3-Cushion
WONJU - Two players, Murat Naci Coklu and Dick Jaspers, started with over 3 average in the second phase of the World 3-Cushion Grand Prix in Korea. The Turk Lütfi Cenet kicked off with a loss against Jaspers, but recovered brilliantly against his countryman Tayfun Tasdemir. For the second session with the 16 survivors from the first qualification, six matches of the 28 per group were played today, Saturday. Jaspers and Coklu are the leaders.
Dick Jaspers defeated Lütfi Cenet in his first appearance 18-15 (5), 13-14 (7), 17-3 (2), averages for Jaspers 3,428, for Cenet 2,133. The Dutch number one of the world then also triumphed over Nguyen Quoc Nguyen (2-0, 2,769) and leads with two victories, 3,111 on average and a best run of 15. Lütfi Cenet was the victim of Jaspers' scoring drive. ''What could I do in the third, decisive set: Jaspers made a run of 15, I had no chance in two innings'', Cenet concluded. Cenet's recovery was amazing in his match against Tasdemir: 2-0, 2,733 and a fantastic run of 23.
''The highest in my career in an official match'', Cenet said later. ''I knew, winning was my only chance to fight for the best four, it worked out well. That keeps me in the race in a very tough group: Merckx, Jaspers, Choi, Sayginer, Tasdemir, Tran, Nguyen, all great players. We play seven matches, when I want to go on, I must win at least four times.''
Eddy Merckx, who lost to Korean Won Young Choi 2-1, and Tayfun Tasdemir (loss against Cenet) even close the ranks, albeit with only one match played. Semih Sayginer won his only match so far against Vietnamese Tran with an excellent average of 2,400.
The ranking in Group A:
1 Dick Jaspers 2-6-3,111-15
2 Lütfi Cenet 2-3-2,433-23
3 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 2-3-2,100-12
4 Won Young Choi 2-3-1,444-7
5 Semih Sayginer 1-1-2,400-9
6 Quyet Chien Tran 1-1-1,857-11
7 Eddy Merckx 1-0-1,894-5
8 Tayfun Tasdemir 1-0-1,428-5.
The matches in this group for tomorrow, Sunday:
Tasdemir-Tran
Merckx-Sayginer
Jaspers-Choi
Cenet-Tran
Sayginer-Nguyen
Merckx-Tasdemir.
Murat Naci Coklu launched himself with a top performance in Group B. He beat Korean Bong Joo Hwang 2-0 and 3,466 on average. The first set was fantastic: 35-7 in 7 innings. In the second, Coklu won 17-14 in 8 innings. The runner up in the standings is Torbjörn Blomdahl with one game played and a win over Seo: 2-1. Korean Jung Han Heo lost 2-1 against Jun Tae Kim, but recovered in his match against Cha, the revelation of the first round: Heo won 2-1 and 2,550 on average, which puts him third in the rankings behind Coklu and Blomdahl. Nikos Polychronopoulos, another high-flyer so far, started with a loss against Cha: 2-1 and will have to chase for the top positions.
The ranking in Group B:
1 Murat Naci Coklu 1-3-3,466-14
2 Torbjörn Blomdahl 1-3-1,760-8
3 Jung Han Heo 2-3-2,116-11
4 Myeong Jong Cha 2-3-1,652-11
5 Jun Tae Kim 2-3-1,565-11
6 Bong Joo Hwang 2-3-1,777-6
7 Nikos Polychronopoulos 1-0-1,346-7
8 Chang Hoon Seo 1-0-1,166-6.
The matches in this group for tomorrow, Sunday:
Blomdahl-Coklu
Polychronopoulos-Seo
Cha-Kim
Blomdahl-Hwang
Seo-Heo
Polychronopoulos-Coklu.
In the groups with sixteen players fighting for places 17-32, Therese Klompenhouwer made a promising start. In her first match, the Dutch player tied Haeng Jik Kim with a 1,137 average (8-8 in 7 in the deciding set). The second performance of the world champion was even better: she defeated Korean Dong Hoon Kim 2-0, won the first set 24-7 in 10 innings and the second 13-12. That brought the Dutch top player to an average of 1,681. Haeng Jik Kim is the leader in this group after the first day ahead of Therese Klompenhouwer.
Sung-won Choi leads in the other group with six match points out of two matches and 1,900 on average (run 14). Dion Nelin is the number two after one match (3 points, 1,840). Roland Forthomme is fourth after a win against Gülsen Degener 2-0 (17-6 in 11, 21-2 in 11). The Belgian lost his match against Sameh Sidhom 2-1 (averages 2,368/2,200).
Dick Jaspers (r) and Lütfi Cenet discuss their high-level matches
Murat Naci Coklu launched himself with a 3,466 match win
Therese Klompenhouwer: promising start with a draw against Haeng Jik Kim and a win over Dong Hoon Kim