3-Cushion
ISTANBUL - The high-class victories of six Koreans Jae Ho Cho, Choong-Bok Lee, Kyung-Roul Kim, Dong Koong Kang, Jae Guen Kim and Sung-Won Choi and Vietnamese Quyet Chien Tran's win were the highlights of the first day in the World Cup of Istanbul.
The elimination of Torbjörn Blomdahl and Dick Jaspers, but even Blomdahl's stylish farewell (13 run) made the day very startling.
The Korean majeure with flashy, short matches and high scores, was delightful and almost frightening. Frédéric Caudron, Marco Zanetti, Filippos Kasidokostas and other day winners will need all their world class to stop the armada on the final days.
Choong-Bok Lee had a blistering start in the last round against Blomdahl with 11-1, 16-3 and 20-6 in nine innings and thanks to a decisive run of twelve even 32-8. The Swede showed something of his luster in the run of thirteen, shortly before his opponent closed the match at 40-28 in 15 innings.
The small Vietnamese Quyet Chien Tran was another ace in that round. He crushed the Greek Nikos Polychronopoulos, who was so impressive in the qualifying rounds. The verdict of Tran was clear: 40-14 in 15 innings.
Kyung- Roul Kim dealed in a marvellous performance with German Christian Rudolph, who after a breakaway from the Korean giant (run 14) lost his way and was defeated 40-25 in 19.
Javier Palazón sent off another big gun from the circuit. The Spaniard took the initiative in the middle of his match against Jérémy Bury (26-19 in 12). He seemed to clear the job in style, but his French opponent showed his fighting spirit at the end and played a draw.
The Spaniard won the penalty shots: he scored three times, Bury only once.
The program for tomorrow, Saturday, in the eighth finals:
11.00 (Turkish time):
Caudron-Jae Guen Kim
De Bruijn-Choi
Bulut-Merckx
Kang-Zanetti
13.00:
Kasidokostas-Sánchez
Cho-Campino
Palazón-Kyung-Roul Kim
Tran-Lee.