Belgians in winning mood in football and billiards

07/06/2018

Published by frits bakker

Frédéric Caudron, the world champion and leading Belgian player at Porto World Cup

PORTO - It was a glorious day for Belgium, not just at the WC in Russia (2-1 against Brazil) but also in the Portuguese World Cup. The captain of the billiard team is riding high, there is no doubt. Frédéric Caudron had the best tournament opener of all, beating Dong Koong Kang 40-21 in 11 innings. Eddy Merckx was on song as well, he dispatched one of the world's major talents (Myung Woo Cho) and Eddy Leppens got past Korean Jae Ho Cho in a nail biter: 40-39. Dick Jaspers will not win two World Cups in a row, as he got clobbered by an awesome Tayfun Tasdemir (40-27 in 14). Dani Sánchez had two seasons with success after success but he's in a long drought now. His early exit after a loss to Korean Chi Yeon Cho (40-28 in 26 innings) even threatens his protected position on the world ranking. Haeng Jik Kim is on the way home, as well as Nikos Polychronopoulos and Martin Horn. Jérémy Bury and Lütfi Cenet were the last ones to finish in the Stadio do Dragao, the Turk was better in the shootout: 2-1.

The two best matches, in terms of average: Caudron, making runs of 10 and 11 at a time when the match was already won, with a few lucky points. And Tasdemir, against Jaspers who was victorious in Blankenberge recently, in a match dominated by the technically immaculate Turk. After the first day, two of the world's top 5 are gone (Jaspers and Kim). Counting Vietnamese Quyet Chien Tran, five from the top 10 have been eliminated.

Dani Sánchez and Nikos Polychronopoulos, both in dire need of ranking points, will not return on Saturday. The Greek fought a hard battle with Semih Sayginer, had a 19-11 and a 30-24 lead, but was passed in the home stretch when Sayginer ran a five and a three. Nikos had the equalizing inning, but missed. Bury also sealed his own fate with an unnecessary mistake against Cenet.

Eddy Leppens was one of the stars of the day with his win over Jae Ho Cho, helped by the day's high run: 15, in the 4^th inning. The Belgian almost squandered his 18-3 and 21-8 lead in the last stages of the match. He caught his second wind with a run of five, missed three times on the final point, but still kept the Korean 1 point away from a draw: 40-39 in 23. The third of the Belgian tenors, Eddy Merckx, was much the better player in his confrontation with Myung-Woo Cho, who had only 15 points after 20 innings and was left at 40-23 in 21.

The Turks have four players in the last sixteen (Coklu, Sayginer, Tasdemir and Cenet), like the Koreans (Chi Yeon Cho, Heo, Wan Young Choi and Choi). The Belgians have three (Caudron, Merckx, Leppens). The home team of FC Porto is left with just Blomdahl, because Sánchez and Costa were eliminated. Javier Palazón made four in the equalizer to force Martin Horn into a shootout, and punished the German for a bad break shot: 2-1. David Zapata continued his march to the top when he narrowly beat Sameh Sidhom (40-38 in 20). Murat Tüzül fought bravely against Sung-Won Choi (40-36 in 25). Two wild cards for the upcoming 3CC Masters showed their class: Chi Yeon Cho who beat Dani Sánchez and Wan Young Choi against HaengJik Kim (40-37 in 24).

The matches for Saturday (last 16):

11.00 Portuguese time:

Caudron-Coklu

Palazón-Chi Yeon Cho

Heo-Leppens

Sayginer-Zanetti

14.00:

Wan Young Choi-Zapata

Blomdahl-Sung-Won Choi

Tasdemir-Cenet

Papakonstantinou-Merckx.

The quarters start at 16.00 and 18.00.