3-Cushion
HURGHADA - It certainly was not impressive, what he showed tonight at the billiard. Wesley Jaeger has not returned to his level after the surgery to his left eye three weeks ago. ,,The later in the evening, the heavier it is mentally for me to focus on the game,'' said the 28-year-old player from Deurne near Antwerp.
He has survived his second day in the World Cup in Hurghada with victories against the Dane Lars Dunch and the Frenchman Joel Switala. ,,I'm not happy with my level, especially in my last match,'' he concluded. Because life looks still a little blurry through the eyes of the Wesley Jaeger.
The Belgian is from the generation of Peter Ceulemans, Steven van Acker and Davy van Havere in his country. He dreamed to be in top twelve of the world in his younger years. But when I'm realistic, I would be happy to be in top ten in Belgium.''
He works in the port of Antwerp, from six to four, is married and has an almost two year old son. The billiard is pure hobby, still he is motivated enough to shine for his teams in the Netherlands and Belgium.
The eye surgery hindered him to play on high level this year. ,,I had an eye disease since I was a child, but doctors have not seen it. It was getting worse in recent years, at both eyes, I could see only for twenty percent. Actually, wasn't even allowed to drive a car. So they decided to a surgery, first the left eye, the right next week, they are going to make the eyes oval again.''
Wesley Jaeger was one of the sixteen players who was advanced for the next round this evening. The thirteen year old Korean Myung Woo Cho was also close, but was stopped by Therese Klompenhouwer. The European ladies champion was beaten in her first match by Koray Kirman 2-0. She required a win against Cho and a good average. The public, except the Dutch people, were cheering for the little Korean, who could be a new world topper for the future. But Klompenhouwer was attentive from the start, spoiled a few set points in the first, but finished very strong in the second set.
The surprise of the day was the elimination of Frans van Kuyk by the Czech Radek Novak. Peter de Backer had a strong end shot against the Greek Kostas Papakonstantinou after trailing 1-0 in sets. The Belgians will put another qualified player in the fight tomorrow: Peter Ceulemans defeated Dong Hoon Kim 2-1.