3-Cushion
HURGHADA - The winner of the last World was in the house, and he made his presence known. The evening dinner was still being served in the Sunrise Garden Beach, when Murat Naci Coklu had already finished his match against another speed king, Nikos Polychronopoulos. Three high runs (eleven, nine eleven) and an ultra-fast match: 40-31 in 15 innings.
The Turkish October hero, winner of the Istanbul World Cup, was not invited for the WC in Bordeaux and had to qualify for the Hurghada event. But after his performance of today, nobody has doubts about his form. He walked out of the billiard arena after his exhibition, and said to passers-by who had just had dinner: "Sorry, but we're done".
Two hours later Coklu heard who would be his opponent in the first round of the main draw. It will again be the Greek, Polychronopoulos. Torbjörn Blomdahl, the number 1 in the world, will play Egyptian wildcard Mohsen Fouda, Dani Sánchez meets Semih Sayginer, Sung Won Choi plays Sameh Sidhom and Dick Jaspers was drawn against his countryman Jean Paul de Bruijn.
Jae Guen Kim, in his last group match, did not do much worse than Coklu. The Korean dug deep, scored heavily and decisively beat his American opponent Pedro Piedrabuena 40-20 in 16.
The final day of the qualifications saw lots of Turkish fireworks, with Murat Naci Coklu and Semih Sayginer, who came from 20-30 behind to beat Jean Paul de Bruijn 40-34. The most spectacular finish however, was produced by Tolgahan Kiraz in his clash with Can Capak. The finish line was so close for Capak, but Kiraz produced two runs of seven to deny his countryman.
The main tournament (32 players) will start with eight Turkish players and seven Koreans.
An overview of the flights:
Group A:
Jean Paul de Bruijn and Semih Sayginer both beat Myung Woo Cho, who could not live up to the high expectations. The Dutchman won in 24, the Turk in 28 innings and decide who advances from this tough flight. De Bruijn takes a 15-5 lead but can't push on (17-14). At 30-20 he looks in control again, but it is the Turk who has the killer instinct: 40-34 in 28!
Group B:
With the high run of the day (a 16, the 11th a fluke) Greek Kostas Papakonstantinou gets past Birol Uymaz in 21 innings. Quyet Chien Tran takes more time and beats Uymaz in 30 innings. The Vietnamese, with his reputation for scoring in the equalizer, loses 40-35 in 28 to Papakonstantinou. His break was perfect, but he can't score more than three this time.
Group C:
Egyptian favorite Ihab El Messery faces two seasoned World Cup players, and loses against both Pedro Piedrabuena (30 innings) and Jae Guen Kim (35), who beat Sung Won Choi in the Bordeaux WC. The Korean is by far the stronger player in the decider, he wins it in 16 innings.
Group D:
Gokhan Salman is in charge in this group, when he first beats Gregory Le Deventec. The Frenchman puts up a fight against Dionisis Tsokontas (39-40, who can then battle it out with Salman. The win goes to Salman, again after a nailbiter: 40-39 in 35.
Group E:
Two Turks and a Korean play for a spot, with Murat Tüzül first beating Adnan Yüksel (40-32 in 25). Durk Hee Hwang then loses to Yüksel by a margin (40-18 in 24). Tüzül secures first place when he beats the Korean (40-35 in 38).
Group F:
The droll Egyptian Ragay Henry upsets expectations by beating Ahmet Bayatli in the opening match (40-39 in 44). The Turk, fighting for his last chance, then beats Eddy Leppens 40-31 in 33. The Belgian champion stil has an easy route to the main draw: all he needs is a win in 36 innings or less. He takes full profit, finishing with a run of seven: 40-21 in 24.
Group G:
Javier Palazón, one of Hurghada's stars in 2014, has a fortunate start when he is given several chances to beat Hyung Kon Kim. The Korean even misses his final point for a draw. Riad Nady keeps his hopes alive when he beats Kim (40-36 in 37), but he loses to Palazon: 40-36 in 26 innings.
Group H:
Austrian Arnim Kahofer produces a great comeback to beat Mehmet Goren (40-38 in 25). Chi Yeon Cho loses to Goren, but beats Kahofer in the third match: 40-21 in 20. The Austrian just edges to the group win, with 1.355 average.
Group I:
Two Egyptians provide a warming-up for Quoc Nguyen Nguyen, the stunt man from Vietnam. Three of his countrymen have cancelled, Tran was eliminated, Nguyen is the only Vietnamese player to advance, with two wins and 1.739.
Group J:
German champion Christian Rudolph slips up against Jin Pyo Ho (40-31 in 36) and again when he plays Lütfi Cenet. The Turk is first to finish against the Korean, but his opponent makes the missing three in the equalizer.
Group K:
This all-Turkish group starts with a victory for Can Capak over Savas Bulut (40-34 in 40). Tolgahan Kiraz then rises to the top, beating Bulut (40-21 in 21) and later Capak, thanks to a sensational finish.
Group L:
Murat Naci Coklu beats the harmless Hesham Saad but has his work cut out to win the group. The Turkish world cup winner stays ahead of Greek whirlwind Polychronopoulos 40-31 in 15.
The twelve winners of the day:
1 Murat Naci Coklu 4-1.904-11
2 Tolgahan Kiraz 4-1.860-13
3 Quoc Nguyen Nguyen 4-1.739-10
4 Kostas Papakonstantinou 4-1.632-16
5 Jae Guen Kim 4-1.568-10
6 Javier Palazón 4-1.568-7
7 Semih Sayginer 4-1.538-11
8 Murat Tüzül 4-1.269-7
9 Gokhan Salman 4-1.111-7
10 Lütfi Cenet 3-1.403-8
11 Arnim Kahofer 2-1.355-8
12 Eddy Leppens 2-1.245-7
The four best losers who advance to the main draw:
1 Jin Pyo Hong 3-1.290-8
2 Nikos Polychronopoulos 2-1.731-6
3 Jean Paul de Bruijn 2-1.480-7
4 Adnan Yüksel 2-1.469-11
Tomorrow's matches in the first round of the main tournament:
12.00:
Torbjörn Blomdahl-Mohsen Fouda
Quoc Nguyen Nguyen-Javier Palazón
Jae Guen Kim-Jin Pyo Hong
Marco Zanetti-Eddy Leppens
14.00:
Tolgahan Kiraz-Roland Forthomme
Dani Sánchez-Semih Sayginer
Murat Naci Coklu-Nikos Polychronopoulos
Tayfun Tasdemir-Arnim Kahofer
16.00:
Dick Jaspers-Jean Paul de Bruijn
Jae Ho Cho-Lütfi Cenet
Sung Won Choi-Sameh Sidhom
Hyung Bum Hwang-Choong Bok Lee
18.00:
Frédéric Caudron-Jose Juan Garcia
Jung Han Heo-Adnan Yüksel
Kostas Papakonstantinou-Gokhan Salman
Eddy Merckx-Murat Tüzül
Semih Sayginer with a big smile after his victory
Jean Paul de Bruijn after a miss in his match against Sayginer
Quoc Nguyen Nguyen
Kostas Papakonstantinou, run of sixteen and two wins
Eddy Leppens qualified after a loss in his first match
Tolgahan Kiraz had a finish with two seven's
The Egyptian player Ragay Henry