LA BAULE - The young Spaniard Antonio Montes, who already recorded a European palmares and the German Peter Ehrhardt, playing like a paper tiger in this field, were the two extremes on the first day of qualification at the World Cup in La Baule. The former European champion, with a promising 1.578 over two matches, towered above all the other starters. Peter Ehrhardt closed the ranking with 0.253.
The magnificent hall for the first French World Cup since many years opened its doors on Monday for a mixed field of French, Koreans, Germans, Portuguese, Dutch players and one Spanish high-flyer, who showed up with a best match 30 in 15 innings. The upside down ranking showed among others Hans-Joachim Roestel's victory in 99 innings!
Five Korean players already nestled in the top ten of the day, among the top sixteen were also five French, two Dutch, two Spaniards, one German and one Italian. Twelve winners remained unbeaten in their group, among the qualifiers with one win was Jean-Paul Six, the well known referee and Laxou's teamcaptain.
The young Frenchman Gwendal Marechal (1.224) and Matthieu Franck made a strong impression. Adrien Tachoire, former junior world champion, lost to Marechal, but slipped to the next round as second reserve. Pierre Bibaut, Eric Kremer-Leclaire, Thibaut Espada, Maxime Panaia and Philippe Malsert will not return after one day.
Antonio Montes topped the ranking with wins in 15 and 23 innings, followed by Frédéric Beghin, Kwon Young Gap, Gwendal Marechal and Jeong Il Sung.
Antonio Montes topped the ranking on the first day in La Baule
The top sixteen:
1 Antonio Montes 4-1.578-9
2 Frédéric Beghin 4-1.304-6
3 Young Gap Kwon 4-1.276-10
4 Gwendal Marechal 4-1.224-10
5 Sung Il Jeong 4-1.071-5
6 Byeong Ho Kim 4-1.052-7
7 Hyun Woo Kim 4-0.909-6
8 Dong Keun Jung 4-0.833-5
9 Matthieu Franck 4-0.821-5
10 Francesco Orlando 4-0.810-4
11 Wilco Meusen 4-0.674-4
12 Marco Wolfs 4-0.638-7
13 Per Kofoed 3-0.857-5
14 Jean-Paul Six 2-0.753-4
15 Ismail Inal 2-0.750-6
16 Guy Duplomb 2-0.721-4.
Jérémy Bury with his wife and little daughter were among the early spectators
The Kozoom store at the entrance of the World Cup hall
The first Korean players in the stands
The young French player Maxime Panaia made his start in a World Cup, but could not qualify with 0.500.