A New Yorker on top of the rankings: Raymon Groot

VEGHEL - He moved to New York for love, after growing up as a billiard player in the Netherlands. 32-year-old Raymon Groot competed with the best in the World Cup in Veghel this Tuesday and finished on top of the rankings with four match points and 1.842 on average. The wry conclusion was that five of his former compatriots failed to make the qualification. The five Dutch billiards players were all eliminated, Joey de Kok even on one paltry carom that he could not score. Raymon Groot beat Spaniard Jose Maria Mas 35-13 in 14 innings in his first match after a dream start with 25 in 6 innings and was sovereign in his group after that victory. The runner-up this day was Frenchman Pierre Soumagne, who escaped in his second match. Also finishing in the top five were Turgay Orak, Ahmet Alp and Nguyen Chi Long.

The ranking on Tuesday was a mixture of countrymen: of the 16 group winners, 3 were from Vietnam, 3 from Turkey, 2 from France, otherwise only countries with 1 player: Germany, Denmark, Japan, USA, Austria, South Korea, Greece and Belgium. The Vietnamese are more emphatic in the preliminary rounds than the Koreans, who had 1 player among the groupl winners on Tuesday and only three players in the World Cup qualifiers on Wednesday.

The final standings in the groups:

Group A:

Barry van Beers took an option on qualification by beating John van der Stappen in 26 innings, while Tom Löwe needed 43 innings to do so. However, the Dutch/German clash goes very differently after 11-5 for Van Beers. Löwe continues with small runs and slowly builds a lead, Van Beers has nine nil and two times 1 in his last 11 innings: 35-23 in 29. 

The ranking:

Tom Löwe 4-0.972-6

Barry van Beers 2-1.054-7

John van der Stappen 0-0.695-4

Group B:

The battle is wide open after Takeshima O loses his first to Minaoglu (35-26 in 31) and wins his second to Soares (35-22 in 20). Tageshima (first name) is the laughing third in the last match between Soares and Minaoglu, won by the Portuguese 35-31 in 29, with Japanese O (surname) leading on average

1 Takeshima O 2-1,196-9

Jose Miguel Soares 2-1,163-5

Manolis Minaoglu 2-1,100-12

Group C:

Raymon Groot comes through the day with flying colours, getting off to a glorious start against Jose Maria Mas with 35-13 in 14 after runs of 10, 6 and 7 in the 4th, 5th and 6th inning. Showing his teeth, the New Yorker later also beat Mehmet Goren 35-17 in 24, bringing him to the top of the rankings with 1,842.

The standings:

Raymon Groot 4-1,842-10

Jose Maria Mas 2-1,200-6

Mehmet Goren 0-0,780-6

Group D:

Turgay Orak is two-time clear winner and the deserved leader. The match against Sergei Jimenez is not really exciting after 22-14 in 16 innings. The Turk hits the decisive gap with 7 in the penultimate turn and finishes at 35-26 in 22. Vangelis Moulos is two-time loser and may return to Greece.

The ranking:

Turgay Orak 4-1,627-7

Segei Jimenez 2-1,418-7

Vangelis Moulos 0-0.857-4

Group E:

Two Turks leave one Korean behind in the last match of the session. Serdal Bas remains unbeaten, winning against Son 35-31 in 23, with averages close together. Emrullah Basegmez misses qualifications due to the two caroms he falls short against Bas.

Standings:

Serdal Bas 4-1,346-6

Emrullah Basgemez 2-1.283-9

Jun Hyuk Son 0-1,212-5

Group F:

Pierre Soumagne is the cold-blooded finisher in the decisive match against Tarik Yavuz. The Frenchman, who came back to 20-20 in the match with a 10 run, punished a missed match ball from his opponent with a winning run of 3: 35-34 in 26.

Standings:

Pierre Soumagne 4-1,666-12

Tarik Yavuz 2-1.045-5

Volkan Kara 0-0.696-7

Group G:

Ahmet Alp secures the lead with two wins, although the last against Kahofer cost blood, sweat and tears: 35-34 in 25. The Turk's position is not in danger.

Standings:

Ahmed Alp 4-1,555-9

Tobias Bouerdick 2-1,071-7

Arnim Kahofer 0-1,319-7

Group H:

Austrian Herbert Szivacz gets a feared Vietnamese to his knees. He beats TTT Nguyen, already a reputed World Cup player, 35-17 in 19 in the decisive match. Jordy de Kruijf cannot shine and comes third and last.

Standings:

Herbert Szivacz 4-1,346-6

TTT Nguyen 2-1,631-11

Jordy de Kruijf 0-0.807-3

Group I:

Routine player Ja In Kang settled with young Lukas Mortensen for the group win. Both players trailed Turk Korkmaz. The Korean has the better finish and remains unbeaten 35-24 in 28 in his last match against Mortensen.

