3-Cushion
ANTALYA - What a stunning sensation... And what a contrast on the tables with these top guns in the arena... Frédéric Caudron, the high speed train, the Speedy Gonzalez of three cushion, who faced a 31-21 backlog in 27 innings on the score board against the Turk Ahmet Alp. And the Belgian, in 27 innings, even did not manage to score a run over 3.
Marco Zanetti and Dick Jaspers at the other tables, who had already finished for half an hour after a great performance. The Italian with a magnificent start against Durk Hwang Lee (40-16 in 12, run of 14, 3.333 average), the Dutchman only slightly less strong against Javier Teran (40-18 in 14, 2.857 average).
We must agree: it is not that strange, a poor start for Caudron. It is almost a tradition in tournaments, a bad habit, unintentionally, but who can blame him for that, the number one ranked player, who usually recovers with sensational matches.
But not in this World Cup in Antalya.
The Belgian machine, in his better days the Ferrari among the sportscars, kept falter in this match: trailing 20-14 at the halfway point, 28-19, 31-22, 35-30 after 29 innings.
The sensation was in the air: could it really happen that the Turkish champion would kick down this world top player in the very first round? And even with a poor average, because we can't say that Ahmet Alp was playing far over his normal level, laying the Belgian on the rack in a high class match.
For sure he did not. The challenger balanced just over one and made some simple mistakes near the finish. When he - for example - was 35-31 on the lead lead, he solved a difficult position, made two easy shots, but missed another for his 39the point.
Frédéric Caudron, imperturbable on his chair, but inwardly plagued by his poor start, kept on missing and lost his control at the end. The overjoyed Turk finished in the 34th inning 40-32 in 34.
The first sensation of the main tournament was there. The brilliant winner of the last World Cup (Hurghada) has started the new year with a painful loss and maybe will lose his number one-position.
Torbjörn Blomdahl saw it from a distance, standing in the audience. Marco Zanetti, after his great start, looked in disbelief, like Dick Jaspers did in the other corner.
Zanetti himself had dealt with the impressive Korean Durk Lee Hwang: after the powerful start, 12-1, 20-4 and 34-13 just after the break, he closed the match at 40-16. Dick Jaspers kept pace with Zanetti score well on, until in the end. He just needed a few innings more to score his last points.
The Dutchman started like a rocket as well: with 13-0 after two innings, 27-8 shortly after the break. The poor Ecuadorian, who showed himself such a strong fighter against Roland Forthomme last night, did not know what happened in this match. He was 40-12 behind at the finish, luckily he could score six points from the spots.
The Turks could already celebrate their first party, because Adnan Yüksel also started with a win. He defeated the Korean Jae Ho Cho 40-34 in 22 innings.