3-Cushion
WONJU - The last fights are between six Europeans on their way for the top prizes against two Koreans. The World 3-cushion Grand Prix ends tomorrow (Wednesday) with some stunning posters. What a great climax that will be on the final day at the Korean tournament with Jaspers against Merckx, Blomdahl against Zanetti, Tasdemir against Haeng Jik Kim and Heo against Polychronopoulos. The undisputed thrill was provided by Dick Jaspers with his wins in two penalty shots against two strong opponents. And what a thriller was the Korean clash between Haeng Jik Kim and Jung Han Heo. The ultimate battle with the double knockouts led first to a quartet of unbeaten winners and finally to the four other players who advanced to the last eight after a second chance. The system to follow on the final day is rather complicated. Four of the eight players have to win it all to stay in the race, the other four (Tasdemir, Blomdahl, Zanetti and Haeng Jik Kim) get another retake if they lose. Eddy Merckx said on late night: ''We played a lot of matches now anyway, but on the schedule I see, I still have to win five more to win the tournament...''
How is that possible with eight players left on the final day, even the main players wonder? The four players (Zanetti, Blomdahl, Tasdemir, Haeng Jik Kim) who are in the last eight with two wins, return to the tournament after one loss. The four who come out of the rechance (Jaspers, Merckx, Polychronopoulos, Heo) and thus lost once - cannot afford a further loss.
Dani Sánchez, the European champion, is one of the leading players who had to go out in this format. For the Spaniard, the Grand Prix is over and out, after losing first to Sung Won Choi 2-1 (average 1.291 against Choi 1.043!) and then to Dion Nelin in a poor match for him: 2-0 Nelin, 18-8 and 18-9, for Nelin 1.565, for Sánchez 0.708. Vietnamese Quyet Chien Tran had been eliminated from the tournament earlier, the same as Myung Woo Cho. And the penultimate day of play saw the capitulation of Sameh Sidhom, Murat Naci Coklu and other familiar names such as Jun Tae Kim and Sameh Sidhom.
We go back to Dick Jaspers, the titleholder in this Grand Prix, the world number one, who was balancing along the brink. The Dutchman lost his first game to Nikos Polychronopoulos and had to win the second against Korean Myeong Jong Cha, a strong player who was runner-up in one of the last World Cups. Jaspers already escaped in the first set, in which the Korean missed one shot for the win by a millimeter in the last seconds at a 9-9 score. In the second set, Cha was winner 14-9 in 4, so Jaspers had to win the third. He did so convincingly, 15-0 in 10. The score was therefore tied: penalties had to decide the win. Jaspers went to the start, scored two points, but missed the third. He was close to the final elimination, but escaped, because the Korean missed his second ball after the break shot: 2-1 for Jaspers.
And in his next match, Jaspers again had to fight be the better of Sung Won Choi. The Korean started 18-3, lost the second 11-6 and missed the winning carom at 13-13 in the third set. So, again penalties for Jaspers, who started with 5 and saw SW Choi miss after two. That allowed Jaspers to stay in the tournament. ''It's a ruthless system,'' he sighed later. ''But with this double knockout, there is still something human about the format.''
The other great match in these rounds was between two Koreans, Haeng Jik Kim and Jung Han Heo. The younger of the pair, Kim, won the first 12-8, Heo equalised 17-9 and so the third set had to bring the decision. Jung Han Heo stood to win with a 13-6 lead, Haeng Jik Kim went to the table one more time and scored eight times for a 14-13 win. It was a stunning piece of art by the more seasoned of the two Koreans.
The four double winners (and therefore equally qualified for the top eight) were Torbjörn Blomdahl, Marco Zanetti, Tayfun Tasdemir and Haeng Jik Kim. These results were:
Blomdahl-HK Kim 2-1 (1,578)
Blomdahl-Merckx 2-1 (1.681)
Zanetti-Nelin 2-0 (2,214)
Zanetti-SW Choi 2-1 (2,375)
Tasdemir-Cha 2-1 (2,166)
Tasdemir-Poly 2-0 (2,071)
HJ Kim-Piedrabuena 2-0 (2,363)
HJ Kim-Heo 2-1 (2.058).
Eddy Merckx secured his place among the best eight by a win over Sameh Sidhom, which he beat 16-12 in the first set, Sidhom won the second 6-5 and Merckx had the much better final sprint in the third set: 16-7 after a final run of seven. Nikos Polychronopoulos was the better of Dion Nelin 2-0 (1.857 vs 1.642) and Jung Han Heo won against Hyung Kon Kim 2-1 (1.666 vs 1.500) in these matchers in the losers' round.
The four matches tomorrow, Wednesday, at 11am in South Korea, West Europe 3am, are:
Torbjörn Blomdahl-Marco Zanetti (winner moves on, loser gets a retake).
Tayfun Tasdemir-Haeng Jik Kim (winner moves on, loser a rechance).
Jung Han Heo-Nikos Polychronopoulos (winner continues with a match against a loser from the previous two matches, loser is out of the tournament).
Dick Jaspers-Eddy Merckx (winner to a game against a loser from previous games, loser is out of the tournament).
Tayfun Tasdemir, the only Turkish player in the finals
Eddy Merckx, gearing up for the match with Dick Jaspers
Dick Jaspers survived to attacks in a shootout