3-Cushion
HURGHADA - The "feel" was there from the start, both for Jean Paul de Bruijn (40 in 19) and Roland Forthomme (40 in 20). Two quick wins, rapid scoring and no mercy for their opponent. ,,I could do nothing wrong, and my opponent could not hit a thing'', said the Belgian, who will meet Swede Bo Gustafsson in his second match.
Jean Paul de Bruijn, as usual the milder one in his comment: ,,I made two good runs, a 12 and an 11, that made all the difference.'' It's the Dutchman's major strength. He is technically an almost perfect billiard player, but he is mentally vulnerable.
,,The strange thing is, when I make a run over ten, I feel as if I can make twenty as well. But when I am on five or six, I am easily disturbed by things around me'.' He has craved some World Cup success for several years now, and recently showed what he can do by playing an extraordinary match in the Belgian league: 42 in 9 innings.
Roland Forthomme decisively dealt with a local hero: Egyptian Ihab El Messery. The Belgian opened in his fierce pace, made a gap with a run of eight and finished off with a six.
Bo Gustafsson, who was lucky enough yesterday to slip in as reserve player, will be his next victim. The Swede also beat El Messery. ,,And again I was lucky, because I needed eight chances to make the final point'', he said with a smile from ear to ear.
Just a round and a half to go in the last qualification, and surprises are plentiful. The mercurial Korean Jae Ho Cho, who has dropped out of the top 12, was beaten by Swedish man mountain Nalle Olsson, who in turn lost to Murat Tüzül. Jae Guen Kim and Tayfun Tasdemir will meet later today in a do or die match: both have two points after beating Ronny Lindemann.
Johan Schirmbrand is still in with the chance of performing a minor miracle. The German, a former team world champion (with Christian Rudolph in 1997) has survived every round since sunday, winning seven matches in a row: even Vietnamese Vinh Ly The could not get the better of the man from Munich. Adnan Yüksel still needs to get past Ivo Gazdos, but he is a firm favorite after his immaculate first match (40 in 21 against Gokhan Salman).
Choong-Bok Lee, one of the "big five" from Korea, does not have his best season. He has played two matches in this World Cup, and there will be no more. His loss against younger countryman Hyung Bum Hwang (40-39) must have hit him hard, because he later was hung out to dry by Xuan Cuong Ma: 40-16 in 20.
Glenn Hofman is also done: the young Dutchman who does so well in the Dutch and Belgian leagues, can't seem to get a result in the World Cups. Birol Uymaz put the first dent in his confidence (40-38 in 34), Nikos Polychronopoulos needed only to press the accelerator a bit to end Glenn's hopes. The Dutchman was resigned, could not find an explanation: ,,I have no excuse, if you play like this, you don't deserve to win.''