3-Cushion
RANDERS - Twelve of the sixteen finalists, who continue today at the World championship in Randers, come from the top of the schedule after the preliminary rounds. The most spectacular winner in the first knock-out sessions was Dion Nelin, one of the four numbers two from the pre-rounds with Torbjörn Blomdahl, Marco Zanetti and Duc Anh Chien Nguyen. The matches continue today, Friday, with two sessions of eight in the eighth finals: the first at 12.00, the second at 14.00.
Six of those sixteen have a history with world titles: Blomdahl (6), Sánchez (4), Jaspers (4), Merckx (2), Zanetti (2) and Sayginer (1). The Vietnamese, one of the two major nations in Asia, are the only country left with three players (Quyet Chien Tran, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen and Duc Anh Chien Nguyen), the Turks with two (Tasdemir and Sayginer), the Belgians with two (Merckx and Forthomme) the rest are singles, with a remarkably modest role for the Koreans, who only have Wan Young Choi left in the tournament.
Dion Nelin finished on top of the winners on the first knock-out day with the best average (3,636) after a heroic draw against Jae-Ho Cho in 11 innings (shoot-out 5-2 for the Nelin). The other high scoring players were Dani Sánchez (3,076), Nikos Polychronopoulos (2,857) and Marco Zanetti (2,666). Dick Jaspers had the best run (17) ahead of Nelin (16), Duc Anh Chien Nguyen (14) and, as a loser, Jae-Ho Cho (14).
What does it say about the form of the day among the last sixteen players?
The highest on average over three matches (two preliminary rounds, one knock-out) are:
Tayfun Tasdemir with 2,307
Eddy Merckx (2,264)
Dani Sánchez (2,222)
Dick Jaspers (2,105)
Torbjörn Blomdahl (1,942)
Martin Horn (1,875)
Semih Sayginer (1,875)
Nikos Polychronopoulos (1,847)
Dion Nelin (1,818)
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen (1,791)
Marco Zanetti (1,776)
Quyet Chien Tran (1,739)
Wan Young Choi (1,690)
Duc Anh Chien Nguyen (1,672)
Roland Forthomme (1,621)
Sameh Sidhom (1,445).
Three times, two players come from the same group in the preliminary rounds:
X Marco Zanetti and Wan Young Choi
X Roland Forthomme and Torbjörn Blomdahl
X Dion Nelin and Martin Horn.
Twelve players achieved the maximum 120 points in three matches, four players did not: Blomdahl, Nelin, Zanetti and Nguyen (DAC).
The players with runs of 10 and more:
X Eddy Merckx: 18
X Dick Jaspers: 17/12
X Dion Nelin: 16
X Nikos Polychronopoulos: 15/11
X Duc Anh Chien Nguyen: 14/11
X Semih Sayginer: 13
X Quyet Chien Tran: 12/11/11
X Tayfun Tasdemir: 12/11
X Marco Zanetti 12/10
X Torbjörn Blomdahl: 11
X Roland Forthomme: 11
X Martin Horn: 10
To keep balance on positive and negative scores: here are the misses (missed innings) per player over three matches:
Tayfun Tasdemir 14
Eddy Merckx 16
Dani Sanchez 16
Torbjörn Blomdahl 17
Dick Jaspers 19
Marco Zanetti 19
Semih Sayginer 23
Martin Horn 23
Nikos Polychronopoulos 24
Dion Nelin 24
Quyet Chien Tran 25
Wan Young Choi 25
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 25
Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 28
Roland Forthomme 30
Sameh Sidhom 34.
The most striking score was from Roland Forthomme: 15 misses in his first match, 0 in his second game, 15 in his third match.