3-Cushion
VIERSEN - The European champion (France) has won only one game in two matches, Jérémy Bury even lost his two games with Adnan Yüksel and Martin Horn and couldn't score at all for his country. The French team, last year the best in Europe, had a disappointing start at the World championship for national teams and is last in the group of death in which Germany (Martin Horn and Stefan Galla) and Turkey B (Adnan Yüksel and Murat Naci Coklu) battle for the leading position.
The second day of the championship in Viersen started with Austria (3 out of 2), Japan (3 out of 2), Belgium (2 out of 1), Germany (2 out of 1), Denmark (2 out of 1) and Korea (2 out of 1) as leaders in the groups, with Sweden and Turkey B in the race and Spain, Turky A and the Netherlands struggling for second place in the group.
Eddy Merckx of Belgium was hugely impressive again: he won his game against Anh Vu Duong from Vietnam 2-0, average 2.307. The Japanese O Takeshima shone in two matches, including against Dick Jaspers in an exciting final stage, averaging 1.894. Therefor he was on top of the ranking after one day: 1.894 and four matchpoints.
What is his first name, people wanted to know yesterday? ,,Just O, that's all'', the Japanese said.
Two players were over two average (Eddy Merckx 2.307, Dick Jaspers 2.222), but even at that high level, the Netherlands can still be off if they don't beat Switzerland today.
Adnan Yüksel, Jae Ho Cho, Frédéric Caudron, Martin Horn, Thomas Andersen, Andreas Efler and Stefan Galla had a promising start. Dani Sánchez, who's turning 38 tomorrow, started with a 2-1 win against Tonny Carlsen, but Javier Palazón lost to Thomas Andersen. Spain needs a win against Luxemburg to be second in the group.
The same for Turkey A, that lost his match to Korea, including a big match between Sung-Won Choi and Lütfi Cenet, won 2-1 by the Korean.