3-Cushion
GURI - Two matches with a ribbon (forty in ten, 4.000 average) were the announcers of Guri's main event. Belgian Eddy Leppens and Korean Jae Ho Cho went through the final qualifying round with a flourish. The tournament will have to do without two young Korean stars: Haeng Jik Kim, who was unrecognizable in his comeback and Myung Woo Cho who is not quite ready to meet the world's best. Four players ended the day with averages (well) over 2: Jae Ho Cho with 2.666, Eddy Leppens with 2.580, Choong-Bok Lee and Hyung Kon Kim met 2.000. The Koreans now have ten players in the main draw.
Six qualifiers scored the maximum of four match points, Eddy Leppens had the high run with a 15, Choong-Bok Lee scoring a 14 and Jae Ho Cho a 13. Three Europeans went straight to the K.O. stage: Eddy Leppens, Arnim Kahofer and Tolgahan Kiraz. Colombian Juan Jose Garcia (1.739) was the best of the three best losers, followed by Murat Naci Coklu (1.739) and Semih Sayginer (1.750).
The most remarkable name in the draw is Hae Myoung Jung. The Korean started the qualification process with 2.222 average, and then survived every round. On the final day, he was in a group with Sameh Sidhom and young Myung Woo Cho.
Sparks flew in the final sessions of the pre-tournament. The highly anticipated match between Quoc Nguyen Nguyen and Semih Sayginer was decided in the final stages, when the Vietnamese player made a fluke to get to 35-30, and finished at 40-37 in 26.
The energizer bunny of the circuit did what he had to do, after he had drawn in his first match. Jae Guen Kim won his flight on average, with himself, Haeng Jik Kim and David Martinez all on two points. The Korean battle between Kim and Kim was decided in favor of Haeng Jik, who would later be harshly put in his place by Martinez. Pedro Piedrabuena is back in the K.O. stage after his win over Lütfi Cenet (40-23 in 23). That's good for the global distribution in the field, now that young Colombian Garcia has also made it into the main draw and Javier Teran received a wildcard.
Anh Vu Duong dealt with a stubborn opponent, Chi Yeon Cho. Tolgahan Kiraz was in an interesting flight where he stayed ahead of Jong Wan Kim, and Arnim Kahofer shared his match with Murat Naci Coklu (40-40 in 20). Quyet Chien Tran did not get out of the blocks as he's used to, but he recovered against Kostas Papakonstantinou, who started well against Emrullah Basegmez (40-30 in 20), but could not cope with Tran. The Vietnamese won the strongest of all the flights with two points and 1.775 average, ahead of Basegmez (1.666), who ended as fourth best loser, and Papakonstantinou, the only Greek in with a chance, who ended third in his flight with 1.605 (!).
Eddy Leppens played a draw vs Colombian Jose Juan Garcia
Torbjörn Blomdahl was linked in the draw to the revelation of the tournament, Hae Myoung Jung. Dick Jaspers, the world's number two, faces Arnim Kahofer.
Blomdahl, Leppens and Caudron are in the upper part of the draw and might face each other after one or two rounds. Jaspers, Zanetti, Merckx, Sánchez and Cho are in the lower half of the schedule.
Eddy Merckx starts his tournament against Javier Teran. Semih Sayginer, who makes his comeback in a main tournament, plays against Jae Ho Cho.
Quoc Nguyen Nguyen after his win against Semih Sayginer
Hyung Kon Kim
The draw:
11.00 uur (Korean time):
Torbjörn Blomdahl-Hae Myoung Jung
Jean Paul de Bruijn-Jose Juan Garcia
Hyung Kon Kim-Eddy Leppens
Frédéric Caudron-Riad Nady
13.00:
Roland Forthomme-Tolgahan Kiraz
Hyung Bum Hwang-Quyet Chien Tran
Tayfun Tasdemir-Jung Han Heo
Sung-Won Choi-Young-Hoon Lee
17.00:
Eddy Merckx-Javier Teran
Jae Ho Cho-Semih Sayginer
Dani Sánchez-Murat Naci Coklu
Dong Koong Kang-Jae Guen Kim
19.00:
Marco Zanetti-Adnan Yüksel
Choong-Bok Lee-Quoc Nguyen Nguyen
Pedro Piedrabuena-Anh Vu Duong
Dick Jaspers-Arnim Kahofer.
The top twelve of Thursday:
1 Jae Ho Cho (Korea) 4-2.666-13
2 Choong Bok Lee (Korea) 4-2.000-14
3 Hyung Kon Kim (Korea) 4-2.000-8
4 Pedro Piedrabuena (USA) 4-1.509-8
5 Anh Vu Duong (Vietnam) 4-1.355-5
6 Hae Myoung Jung (Korea) 4-1.290-10
7 Eddy Leppens (Belgium) 3-2.580-15
8 Quoc Nguyen Nguyen (Vietnam) 3-1.777-8
9 Arnim Kahofer (Austria) 3-1.739-9
10 Quyet Chien Tran (Vietnam) 2-1.775-8
11 Jae Guen Kim (Korea) 2-1.577-8
12 Tolgahan Kiraz (Turkey) 2-1.562-8.
Arnim Kahofer
Jae Guen Kim
Jose Juan Garcia
Pedro Puedrabuena