HO CHI MINH CITY – For his starting matches at the World Cup in Ho Chi Minh, Alessio D'Agata faced two Koreans. The 22-year-old Italian won both matches and advanced to the next round with a nice 1.463 on average. Alessio feels like a fish in water in the Asian billiard countries. He has completed a full year of practice in Korea and will stay in South Korea for another three months after the World Cup in Vietnam to learn Korean at university. His start in the World Cup put him fifth in the daily rankings following three Vietnamese and one Japanese on Tuesday. ''I felt nervous at the start, it was my first match in Vietnam, but afterwards I had a good feeling. I will do my very best in the next round.'' Alessio D'Agata is fully focusing on a career as a professional billiard player. ''When I left for Korea for a year, I took a break at university, where I study business economy. I got the opportunity to go and stay in Korea and took it with both hands. I had no coach or teacher there. I played in William Oh's club, where I had the opportunity to practice with good players. If I had questions or doubts, I could ask the club's manager Dong Ryong Kim, who also played in the World Cup today, or Jun Tae Kim.''
The young Italian, extremely amiable on the circuit, then stayed with his family for a month (,,I was so happy to see them again, as they felt as well’’), but now, recently, I trained for three days in Torbjörn Blomdahl's billiard place. I had met him at the Longoni factory and asked him if I could stay at his house for a few days. So just before Ho Chi Minh, that was a great experience.'' Alessio wants to get as far as possible in Ho Chi Minh, where he has a draw for Wednesday against Lukas Stamm and Dong Hoon Kim. The Italian achieved his best success so far with a place in the semi-finals at the European Under-25 Championships, where he lost to Burak Hashas (40-38) in an exhilarating match. Moreover, D'Agata passed the first round at the World Championships in Sharm El Sheikh. ''It was wonderful to play there with all those strong players.''
At Ho Chi Minh’s second day, junior world champion Burak Hashas (17) could not live up to his reputation. With two losses in his first appearance, Hashas was eliminated. Alessio D'Agata did get through his opening in Vietnam with over Koreans: Tae Hyun Kim (30-12 in 18) and Yooh Wan Kim (30-16 in 23). The best players this day were two Vietnamese and one Japanese. Duc Minh Tran even shone with a 30 points match in 9 innings against Turk Serdar Bas (30-7, 3.333 average). In the ranking of 16 day winners, apart from 14 Asians, only Alessio D'Agata and Dutchman Huub Wilkowski, who qualified with an excellent win against Korean Hyun Woo Ko (30-9 in 14), were ranked. Other strong winners were Dong Ryong Kim with 30-3 in 10 innings against Ronald van Geyt and Takao Miyashita with 30 points in 12.
Ten Vietnamese took the group victories to a total of 16. The other wins were for three Koreans, one Italian, a Dutchman and a Japanese.
Alessio D'Agata with Torbjörn Blomdahl in Seoul
The day ranking on Tuesday:
- Duc Minh Tran 4-1.714-9
- Van Ly Dao 4-1.714-8
- Takao Miyashita 4-1.500-7
- Truong Minh Trong Nguyen 4-1.463-7
- Alessio D’Agata 4-1.463-7
- Hoan Tat Nguyen 4-1.395-7
- Dong Ryung Kim 4-1.395-7
- Huub Wilkowski 4-1.333-8
- Dinh Quoc Nguyen 4-1.276-8
- Sung Kyu Oh 4-1.224-10
- Quoc Thich Pham 4-1.132-7
- You Younhyun 4-1.090-6
- Thanh Tien Le 3-1.363-8
- Quang Hai Dinh 3-1.276-5
- Dac Luc Nguyen 2-1.056-7.
Known names in the groups on the third day of qualifications
Group A with Omer Karakurt and Jose Miguel Soares
Group B with Pierre Soumagne and Rui Costa
Group C with Gökhan Salman
Group D with Ji Hun Ahn and Younhyun You
Group E with Sam van Etten, Quoc Thich Pham and Ja In Kang
Group F with Sung Kyu Oh, Turgay Orak
Group G with Joey de Kok, Robinson Morales and Le Duy Ngo
Group H with Ryuuji Umeda and Tatsuo Arai
Group I with Huub Wilkowski, David Pennör and Sung Il Jeong
Group K with Tolgahan Kiraz and Jon Hyuk Son
Group L with Alessio D’Agata and Lukas Stamm
Group M with Kostas Kokkoris and two Vietnamezen
Group N with Nobuyssu Sakai and Tatsuo Miyashita
Group O with Van Ly Dao, Jose Maria Mas and Ramon Groot
Group P with Volkan Cetin and Kevin Vasseur.