3-Cushion
MEDELLIN - He was the revelation, maybe even the wonderboy of the World Cup in Peloponnese, Greece: Jae Guen Kim, a new Korean talent, as it seemed, who first outplayed Jérémy Bury and then, against Jae Ho Cho, one of his illustrious compatriots, recorded the most wonderful and the best match of the entire tournament: 40-9 in 9 innings (4.444 average). He could only been stopped by Filippos Kasidokostas, the home favorite, in the quarterfinals.
At the start of the third day in the Medellin World Cup, yesterday, the young Korean could not reach that high level at all. He started off against Josue Torres, missed the equalizer for a draw (30-29), then lost to Carloman Ortiz (30-27) and was back on earth.
Jae Guen Kim could pack his bags, the same as Austrian Gerhard Kostistansky, who lost to Andres Hernandez 30-26 in 32 innings and played just one average over two matches. Jose Juan Garcia, the junior world champion, neither will shine up for a second day: the young Colombian was severely punished by Mexican Alan Campos (30-28 in 27).
The third match day was dominated by the Colombians, who are in the next round with twelve of sixteen qualifiers. Fernando Diaz, the number one on the ranks two days before, again claimed the top spot with 2.222 average and matches in ten and seventeen innings. Today, in the last qualification rounds, Belgian Eddy Leppens is his opponent.
Daniel Morales (1.666, runs of 10 and 12 in one match), Luis Aveiga (1.621), Eleazar Ramirez (1.333) and Pedro Gonzalez (1.200) showed some high level matches. Gabriel Vasquez was not even in top sixteen with 1.472 average, but yet slipped into the next round.
Today, sixteen players (plus one for Dani Sánchez) will advance for the main tournament: a big battle is coming up in these group stages.
Group A: Tayfun Tasdemir plays against two Colombians, Pedro Gonzalez and Eleazar Ramirez.
Group B: Luis Aveiga and Choong-Bok Lee are the two group favorites, Apostolos Balogiannis is third man.
Group C: Roland Forthomme meets the strong Colombian Daniel Morales in a group with Raymundo Munoz of Mexico as third player.
Group D: Eddy Leppens faces yesterday’s best man, Fernando Diaz.. and another strong Colombian Carloman Ortiz.
Group E: Jean Paul de Bruijn is the number one contender with Bülent Özdemir and Alejandro Piza.
Group F: The bronze medalist at the European championship and the World Games, Glenn Hoffman, plays with Arnim Kahofer and Santiago Carmona to advance.
Group G : Javier Palazón finds two Colombians on his way: Arley Galeano and Gabriel Vasquez.
Group H: Heriberto Aristazabal, who was the group winner at the World championships in Porto ahead of Torbjörn Blomdahl, bumps two compatriots, Julian Morales and Luis Martinez.
Group I: A complete Colombian group with Huberney Catano, star player at the World championship in Antwerp, Andres Naranjo and Andres Lizarazo.
Group J: The Korean Hyung Bum Hwang is favorite in the fight with two Colombians, Cesar Hernandez and Andres Garzon.
Group K: Frenchman Pierre Soumagne, showing up with a great form for several weeks, meets the young Mexican Alan Campos and Pan-American star Carlos Campino.
Group L: The sympathetic Colombian Alexander Salazar, who only was stopped in the semi-finals of the World championship in Antwerp by Frédéric Caudron, playes with Dutchman Dave Christiani and Ronald Otavo.