Standings:

Ja In Kang 4-1,228-6

Lukas Mortensen 2-0.808-5

Fatih Korkmaz 0-0.527-3

Group J:

Dimitrios Seleventas' last carom, the second in the equalizer against Riad Nady for 35-35, costs Jef Philipoom qualification as the Belgian was the group winner with a loss for Seleventas. In the match between them, Seleventas was stronger than the Belgian by 35-23 in 27. Philipoom recovered with the best game against Nady (35-10 in 11), but unfortunately it did not help him further.

The standings:

Dimitrios Seleventas 3-1,147-9

Jef Phililpoom 2-1,526-13

Riad Nady 1-1,000-5

Group K:

Maxima Panaia won the battle with his French compatriot Kévin Vasseur (35-22 in 31) and was then able to finish it off against Gurhan Kabak 35-29. Panaia, one of the early starters this week, is ready for a good tournament. ‘’I was not feeling the tables so well today, but the most important thing is qualification,‘’ he said after his last match.

The standings:

Maxime Panaia 4-1,060-8

Kévin Vasseur 2-0.863-6

Gurhan Kabak 0-0.528-4

 Group L:

Peter De Backer missed his last point for a draw against Muammer Rahmet, but was already sure of qualification. The Belgian had a superb start against David Pennör with 30-17 in 14. The match between Pennör and Rahmet was decided on 35-34, just like the last one. The Turk was therefore second with 69 out of 70 points scored, as many as Peter De Backer.

The standings:

Peter De Backer 2-1,682-7

Muammer Rahmet 2-1,210-8

David Pennör 2-1,181-5

Group M:

Brian Knudsen, one of the few Danes in the World Cup, had a walk-over on his way to the final qualifying day. He beat Belgian Alain Saeijs 35-11 and German Lukas Stamm 35-15 to become group winner.

The standings:

Brian Knudsen 4-1,521-8

Lukas Stamm 2-0.862-5

Alain Saeys 0-0.603-5

Group N:

Hoan Tat Nguyen is one of the not-so-well-known Vietnamese who will have a shot at the main tournament on Wednesday. He won his group with Claus Maurer and Kostas Kokkoris by deciding the latter against Maurer 35-28 in 30.

The standings:

Hoan Tat Nguyen 4-1.320-7

Claus Maurer 2-1,050-7

Kostas Kokkoris 0-0,962-7

Group O:

It was another Vietnamese who stood in the way of success for a Dutchman. Nguyen Chi Long fought out a tough match with Joey de Kok and ran to the safe margin in the exciting final. The Zeeuw got the equalizer, in which he had to score four times for the draw, but missed his last carom. That one was very expensive as it could have helped him still in the tournament.

The standings:

Nguyen Chi Long 4-1,521-9

Joey de Kok 2-1.380-6

Atsushi Kiyota 0-1,060-4 

Group P:

The Vietnamese who was also the best of the day on Monday advanced to the final qualifying round. That was at the expense of Huub Wilkowski, who could not really get into the match in the last race for pole position. TT Le, as he is called, won 35-20 after a much better second part.

The standings:

Thanh Tien Le 4-1,400-8

Huub Wilkowski 2-1,170-5

Sung Il Jeong 0-1,072-5

The schedule for the final qualifying day on Wednesday from 10am.

Group A: Tom Löwe, Maxime Panaia, Nick Polychronopoulos

Group B: Dimitrios Seleventas, Ja In Kang, Berkay Karakurt

Group C: Peter De Backer, Hoan Tat Nguyen, Jérémy Bury

Group D: Takeshima O, Herbert Szivacz, TTT Nguyen

Group E: Gwendal Maréchal, Serdal Bas, Myeong Jong Cha

Group F: Thanh Luc Tran, Thanh Tien Le, Gerard Kostistansky

Group G: Frédéric Caudron, Brian Knudsen, Ruben Legazpi

Group H: Jean Paul de Bruijn, Nguyen Chi Long, Peter Ceulemans

Group I: Roland Forthomme, Ahmet Alp, Chang Hoon Seo

Group J: Sam van Etten, Turgay Orak, Duc Minh Tran

Group K: Omer Karakurt, Gökhan Salman, Pierre Soumagne

Group L: Rui Manuel Costa, Raymon Groot, Bong Joo Hwang

Belgian Peter De Backer, qualified after great first match

Joey de Kok missed qualification on 1 carom

German Tom Löwe goes on after a win over Barry van Beers

Young Greek Dimitrios Seleventas, the last to qualify in the evening sessions.