3-Cushion
EL GOUNA - Will Torbjörn Blomdahl think about one day in the Dutch premier league on a day like today, when he was knocked down by Roland Forthomme 50-6 in 11 innings? Today, they face each other again, the Swede and the Belgian. And undoubtedly, Blomdahl have beaten Forthomme much more in the years that followed than he lost. That day, it was just one of the miraculous matches that rarely happen in the global three-cushion.
What else can we expect today, Thursday, on the first day of the knock-outs at the El Gouna World Cup?
Two Spaniards who meet each other, Javier Palazón and Juan David Zapata, of whom Palazón delivered an absolute world performance in the final pre-rounds, yesterday. Eddy Merckx against Tayfun Tasdemir promises to be a great match between two wonderful players. Frédéric Caudron faces Vietnamese Xuan Cuong Ma, who gave him an unpleasant start at the World Cup in La Baule not so long ago. The Belgian will remain the world's best at the end of the year, no matter what happens in El Gouna.
Dick Jaspers needs to be careful, because Thomas Andersen was on his best against Jae-Ho Cho yesterday. Can Birol Uymaz continue his triumphal march against the eccentric Luis Aveiga from Ecuador? Haeng-Jik Kim experienced some lesser weeks and now faces Adnan Yüksel. Eddy Leppens was very strong, yesterday, now he is preparing for the match against Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, a masterful public player, who also lost his form.
Can Tonny Carlsen make a stunt against Jung-Han Heo, who has wonderful memories to Hurghada? Murat Naci Coklu against Jae-Ho Cho is a great poster. And two Egyptians come to the arena to meet each other: Sameh Sidhom and Ihab El Messery.
The UMB (world federation) has meeting today to speak about the future of the World Cups and other major tournaments. Important meeting!!!!
We wish you lots of pleasure to watch it all on Kozoom on this first day at the World Cup in El Gouna.
The matches for today (Egyptian time, one hour later than Europe):12.00:
12.00:
Dani Sanchez-Ali Hares
Jung-Han Heo-Tonny Carlsen
Eddy Merckx-Tayfun Tasdemir
Jérémy Bury-Dinh Nai Ngo
14.00:
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen-Eddy Leppens
Murat Naci Coklu-Jae-Ho Cho
Sameh Sidhom-Ihab El Messery
Marco Zanetti-Seung-Jin Lee
16.00:
Haeng-Jik Kim-Adnan Yüksel
Nikos Polychronopoulos-Sung-Won Choi
Frédéric Caudron-Xuan Cuong Ma
Birol Uymaz-Luis Aveiga
18.00:
Torbjörn Blomdahl-Roland Forthomme
Quyet Chien Tran-Dong-Koong Kang
Javier Palazón-Juan David Zapata
Dick Jaspers-Thomas Andersen.