Logonewstvcommunitystore

Game Icon3-Cushion

Europeans make a clean sweep in three cushion

11/28/2019

Published by frits bakker

commentlinktwitterfacebook
thumbnail
© © Kozoom Studio
Dion Nelin after he finished his world class match with Jae-Ho Cho: 40-40 in 10

RANDERS - The clean sweep by the European players marked the first final round at the three cushion World championship in Randers. The last Danish player in the field of sixteen, Dion Nelin, was the undisputed star player of the day with a win over the unfortunate loser Jae-Ho Cho. Dani Sánchez, Nikos Polychronopoulos and Marco Zanetti were the other high fliers on this day. The European dominance was impressive after one day: they are with eleven in the last sixteen of the tournament. The experts behind the scenes at the event claim that the clash between Nelin and Cho (40-40, shootout 5-2 for Nelin) is perhaps the best match ever played.

In the showdown this Thursday night, Wan Young Choi is the only one left for the Koreans, three Vietnamese are still in the final rounds and the Egyptian Sameh Sidhom is among the best sixteen players. The other field in the knock-out stage coming up consists exclusively of Europeans.

The next sessions on Friday show many attractive matches:

12.00:
Eddy Merckx-Torbjörn Blomdahl
Martin Horn-Dion Nelin
Nikos Polychronopoulos-Nguyen Quoc Nguyen
Roland Forthomme-Sameh Sidhom

14.00:
Dick Jaspers-Semih Sayginer
Wan Young Choi-Quyet Chien Tran
Dani Sánchez-Duc Anh Chien Nguyen
Marco Zanetti-Tayfun Tasdemir.

The first knock-outs at this World championship started with surely one of the most thrilling and high quality matches in the history of three cushion. Dion Nelin and Jae-Ho Cho fought each other in an unprecedented world class competition. The first five innings were a warm-up in favor of Cho: 9-6. Then, the match exploded, the spectators were spoiled by an insanely thrilling match.

The Dane first bombarded his opponent with a run of 16 (22-9), the Korean responded with 14 one inning later (25-25) and from that part, a tremendous fight unfolded. Nelin finished at first with runs of 3-7-0-5, Cho tied the final score by 3-1-6-5. After 11 innings, the scoreboard pointed 40-40. The extension had to indicate the winner. The Danish home crowd applauded for 5 from the spots, Jae-Ho Cho missed after 2. For both players: 3,636 on average in the regular match, rarely shown before in history.

There was even more sensation coming up for that first session. Torbjörn Blomdahl and Lütfi Cenet played a draw as well in the double of 11 innings: 40-40 in 22 after a breath taking final part, in which Blomdahl had the initiative for a long while, Cenet returned with a six in the final innings, but missed two match points. The Swede was the first to go out, Cenet tied with 1. In the shoot-out Blomdahl started spectacularly by 8, Cenet missed after two points and lost the match.

The dichotomy of the main field was then characterized, among other things, by Nikos Polychronopoulos and his wonderful performance, who paved his way to victory against Javier Teran with a run of 11 in the seventh and then made it to the finish in another seven to 40-26. The Ecuadorian could not blame himself at all, he can look back on a strong showing.

Dick Jaspers had a slow run-up against Dustin Jäschke, showing two players who made each other's lives miserable at first and did not score high runs. The world champion led 11-9 in fourteen, but then found his master's feeling in the 15th inning with a run of 17, with a few of his ingenious solutions, to 28-16. The German resistance was broken immediately, the match ended after two times 3 at 40-25 in 23.

Semih Sayginer pushed the second Dane Jacob Sörensen off the stage after a smooth start, 35-8 in 10 (twice eight, six and four in the first innings, but then, surprisingly, made 9 misses in his next 13 to the finish (40-36 in 23). Murat Naci Coklu, the second in the row of four Turks, had already been eliminated by Martin Horn at 40-30 in 21.

The youngest in the field, Myung-Woo Cho, couldn't find his best feelings and ran into Sameh Sidhom in a match without high scores (40-34 in 29). And the Mexican outsider Javier Vera couln't pass the first knock-outs this time at a World stage: he was knocked out by Quyet Chien Tran, who resolutely pulled the trigger to the finish with 11 (40-25 in 25).

Eddy Merckx opened the show with a solid 40-34 against Sung-Won Choi in 21 after he made up a 28-19 deficit with a 9-run and beat the Korean with 5, 2 and 1 to the end. Arnim Kahofer unexpectedly made it hard to Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, but the run of 11 by the Austrian for a 28-19 lead was not enough to take the win. Roland Forthomme broke the resistance of young Frenchman Gwendal Maréchal (40-30 in 34).

And in the final round of four, Dani Sánchez and Marco Zanetti closed the day showing some spectacular firework display. The Spaniard came quickly from the start against Pedro Gonzalez with 22-8 in 8 and finished his mission with 5, 7 and 6 to 40-10 in 13. Marco Zanetti faced his former Agipi teammate and dominated from the start: the run of 12 in the 11th was the knock-out for the Frenchman (40-21 in 15). Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, the new Vietnamese star, launched himself against HaengJik Kim with a run of 14 to 33-13 and was the comfortable winner at 40-20 in 22. Tayfun Tasdemir sent the last of the oversea players, Erick Tellez from Costa Rica, home with 40-19 in 19 innings.

Jae-Ho Cho, the pressure is on in the shoot-out against Dion Nelin

Waiting for the extension after 40-40 in 11, Jae-Ho Cho and Dion Nelin

Nikos Polychronopoulos, what an amazing match in 14 to beat Javier Teran

Torbjörn Blomdahl, after his 8 score in the shoot-out to start against Cenet

Dani Sánchez, ready for a new adventure, starting 40 in 13 against Pedro Gonzalez

Marco Zanetti, the sovereign master playing his former team mate Jérémy Bury

Semih Sayginer made an end to the illusions of strong Danish player Jacob Sörensen

The only player left from the Korean top guns: Wan Young Choi

The new Vietnamese star player: Duc Anh Chien Nguyen

 

 

 

Comments