Top ranked players Jaspers/Sayginer and Blomdahl/Heo

WONJU - The two groups at the World 3-Cushion Grand Prix in Wonju, Korea, are headed in Group A by Dick Jaspers and Semih Sayginer and in Group B by Torbjörn Blomdahl and Jung Han Heo. The second phase, which must lead to the final group of eight players, is almost halfway. Jaspers won once on Sunday, against Korean Won Young Choi with 3,153 on average, Sayginer beat Eddy Merckx 2-1 (2,750) and Vietnamese Nguyen 2-0 (3,062 on average). Torbjörn Blomdahl beat Murat Naci Coklu 2-0 (2,687) in the other group and played a draw against Bong Joo Hwang.

For the four top spots in both groups, still it can go either way. Jaspers and Sayginer have separated a little from the others on match points and averages in Group A: Jaspers 9 points, 3,125, Sayginer 7 points, 2,714. Quyet Chien Tran and Tayfun Tasdemir are the main pursuers. Belgian top gun Eddy Merckx started somewhat unhappily with two losses, but defeated Tayfun Tasdemir 2-1 in the last match, giving him chances to move up again.

Tayfun Tasdemir in turn beat Tran 2-0, the Vietnamese then beat Lütfi Cenet 2-0 with a 3,066 average. Semih Sayginer is also on his way to a leading role with victories over Merckx and Nguyen (2-0, 3,062).

Torbjörn Blomdahl and Jung Han Heo top the Group B, Murat Naci Coklu is an excellent number three in this group with the best average: 2,468. The Turkish star player first lost to Blomdahl 2-0 on Sunday, but beat Nikos Polychronopoulos 2-0 in the last match. Four Koreans and Polychronopoulos are provisionally chasing the leading three in this Group B.

Ranking in Group A:
1 Dick Jaspers 3-9-3,125-15
2 Semih Sayginer 3-7-2,714-15
3 Quyet Chien Tran 3-4-2,017-13
4 Tayfun Tasdemir 3-3-1,711-10
5 Lütfi Cenet 3-3-2,111-23
6 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 3-3-1,777-12
7 Eddy Merckx 3-3-1,688-7
8 Won Young Choi 3-3-1,500-7

Group B:
1 Torbjörn Blomdahl 3-7-2,045-17
2 Jung Han Heo 3-6-2,067-11
3 Murat Naci Coklu 3-6-2,468-14
4 JunTae Kim 3-6-1,833-12
5 Bong Joo Hwang 3-4-1,666-9
6 Nikos Polychronopoulos 3-3-1,600-7
7 Myung Jong Cha 3-3-1,754-11
8 Chang Hoon Seo 3-0-1,200-6