3-Cushion
HURGHADA - It's not the first time, perhaps the third or fourth time that Luis Aveiga doesn't show up for a World Cup. The 46 year old player from Ecuador had received a wild card for Hurghada, but didn't arrive for the opening this morning. The Egyptian organization decided to appoint a substitute. The German player Christian Rudolph, the best loser yesterday, will play in the main event today.
Luis Aveiga would have met Riad Nady from Egypt. Both players had received a wildcard for the last World Cup. The world federation will certainly consider whether they must give a new penalty to Aveiga. He didn't appear in previous World Cups without logging off and was excluded for some World Cups.
Christian Rudolph, who was the best loser in the final qualifying yesterday, was the lucky man who could enter the tournament by the back door. ,,I was in the swimming pool this morning'', he told. ,,But then I thought: what if there is a player for the main tournament who doesn't arrive. So, it was better to go back to my hotel and get ready. When I was there, Heiko Wolter, the sports manager of the UMB, called me and told me that Aveiga didn't come. And later Roland Forthomme told me that I had to play against Riad Nady. It could have been worse, of course.''
Christian Rudolph has dropped in the world ranking the last year, on which he was 25th last year. ,,At the start of the this year, I was suffering a neck hernia, so I haven't been able to play tournaments. And for league matches I had to cancel sometimes. They treated it with cortisone injections and physiotherapy. It was not necessary to operate, they said. Now, I feel not so much pain, but on the billiard, I have to put myself in a different position. I have to bow though my knees when I play.''
The German, who lives in Hunxe near Duisburg, had a remarkable career as a three cushion player. He was world champion in Hattingen in 1996, during the BWA era, but later with UMB and BWA together he was third Rezé in French when Dani Sánchez took the title in the final against Torbjörn Blomdahl.
Rudolph's last success in a World Cup was in Suwon in 2008, when he defeated Martin Horn and Marco Zanetti and lost in the quarterfinals against Blomdahl. The German played a good qualifying round yesterday: he beated Polychronopoulos 2-0 and lost 2-1 against Capak. His average was high enough (1.606, run of nine) to start in the main event.