SCHILTIGHEIM - The winner of the last World Cup 2010, the Greek Filipos Kasidokostas, this week arrives in Schiltigheim with nine other top players for the last qualification round in the Agipi Masters. Kasidokostas showed in Hurghada his great shape and even gave Frédéric Caudron no chance. Roland Forthomme is the leader in group A, which starts on Thursday with the matches. The Belgian is seeded after his performance in the Agipi Masters 2010.
The Agipi arena is ready for the restart, the microfon is for Jean Jacques Gangloff with his dark blue voice, the Italian barkeeper will welcome all the visitors and the girls (and boys) will serve the lunch and diner with a big smile.
Roland Forthomme, Filipos Kasidokostas and Marco Zanetti and Martin Horn in the other group play with six other competitors in two groups of five, the two first finisher advance to the final round.
How is the shape of the champions who will appear in the Agipi arena this week? The start of a new year usually is a period without matches in the leagues, except in Belgium, where the championships in the Multi-disciplines were played and last week the first matches at the restart of the league.
Two groups, with double winner Dick Jaspers and Torbjörn Blomdahl, play on 25, 26 and 27 February for four places in the final round.
Two other groups of five battle from Friday to Sunday for the first four places in the Masters finals. Roland Forthomme leads group A with Filipos Kasidokostas, Sung-Won Choi, Dion Nelin and Glenn Hofman.
How did they play in the last month of last year and the start of this year?
ROLAND FORTHOMME:
He reached the semifinals of the Kersttoernooi Zundert after strong performances in the preliminaries and the semi-final against Peter Ceulemans. In the finals he lost to Frédéric Caudron without having any chance. For the Dutch league Forthomme lost his last game against Jef Philipoom 50-46 in 34 innings. How volatile his form was at that time, showed his previous game against Johan Loncelle, in which he only made sixteenpoints in 25 innings.
But in the French league he defeated Frédéric Caudron 50-40 in 29 innings. Forthomme beat Ronny Brants in Belgium 50-41 in 42 and on Monday, three days befort the start in Agipi, he was on his very best: Forthomme took a great win against Steven van Acker: 50 caroms in 16 innings, an average of 3.125. His rivals in Agipi are warned: Forthomme is very motivated and mostly grows to his highest level in the Agipi Masters.
FILIPOS KASIDOKOSTAS:
The young Greek ended last year with a stunning success. In the Egypt city at the Red Sea he won the World Cup in the final against Frederic Caudron. Earlier, in November, Kasidokostas had lost his world title in Sluiskil. The Greek is only playing for the French league. He was recruited by the Kozoom team this year. In his last matches he lost to Daniel Sánchez with one point (50-49 in 33 innings) and to Torbjörn Blomdahl 50-37 in 20 innings.
SUNG-WON CHOI:
The best Korean player behind Kyung-Roul Kim last year climbed very quickly to the top twelve of the world. He did a wonderful world championship in Sluiskil, where he eliminated Torbjörn Blomdahl. Choi had to bow only in the semis for the later champion Dani Sánchez. The Korean remained unbeaten in the previous round of Agipi, where he made his debut. He defeated his compatriot Kyung-Roul Kim, the Japanese Umeda and Jérôme Barbeillon from French, who made in this match a run of 19.
DION NELIN:
The unpredictable Dane defeated in his last match for the Belgian league Frans van Kuik 50-37 in 35 innings. In the Netherlands he has withdrawn for the league after a disagreement with his teammate Jef Philipoom from Dekker Keukens. Nelin has chosen for a semi-professional career. Still he's a great player and a champions killer. He played like Michael Nilsson a remarkable qualification in the Agipi with victories against Torbjörn Blomdahl (50-35) and Daniel Sánchez (50-36). That's why he kept the Spanish world from the next round.
GLENN HOFMAN:
The fifth player in the A group has qualified in the preliminary round with young players, which he won with 1.428 average. The French player Pierre Soumagne was the second in the group. Of all the young players Hofman has, together with Haeng Jik Kim, the most international experience. He has been promoted last year in the Netherlands to the first team of Sluiskil. In his last matches he won against Huub Wilkowski and lost to Jacob Haack Sorensen. In Belgium he won his last match against Tom Persijn 42 points in 35 innings.