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Poly and Rolandinho, high class and fighting spirit

02/13/2014

Published by frits bakker

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© © Harry van Nijlen/Kozoom
Nikos Polychronopoulos topped the list of twelve in winners round

ISTANBUL - The 12 best players in the world have kept their eye on the final rounds of qualification for the Istanbul World Cup, to see which of their possible opponents are on top of their game. The Greek whirlwind Nikos Polychronopoulos and Belgian assassin Roland Forthomme are amongst the most dangerous outsiders in the main draw.

Both players excelled en route to the final rounds. The Greek played two fantastic matches (combined average 2.105), the Belgian not far behind with 1.904, having beaten two reputed Vietnamese players.

This twosome lead the rankings after the final day of qualification, that saw the Greek, two Belgians and four Koreans in the final twelve, as well as two Turks, a Spaniard, a Dutchman and a Vietnamese.
Ten of this dozen remained undefeated, Vietnamese Quyet Chien Tran and Turk Murat Celik both had one loss, but a better set percentage than their adversaries in the flight.

Four more players advance to the final round: Javier Palazón, Christian Rudolph, Lütfi Cenet and Hyung Bum Hwang. They are in the draw of the first round, where 32 players start the knock-out stage.

Sparks flew today in many all-or-nothing matches, where the level was high and the tension unbearable. Roland Forthomme for instance, was under enormous pressure after the two Vietnamese in his flight had drawn in their first match.

The Belgian needed two wins to survive, and showed his well-documented fighting spirit. Vu Duong was his first victim (40-28 in 23, run of 11), then Vinh Ly was bulldozed 40-14 in 19.

Even more impressive than Rolandinho, as always well supported by loyal fans, was rapid-fire Nikos Polychronopoulos, who can run around the table and score like problems don't exist, bringing his opponents to despair.

Nikos faced Belgian Peter Ceulemans, who had beaten Dane Claus Föge, could not even turn his encounter with "Poly" into a match. The Greek finished the job in 15 innings, 40-14 (2.666/0.933).

Jae Guen Kim, Eddy Leppens and Jean Paul de Bruijn finished in the top 5, after strong performances. The Korean beat Lütfi Cenet in the decider, 40-37 in 27 innings, having first defeated another Turk, Muhammed Cavusoglu, in 19 innings.

Eddy Leppens, with his usual strong start in a World Cup tournament, really had no problems, not against Jean Reverchon (40-20) and not against Murat Tüzül (40-26), who had beaten the Frenchman by a margin, but ended fifth in the best-loser ranking and was left empty-handed.

Jean Paul de Bruijn once again starts to become a fixture in World Cup main draws. The Dutchman had to make his way past Christian Rudolph, and did that convincingly: 40-26 in 19. The German had started off well against Riad Nady (40-19 in 21), which earned him a main draw place through the back door.

Three Koreans formed the middle section of the winners list: Choong-Bok Lee thanks to a victory over Javier Palazón (40-31 in 21), Jung Han Heo having fought off Tae Soo Lim and Jae Ho Cho after a spectacular battle with Hyung Bum Hwang (40-39 in 29).

Savas Bulut and Ruben Legazpi also scored four winning points, and Murat Celik ended first in a group where he, Sameh Sidhom and Glenn Hofman all had a win and a loss. The Turk beat the Egyptian and the Dutchman on average.

The top twelve and their averages:

1 Nikos Polychronopoulos, 2.105
2 Roland Forthomme, 1.904
3 Jae Guen Kim, 1.739
4 Eddy Leppens, 1.739
5 Jean Paul de Bruijn, 1.632
6 Choong-Bok Lee, 1.632
7 Jung Han Heo, 1.600
8 Jae Ho Cho, 1.403
9 Savas Bulut, 1.355
10 Ruben Legazpi, 1.159
11 Quyet Chien Tran, 1.385
12 Murat Celik, 1.266.

De top four runners-up:
1 Javier Palazón, 1.775
2 Christian Rudolph, 1.650
3 Lütfi Cenet, 1.571
4 Hyung Bum Hwang, 1.436.

The main draw: (Friday)

12.00 (Turkish time):
Caudron-Celik
Jae Guen Kim-Takeshima
Leppens-De Bruijn
Choi-Heo

14.00:
Forthomme-Bulut
Merckx-Legazpi
Kang-Cenet
Zanetti-Coklu

16.00:
Kasidokostas-Hwang
Sánchez-Kiraz
Jaspers-Cho
Tasdemir-Campino

18.00:
Bury-Palazón
Kyung-Roul Kim-Rudolph
Polychronopoulos-Tran
Blomdahl-Lee.

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