3-Cushion
BURSA - It was a match to look forward to: the encounter between Emrulllah Basegmez, the tall Turk and Dustin Jäschke, the diminutive German. Two players on the verge of an international career met in a bid for the final qualification round: the last stage before the main event of the Bursa World Cup. Dustin Jäschke had his moment of glory in the German Masters last year, when he was the surprise winner. Emrullah Basegmez is a coming man in Turkey, and he had his best days in three Egyptian World Cups, in Hurghada, Luxor and again Hurghada, when he made it into the main event and even beat opponents like Eddy Leppens, Nikos Polychronopoulos and Birol Uymaz (30 in 9).
The audience must have anticipated a good clash. But when did they ever see a match get off to a start this good for one player, and equally bad for the other? A relaxed Basegmez scored early runs of eight and seven, and he found his rhythm quickly. His opponent agonized over every point and saw it all go wrong. Eight innings into the match, and the unbelievable score line was 24-0. Match over, Emrullah crossed the finish line at 30-14. Jäschke saved face with a run of ten in the equalizer, to make it 30-24 in 14.
It was the most bizarre match of the third day, that was highlighted by fine play from Dinh Nai Ngo, Jung Ju Shin, Ahmet Alp and Carlos Crespo. Emrullah Basegmez, from Karadeniz Eregli, where he teaches billiards in his school, is looking forward to a new chapter in his career. He has signed a contract with Theory cues for two seasons, and wants to further develop himself. Tomorrow, in the last qualification round, he will face Dinh Nai Ngo and Eddy Leppens. ,,I feel good, I practice a lot, and I average around 1.750 in practice, so I know I can beat good players'', he said.
The home crowd today saw twelve Turks advance into the next round. Gokhan Salman, Ismail Yasin, Ahmet Alp and Turgay Orak were the best. Ahmet Alp played a fantastic match in his group, when he beat Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma 30-11 in 10. The number 1 on the list from the last round, Dinh Nai Ngo had first shone with his 9 inning win, then he edged Korean Myung Woo Cho by two points. Jung Ju Shin, second of the day, had to get past Birol Uymaz in the decider and just toyed with his opponent: 11-2 after 4 innings, 21-4 after 8, 28-7 and finally 30-12 in 13 innings when the Turk ran five in the equalizer.
Ahmet Bayatli joined the final qualification round when he beat Murat Celik, and Hamit Akkaya, playing with a kidney disease, also survived the third day. The remaining two foreigners in the top 16 were Carlos Crespo and Therese Klompenhouwer, numbers seven and nine of the day respectively.
The ranking on Wednesday:
1 Dinh Nai Ngo 4-1.935-10
2 Jung Ju Shin 4-1.875-8
3 Gokhan Salman 4-1.714-11
4 Ismail Yasin 4-1.666-7
5 Ahmet Alp 4-1.463-13
6 Turgay Ork 4-1.463-11
7 Carlos Crespo 4-1.463-10
8 Emrullah Basegmez 4-1.395-8
9 Therese Klompenhouwer 4-1.276-8
10 Tank Yavuz 4-1.200-9
11 Tolgahan Kiraz 4-1.200-5
12 Levent Okci 4-1.153-4
13 Savas Bulut 4-1.016-5
14 Hamit Akkaya 4-0.800-6
15 Hakan Incekara 3-1.276-7
16 Ahmet Bayatli 2-1.279-6.
The groups for tomorrow (twelve groups of three, the twelve winners and three runners-up advance to the main draw):
Group A: Ismail Yasin, Ahmet Alp, Quyet Chien Tran
Group B: Gokhan Salman, Turgay Orak, Adnan Yüksel
Group C: Jung Han Heo, Jung Ju Shin, Carlos Crespo
Group D: Dinh Nai Ngo, Emrullah Basegmez, Eddy Leppens
Group E: Murat Tüzül, Therese Klompenhouwer, Sung-Won Choi
Group F: Regay Henry, Tank Yavuz, Anh Vu Duong
Group G: Jae Guen Kim, Tolgahan Kiraz, Jérémy Bury
Group H: Quoc Nguyen Nguyen, Levent Oczi, Chi Yeon Cho
Group I: Nikos Polychronopoulos, Luis Aveiga, Savas Bulut
Group J: Jean Paul de Bruijn, Lütfi Cenet, Hamit Akkaya
Group K: Arnim Kahofer, Choong-Bok Lee, Hakan Incekara
Group L: Christian Rudolph, Ruben Legazpi, Ahmet Bayatli.
The Vietnamese Dinh Nai Ngo, star player of the day
The young Korean Jung Ju Shin, again in a main role
Savas Bulut, one of twelve Turks who qualified
Ahmet Bayatli advanced after a strong final match
Carlos Crespo, a new effort to reach the main draw