Adnan Yüksel. Outside the Kozoom camera's, Dave Christiani faced his compatriot Raimond Burgman.
The rather unknown Turk Birol Uymaz, who survived the previous days including a run of fourteen, shone with a majestic win against Luis Aveiga. The Ecuadorian lost in a torture-match and was far behind at the finish line (40-24). Uymaz was the best in the session: 20 innings.
Murat Tüzül (40-22 against Goren) and Javier Palazón (40-29 against Michael Nilsson) came to the finish in 23 innings, but need another big fight in the later sessions. In the fully Turkish group with Tüzül and Goren, on of the Turkish top players, Lütfi Cenet is the favourite. Javier Palazón and Michael Nilsson meet another world class player in their flight: German Martin Horn.
Raimond Burgman and Dave Christiani played a fairly defensive party. ,,I got no grip on the table, but luckily my opponent had the same problem,'' said Christiani after his win (40-30) in 36 innings. The German Christian Rudolph is the third player in this group.