3-Cushion
The Korean Jae-Ho Cho was the big favorite to win his group, but instead of 'Cho-time' in the last round Tayfun Tasdemir and Dong-Koong Kang were stealing the show. The Turk defeated the hopeless Cho 50-31 in 24 innings, Dong-Koong Kang, with a little incidence in the match, beat his French opponent Jean Christophe Roux: 50-32 in 23.
The level of the winners was pretty high (the Korean 2.174, the Turk 2.083), Dong-Koong Kang was also good for a run of thirteen. Tasdemir remained unbeaten and finished with five match points, Kang was second with four points. He only lost his second match against Tasdemir.
There was not too much excitement in the last session, because of the big difference in both matches. Roux had a great start (15-5 lead), but the Frenchman was mentally so excited after an important point wasn't seen by the referee, that he couldn't threaten the Korean in the last part.
,,I was absolutely sure that the carom was on and I was disappointed that my opponent didn't react'', Roux said after the match. Kang finally went to the billiard, after a short hesitation and a small talk with another Korean player in the stands. ,,I thought for eighty percent that the carom was on,'' he confessed later. ,,But there was a little doubt, so I decided to play.''
The Korean profited when his opponent stopped scoring and made the decisive gap in the 17th inning with a run of thirteen to 39-23.
Tayfun Tasdemir didn't get the opposition that he had expected from Jae Ho Cho. The Korean champion could only qualify by winning the lastmatch, but was overwhelmed after the twelfth inning by Tasdemir, who played a very strong and stabile match.