3-Cushion
SUWON - The show is on the road at the World Cup in Suwon, where young karatekas entertained the audience during the opening ceremony with stylish delights and circus acts and Dong Koong Kang excelled in the early morning hours with a great demonstration and victory against Frédéric Cauron (3-0).
The Korean, number 22 on the world rankings, revealed himself as the star player and the number one killer of Frédéric Caudron, who he defeated in a brilliant match. The Belgians only had a chance for a bounceback in his third set, but missed at a crucial moment: 15-3, 15-10, 15-14 (2.045/1.350).
The question should not be: what went wrong, mister Caudron? He would simply find an answer: ,,It is my opponent who deserved this win, because he played a great match. And me, I was not on my best today.''
The unfortunate consequence for Caudron is that his big lead as number one in the world is a little in danger after his elimination in the first session. He will lose in Suwon his eighties points that he deserved as the World Cup winner in Matosinhos 2010.
Nevertheless, Torbjörn Blomdahl, the number two in the world, has to win the Suwon tournament to throw Caudron from his throne with a five points advantage. The same for Eddy Merckx and Kyung-Roul Kim: winning the tournament will make them to the new world's number one on the ranking.
Two rounds of the main tournament have been played so far: besides the loss of Caudron, there were no major sensations. The most remarkable was the showdown in the match between Marco Zanetti and Tayfun Tasdemir.
The Turk, who recently passed Zanetti in top twelve, started with a win (15-5), lost two next sets (15-13, 15-2), came back in the match with a riant 15-1 in 6 innings, but then, Zanetti took victory with a better endrush (15-9).
Filippos Kasidokostas against Murat Naci Coklu was another sparkling match. The Greek had his finest moment in the second set, when he started with a 14 run. He did not start too good (15-12 loss in 9), but then dominated his opponent with three winning sets and 1,965 general average.
Sung-Won Choi shared the players in top sixteen with a win over Lütfi Cenet. The decisive moment in the match was set three, with a 1-1 score in sets.
At 14-14 in the third set, Choi showed his admirable sportiness: the Korean scored his fifteenth point, according to the referee, but made a correction himself, telling the referee that the cue ball hit only two cushions.
Lütfi Cenet then missed unluckily his fifteenth point. Choi took the set (15-14 in 14) and then won the fourth set as well 15-10.
The third Korean so far, reaching next round, was Hyun-Suk Kim, one of the spectacular players in the qualifications. He defeated his compatriot Jung Han Heo 15-7, 15-12 and 15-2 (2.045 average).
Dani Sánchez had his traditionally weak start against Heriberto Aristazabal (15-11 loss), but then scooped victory 15-9 (5), 15-7 (11) and 15-7 (7).
Eddy Merckx claimed the win against Sameh Sidhom 3-1 in a stable match with a small slump in the second set, which Sidhom won 15-9 in 16 innings.
Kouji Funaki topped his opponet Javier Palazón, the Spaniard who for some months is desperately looking for the form he showed in his first years in the professional circuit: 5-15, 15-14, 15-12, 15-13.