Belgians survive with three: Caudron by far the best

PORTO - The day started for Maxime Panaia, the French promise, with a tough knock-out against Frédéric Caudron (30-12 in 7), but finished with a happy ending. Due to the cancellations of a trio of players, Panaia was able to join the next round as third reserve. The young Frenchman played an excellent average (1.448), of course in the shadow of Caudron, who led the rankings with averages of 4.285 and 1.428. The same did the Belgian star, who is way underrated, on the first day of play: on Sunday with 2.608, on Monday with 2.142.

The other ex-PBA professional, Birol Uymaz, was close to elimination after drawing against Sergio Jimenez with a final run of 4 of the Turk. But he too was able to advance to the third day of play thanks to the absence of Pedro Gonzalez, Ronny Lindemann and Daniel Morales.

Those who are unlucky enough to bump into Caudron in these first few days will surely be relieved of the Belgian in the next World Cup, who will now climb enough in the rankings. Tomorrow, Tuesday, on the third day, two players are again paired with Caudron, including Lukas Stamm, who was responsible for Caudron's early elimination in the previous World Cup.

This was a Philipoom day on Monday, as for the first time in a World Cup, Jef and his son Luca were in the arena together. Jef, the father, played his way into the next round quite easily with four match points and 1.224 (run 9). Luca went on this Sunday as a lucky loser, won his first match against Portuguese Figueiredo (30-22 in 41) on Monday, but was without a chance in his second match against Dimitrios Seleventas (30-19 in 20). For Luca Philipoom, 0.803 was recorded over two games. Jef Philipoom, rarely seen in World Cups anymore, faces Colombian Huberney Cataño on Tuesday. With Caudron and Philipoom went on a third Belgian: Peter De Backer.

The Germans were also with three: two known players, Tom Löwe, Amir Ibraimov and the last of the four-point players, Lucas Egert with 0.750.

Frédéric Caudron was by far the day's winner on the first day of qualifiers on Sunday. With two strong wins, the Belgian finished 2.608 on average and towered far above the rest of whom Birol Uymaz was number two with 1.111 ahead of Portuguese Alexandre Vitorino with 1.016 and Hyun Kim Do with 0.983.

Two runners-up were allowed to fill in for the second day for players who cancelled: German Lucas Egert with 0.740 and Dutch Belgian Luca Philipoom, who achieved 3 match points and 0.731.

For the third day of play, Jose Juan Garcia's faces among others Seleventas, Amir Ibraimov meets Pierre Soumagne, Birol Uymaz plays against Tom Löwe, David Pennör against Jakob Sörensen and Sergio Jimenez, Volkan Cetin against Peter De Backer and Vietnamese Dao, Joey de Kok against Huub Wilkowvski and Maxime Panaia against Kevin Vasseur.

The standings with 16 winners on Monday:

1. Frédéric Caudron 4-2,142-7
2. Taruk Yavuz 4-1,276-6
3. Jef Philipoom 4-1,224-9
4. Marcos Morales 4-1,132-6
5. Peter De Backer 4-1,111-7
6. Vangelis Moulos 4-1,035-5
7. Serdal Bas 4-1,034-5
8. Lukas Mortensen 4-0,983-4
9. Ismet Esen 4-0.967-7
10. Manuel Santos Oliveira 4-0.869-9
11. Lucas Egert 4-0.750-6
12. Sergio Jimenez 3-1,463-7
13. Vincent Lelievre 3-0.952-7
14. Tom Löwe 3-0.937-7
15. Amir Ibraimov 3-0.909-5
16. Dimitrios Seleventas 2-1,000-6

Sergio Jimenez, group winner after a draw against Birol Uymaz

Young Greek player Dimitrios Seleventas in the next round after win against Luca Philipoom

Jef Philipoom, same arena as his son Luca