Kang leaves battlefield as the winner

04/01/2016

Published by frits bakker

Dong Koong Kang, winner after a hard battle at the end against Caudron

LUXOR - He first grabbed to his heart after his last point, heaved a sigh and looked in the audience with eyes as if he couldn't believe what happened. Dong Koong Kang was almost down again in a winning position, like he was at the World Championship in Bordeaux against Blomdahl last year. Now, at the World Cup in Luxor, the Korean was leading 39-27 in ten against Frédéric Caudron and then missed seven match balls in a row. The eighth was the winning carom. And so... Dong Koong Kang could leave the battlefield as the winner.

The Egyptian referee Nabil Salama grabbed Kang's pulse after the match, looked on his watch and counted the beats. The Korean himself was first perplexed, later, when he was back to earth, especially relieved. Frédéric Caudron, who scored 11 and missed by a whisker in the 9th inning, later managed to come back in the incredible final stage with nine in the 14th inning (39-36), but was stopped by an unlucky shot for his tenth point. The miss was decisive: Caudron was down, outplayed after seven lives.

The World Cup in Luxor has lost another of its top five players, the last remaining is Eddy Merckx. The Belgian is in the quarterfinals in the company of two Koreans (Kang and Cho), two Turks (Cenet and the inveterate Alp), a Greek (Polychronopoulos), a Frenchman (Bury) and a Vietnamese (Nguyen Nguyen).

Best winner so far was Nikos Polychronopoulos on the second last day, because Kang couldn't finish before. The Greek was launched with a quick fourteen run against Heo and then left his opponent far behind (40-18 in 14). Ahmet Alp, for the first time in his career in the last eight in a World Cup, had an even better start with 17, was later caught up by by Murat Tüzül (38-36), but then took the match 40-38.

Ahmet Alp previously played three times in the eighth finals, but never made it to the last eight. ,,I am so happy with my second chance'', he said. ,,Therefore, I feel even more motivated. I will give it all even to continue.''

Jae Ho Cho and Tayfun Tasdemir played a moderate match, ending in a victory for the Korean 40-36 in 35. Eddy Merckx cames to his best after an eleven of Haengjik Kim to 28-23, but the Belgian had an excellent sprint (40-36 in 25).

Lütfi Cenet continues to show his form again and bested the Korean Yeon Cho Chi by a margin (40-18 in 18). Quoc Nguyen Nguyen was smoking hot and bested Pedro Piedrabuena (40-22 in 22) and Jérémy Bury showed his chipper mood with a win against Javier Palazón, whom he beat in the final part (35-35) with four and the winning point at 39-35.