3-Cushion
EL GOUNA - The young Spanish talents Andres Carrion and Carlos Anguita were the best starters at the World Cup in El Gouna, Egypt. The Belgian Andy de Bondt finished within the top three on the first day of playing. Andres Carrion was the European junior champion last year, Carlos Anguita the junior world champion this year. The best result came from Andres Carrion with 4 match points and 1.428 on average. Carlos Anguita was not far behind with 1.276 and the highest run, 11. Andy de Bondt won his two matches on the first day with 0.983. The Belgian plays his second World Cup after his debut in Istanbul three years ago.
The opening day delivered many European players to the top of the ranking: eleven Europeans within the sixteen group winners, accompanied by three Egyptians, one Korean and one Lebanese. The Korean Chang-Hoon Seo was unlucky in his group: he finished second and best runner-up with 1.487, the best average of all players. He lost his second match against Andres Carrion 30-28 in 19 innings. Seo is the best loser to join the players in the next round.
On the second day, many well-known players come into action. The Dutch Glenn Hoffman and Dave Christiani are in the same group. They play against each other in the first round at 11.00 Egyptian time, 10.00 o'clock in Europe. Ronny Brants faces the young Japanese Yusuke Mori. Bernard Baudoin plays in his group against Savas Güngör and Barry van Beers. Two strong Spaniards, Juan Zapata and Andres Carrion are in one group with the Dutch Sylvia Eckel.
All matches can be seen live and for free on kozoom.com
The sixteen group winners:
1 Andres Carrion 4-1.428-5
2 Carlos Anguita 4-1.276-11
3 Andy de Bondt 4-0.983-5
4 Samer Kamal 4-0.967-7
5 Bernard Baudoin 4-0.967-5
6 Bo Gustavsson 4-0.937-5
7 Ronny Brants 4-0.909-5
8 In Seok Kang 4-0.833-5
9 Roman Bachmaier 4-0.833-5
10 Yasser Shehayeb 4-0.821-4
11 Christian Zöllner 4-0.789-6
12 Ümit Demircan 4-0,697-5
13 Walter Jurdo 4-0.681-4
14 Kevin Vasseur 4-0.666-7
15 Salah Abdin 4-0.625-3
16 Ebrahim Awad 4-0.600-4
First runner-up:
Chang Hoon Seo 2-1.487-6.
Carlos Anguita, the junior world champion in action
The Belgian Andy de Bondt, second World Cup, advances to the second day in El Gouna
The ambiance in the evening in the Egypt resort where the World Cup is played